a 3/4 flyer for 4! And a built in Cursed Totem that doesn't affect your creatures?? BROKEN
HairlessThoctar
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
So ridiculously over the curve.
Zulp
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Something tells me she might be the new Walletslayer. But, I don't care. I have a weakness for badass angels, especially ones that have such incredible control potential.
MrPink343
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you make this your EDH general, you are a bad person.
Johnald
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I would still play her even if I had to pay another 2 or 3 mana for her and I'd think it were fair. This is entirely too 'efficiently' priced for what it does.
arcmamon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
friggin combo killer! got to have a playset of these...
LTJZamboni
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is house. 'nuff said.
gcilley
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(20 votes)
Dear Linvala, Thank you for stopping my opponents from using their levelers and Eldrazi Spawn at today's prerelease.
gcilley
P.S. Marry me.
Vinifera7
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
OMG! This seems ridiculously good! For a mere 4 mana, you get to completely shut down your opponent's abilities, and on top of that you get a 3/4 flier with sexy artwork!
"Oh, what's that Snapping Drake? Feeling pretty irrelevant now? Eat my power creep!"
anytwofactors
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ahahaha
Eldrazi pulls out all the stops and just totally screws with everything. Case in point this and Training Grounds.
Osmodius
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is going to be very expensive.
theis999
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
To however - this doesn't stop mana abilities^^
Why is it that angels have more wings in the newer sets?
Orichalkos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
would this work on Allies too?
Donovan_Fabian
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card stops so many things, although it needs to stay protected somehow. There's a long, long list of various abilties it stops from sphinx of magosi card draw, to eldrazi spawn sac., to mana abilities, to even drana or kalitas creature kill ability.
Funny how they convieniently print a card that basically undoes at least half of what the set tries to do.
Oh and fyi, it stops invokers, including the dawnglare invoker.
Should be a 4/3 to make it die from lightening bolt
FugimSky
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Absolutely beautiful card. So the art does this card justice. It can definitely be a staple in white. The only real problem is it wont see much competitive play unless the new mirrodin block has lots of activated creature abilities because most cards in competitive don't have activated abilities. the creatures that usually matter have static abilities or triggered abilities. But Here's hoping that this card can become even more useful in the future!
nammertime
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@thornraven: Angels as described in the Bible are monstrous things with many heads and/or faces.
@theis999: Angels in Zendikar are different? Also, it does stop mana abilities.
Great card... totally screws with any creature your opponent has with a colon in their rules text.
i dont think so cause statics and trigger abilities still go through
Lunarblade
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Not as versatile as Baneslayer, but still, very nice. 4.5/5
thew00tninja
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Save a Flame Slash to deal with her. Absolutely brutal to play against.
sarroth
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(10 votes)
@OMFGrhombus: If by looking different than the other angels of the Zendikar set you mean the halos, it is because of flavor. The angels of Zendikar with halos over their eyes have those halos there as a symbol of their blindness to the truth of the "gods" they serve, as those gods are actually Eldrazi. Linvala, Deathless Angel, the angels on Harmless Assault and Induce Despair,and Zendikar angel Iona, Shield of Emeria all are without halos around their eyes because they are freed from the blindness the angels once experienced. (Source: "The Defiance of Angels" off of Daily MTG: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/86).
@Orichalkos: Linvala will not stop allies' abilities, as they are triggered abilities that trigger when another ally enters the battlefield. Linvala stops activated abilities (i.e. have costs such as "{T}: Prodigal Pyromancer deals 1 damage to target creature or player," "{WW}: Target creature is indestructible this turn" on Deathless Angel, and "Sacrifice Elvish Eulogist: You gain 1 life for each Elf card in your graveyard."
Nickajack
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(8 votes)
Great art, and managed to win me a sealed event : (twas a FNM event though, so all I got for my troubles was a Bloodbraid Elf, but I digress) The ability to stop activated abilities in any case is nice, but in RoE it's quite a powerhouse. Literally the only games I lost when I played Linvala were games in which my opponent managed to kill her. Outside of the land of envokers, levelers, and eldrazi spawn, there is clearly less potential for her to shine. But a 3/4 flier for four is, as others have said, quite spectacular.
5/5 imo. The art is what tips the scale.
izzet_guild_mage
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Nickajack, that was corny. Anyway, this card is so very neat. I never thought of using it in EDH, that's pretty cheaty :P Anyway, great picture, great effect, efficient body, fantastic card.
EvilCleavage
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I just got her two days ago!! I'm sooo happy she's bad A$$ I can't wait to use her. I think that she has one of the strongest abilities EVER on a Magic card. Ya, Annihilator is friggin awesome and so are mana abilities, token gen., power boost/weakener, etc. etc. But this prevents ALL of it from even happening! Therefore I have to contest that this is one of or THE best ability ever printed. But to play devil's advocate, she does rely on other cards to be good. If they didn't have abilities then it would be horrible. 5/5
Gilder_Bairn
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(7 votes)
Hey, it's the anti-EDH General General!
thornraven
★☆☆☆☆ (1.1/5.0)(4 votes)
Not T2 material. Jund and WU Control are unaffected. Only Putrid Leech would suffer, however, PL might be edged out by Nest Invader for the 2-drop rights. Would be 1.5/5. However, I'm biased towards angels, especially the beautiful ones which are too few and far between. The last one was Exalted Angel. 5/5!
@ gcilley
Sorry bub,
Linv and I have already tied the knot. You were probably a few hours too late.
P.S.
There's always gonna be more. Or perhaps she'll be reprinted.
Nuclear_Pony
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great Art and Card. Definitely worth building an Angel deck around her (and her more aggressive sister Baneslayer Angel). She slows down enough decks in order for you to prepare / build up for a massive counter attack. With enough mana shut down 4 other colours with 4 copies of Iona, Shield of Emeria for total domination.
MiniWraith
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(6 votes)
Just
look
at
that
artwork
....
Gomorrah
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Sswift- Correct. Even with shroud, activated abilities can't be used.
Sswift
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Would shroud or protection counter this ability? I would assume not since it doesn't 'target'...
Another stupid question, would 'provoke' be considered an activated ability?
Lionhawk
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Everything about this card is great. Cheap casting cost for what it does, and some cool art to boot. 5/5
LiXinjian
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This completely destroys Fauna Shaman.
klauth
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
Note to everybody who's asking about activated abilities:
Activated abilities have the format (cost):(effect) ex. (tap): add one mana of any color to your mana pool Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card
always take note of the colons that separate the cost and effect
channelblaze
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I love how it shuts down things like noble heirarch =). Really ***es off mythic. No knight of the reliquary, birds, heirarch, dauntless escort...well, you get the point.
Best art in the set, no competition.
I just traded for one yesterday.
Hope to try her out soon.
Hardwood3
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I am a fan of this card when it comes to ability based decks, but there is one thing I am uncertain of with it. In the case of Captivating Vampire, would she block his ability of tapping five vampires to take one of your creatures? If it doesn't, well, it makes things a lot more difficult.
jamiepm
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@ Hardwood3 Linvala, Keeper of Silence stops all activated abilities of creatures your opponent controls. all activated abilities require a cost to preform. this means whenever a card has an xxx: do something cool, its an activated ability. so yes it stops Captivating Vampire's creature controling ability. p.s look for the : itll tell u straight away if its an activated ability
TheGodOfWar91
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Oh look! Its a null rod for your opponents creatures!
PrimeSonic
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Combo decks cry when they see this card.
baneslayeriscute
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The best at what she does, but what she does is quite pretty ;)
NARFNra
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
This thing shuts down Experiment Kraj EDH. In pretty much every way. The only way to survive is to counter it before it gets out.
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I drew her in my first Rise Of The Eldrazi display today, she kind of made up for me not getting any Eldrazi Titans, no Planeswalkers and no Vengevine. Kind of...
Anyway, extremely powerful card, though you will have to protect her up to the kazoo. Shroud plus indestructible seem needed, and even then, protect things like the Whispersilk Cloak and the Shield Of Kaldra you've equipped her with. (Or go old school and combo Darksteel Forge with Memnarch!)
Also, she does not work at all against primitive burn decks or any kind of damaging artifacts.
...so, uh... you just paid (7) for five 0/1 chump blockers?
Eldrazi spawn hate her <3
Axelle
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@DarthParallax: That's MasterOfEfherium. Not Etherium.
undergroundmonorail
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My friend uses Ambush Commander in his elf deck. I may have to look into this...
Fireballmage
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Every single time I see her in a game of EDH, I laugh; I know her owner is going to suffer like no one else under the wrath of everyone else at the table. I can't think of many other cards that anger players so easily.
You play cards that stop people from playing their deck, and people will stop you from playing yours. Tit-for-tat, you know? At least she has pretty art. :-D
Good card, has a spot in my W/U aggro control deck.
JaxsonBateman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Such a frustrating card against elf decks. It's not usually good enough to main board multiples of compared to other 4 drops, but a singleton can be effective against many decks. In my case, I was playing a game 3 on MWS, and the opponent wanted to swap decks - which I hate, as the matches are supposed to be best of 3 with the same decks to allow for variance. So I swapped to my elf deck, which generally punishes people for swapping to a counter-the-other-deck deck.
I didn't have the fastest hand, but after my turn 4 I was ready to Genesis Wave for the game next turn. He drops turn 4 Linvala, and I'm just like "really? How often do you see that outside of EDH, and yet here it is...". I conceded right there my only hope would've been to draw 2 additional lands and play the Eldrazi Monument in my hand, but even that probably wouldn't have been enough.
psychichobo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's like Iona, except people won't try to stab you in the parking lot afterwards for using it. Quite killable, very good, on the whole appropriate.
Reminds me of Damping Matrix too. That drew a bit more hate however thanks to cost, and in the right deck is very effective.
xoman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Doesn't basic lands texts say tap: add one to your mana pool? Does this mean I can completely mana skew people:)
For all y'all using Captain Sisay as a Commander/General: be cautious regarding incorporation of Linvala into your deck, as her presence provides opponents with "gain control" effects, especially Bribery, Gather Specimens, and Spelljack, a significant opportunity to reduce your deck's momentum through using your own Linvala to prevent Sisay from searching.
Pongdok
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
People who use her may have missed the irony (or at least the lack of self-awareness) in the flavour text. This particular instrument of disharmony will draw EVERY kill spell until it stays dead, but the opponents won't forget that you tried to play it. Kind of a jerk card. Eat poo, white. At least blue mages know they're being antisocial. Also, this art sucks. What are you guys talking about? Ooooh! Another 'sexy' angel! Look! She has four wings this time! There is nothing unique or special about this image. Bland art style, dull background. (Sad trombone sound) 2/5 (less if we take the art into consideration) I'm not just trolling here. This is boring, stupid crap, but not the worst offender in that particular category.
Comments (80)
She makes pacifism broken.
Thank you for stopping my opponents from using their levelers and Eldrazi Spawn at today's prerelease.
gcilley
P.S. Marry me.
"Oh, what's that Snapping Drake? Feeling pretty irrelevant now? Eat my power creep!"
Eldrazi pulls out all the stops and just totally screws with everything. Case in point this and Training Grounds.
Why is it that angels have more wings in the newer sets?
Funny how they convieniently print a card that basically undoes at least half of what the set tries to do.
Oh and fyi, it stops invokers, including the dawnglare invoker.
@theis999: Angels in Zendikar are different? Also, it does stop mana abilities.
Great card... totally screws with any creature your opponent has with a colon in their rules text.
i dont think so cause statics and trigger abilities still go through
If by looking different than the other angels of the Zendikar set you mean the halos, it is because of flavor. The angels of Zendikar with halos over their eyes have those halos there as a symbol of their blindness to the truth of the "gods" they serve, as those gods are actually Eldrazi. Linvala, Deathless Angel, the angels on Harmless Assault and Induce Despair,and Zendikar angel Iona, Shield of Emeria all are without halos around their eyes because they are freed from the blindness the angels once experienced. (Source: "The Defiance of Angels" off of Daily MTG: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/86).
@Orichalkos:
Linvala will not stop allies' abilities, as they are triggered abilities that trigger when another ally enters the battlefield. Linvala stops activated abilities (i.e. have costs such as "{T}: Prodigal Pyromancer deals 1 damage to target creature or player," "{WW}: Target creature is indestructible this turn" on Deathless Angel, and "Sacrifice Elvish Eulogist: You gain 1 life for each Elf card in your graveyard."
The ability to stop activated abilities in any case is nice, but in RoE it's quite a powerhouse. Literally the only games I lost when I played Linvala were games in which my opponent managed to kill her.
Outside of the land of envokers, levelers, and eldrazi spawn, there is clearly less potential for her to shine. But a 3/4 flier for four is, as others have said, quite spectacular.
5/5 imo. The art is what tips the scale.
Anyway, this card is so very neat. I never thought of using it in EDH, that's pretty cheaty :P
Anyway, great picture, great effect, efficient body, fantastic card.
@ gcilley
Sorry bub,
Linv and I have already tied the knot. You were probably a few hours too late.
P.S.
There's always gonna be more. Or perhaps she'll be reprinted.
look
at
that
artwork
....
Another stupid question, would 'provoke' be considered an activated ability?
Activated abilities have the format (cost):(effect)
ex. (tap): add one mana of any color to your mana pool
Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card
always take note of the colons that separate the cost and effect
I just traded for one yesterday.
Hope to try her out soon.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence stops all activated abilities of creatures your opponent controls. all activated abilities require a cost to preform. this means whenever a card has an xxx: do something cool, its an activated ability. so yes it stops Captivating Vampire's creature controling ability.
p.s look for the :
itll tell u straight away if its an activated ability
Anyway, extremely powerful card, though you will have to protect her up to the kazoo. Shroud plus indestructible seem needed, and even then, protect things like the Whispersilk Cloak and the Shield Of Kaldra you've equipped her with. (Or go old school and combo Darksteel Forge with Memnarch!)
Also, she does not work at all against primitive burn decks or any kind of damaging artifacts.
This shuts about 50% of all EDH deck there are.
Pure hatred towards this card.
5/5
Was playing a 7 player EDH game, she died 10 times. Not sure what is worse, that she died that many times or I could play her that many times
@everyone else: Kaalia likes <3
Eldrazi spawn hate her <3
You play cards that stop people from playing their deck, and people will stop you from playing yours. Tit-for-tat, you know? At least she has pretty art. :-D
Sorry, but those are mana abilities.
Good card, has a spot in my W/U aggro control deck.
I didn't have the fastest hand, but after my turn 4 I was ready to Genesis Wave for the game next turn. He drops turn 4 Linvala, and I'm just like "really? How often do you see that outside of EDH, and yet here it is...". I conceded right there my only hope would've been to draw 2 additional lands and play the Eldrazi Monument in my hand, but even that probably wouldn't have been enough.
Reminds me of Damping Matrix too. That drew a bit more hate however thanks to cost, and in the right deck is very effective.
Does this mean I can completely mana skew people:)
Linvala: Shhh!
Now laugh like the madman you know you are!
I think this is my first "pi/5" rating.