This is one of those cards that is almost 100% flavor. And the rest of it is trinket text. Wizards heard us complain that RTR block's climax wasn't even remotely represented on a card, so Theros's is right here.
Pendulous
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(11 votes)
Exile target Obelisk the Tormentor
SpaceMagic
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Gods don't die, they merely slumber. In this case, Xenagod is slumber-partying somewhere very far away.
SlushyJones
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
With the amount of enchantments in the Theros Block, removing an enchantment is a neato. Exiling an enchantment? Even better. This card still rocks the set even if you don't target a God with it.
lordchimera
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Finally. Something to balance out the battlefield with all those Gods running around...
JimmyNoobPlayer
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(10 votes)
Yes! This is perfect storytelling. Now everyone knows that Elspeth got Xenagos with God's-End and lived to tell about it. We knew it would happen, but it's very nice to see it.
No one who missed the books has any idea who won the Implicit Maze in Ravnica. We never knew what happened to Elspeth after New Phyrexia's compleation until we saw her in Theros, and we still don't know what happened to Koth. Each of these storylines had different needs, but it really felt bad when big moments happened "off-camera" in the past. The flavortext on Avacyn, Angel of Hope felt the tiniest bit awkward to me, but I'm glad they at least mentioned that important moment in the cards.
The card's mechanics are perfect also. It's almost always useful, and sometimes game-changing. Even players who don't care about flavor won't be mad to see it.
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
'The Heart'
Nooble
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Small bit of annoyance with this card. Elspeth was given the sword Godsend to defeat Xenagos.... why is the art depicting a spear?
MrSunso
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(11 votes)
People are saying this is worse than Revoke Existence, but the thing they are failing to see is that this is an Instant where Revoke Existence is a sorcery.
Sure, this doesn't hit artifacts, but ask yourself this question: How many people do you really see playing artifacts in Standard? Modern and Legacy are a different case, but at least in Standard, I think this card is much better than Revoke.
RedJaron
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Instant speed Revoke Existance that doesn't hit artifacts? I'll take it. For the people complaining about the lack of artifact targeting, most the troublesome artifacts in the set are enchantments too, so this will still hit them. In expanded formats, it'll lose some steam.
Flavor wise, I was hoping something like this would be called "Disbelief," but it's still a good name.
To Nooble, check the older Elspeth cards. She's had the same dual-gemmed sword the whole time. In Gods Willing, it shows Elspeth offering it to Heliod, who took it and made a spear out of it ( more accurately, a bladed spear like that would be a partisan. ) Elspeth, Sun's Champion very clearly shows the resulting weapon, so she's been using it for two sets now. Godsend actually shows the spear ( notice how the haft is extending out of the art frame? )
Dabok
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Precise removal with awesome flavor, no complaints here.
Awww man, I hope Xenagos isn't truly dead? I'm not a particular fan of him or anything, but you gotta admit that he really worked his way up there on becoming a God, and now it's just gone, taken away from him. Kinda feel bad for the guy.
And as it has been said by JimmyNoobPlayer, I find that it's also good that pieces of information about the "closing" of the story is good to have in a card, so people are aware of what's going on at the last edition of the whole block, before moving on to something new.
BUT, I do have to say that I didn't like this one in particular, in that it's way too straightforward and direct. I mean, as I've said, I love the functionality of the card and the flavor, but there's something about the "it's so obvious" side that bothers me. I mean card is named Deicide, Elspeth kills the "baddy" God of the set. And the flavor text confirms that the deed is done.
3.5/5 for being a good and flavorful sideboard material
RickyBo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
One of those odd cards that were made rare because of their flavor rather than the magnitude of their effect. Revoke Existence is almost always better outside of limited, even at sorcery speed, and it was printed at common just last set... but you can't put a spell that kills gods at common.
Cloudchaser.Kestrel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nooble - Elspeth was given the sword Godsend last time she was in Theros, upon her return Heliod the original gifter of the sword extended it into a spear when Elspeth became the sun's champion. You'll notice that in the artwork on godsend it's actually depicting a spear (either that or a very long handled sword)
I too want to thank Wizards for showing us.
thePROJECTION
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Holy Sideboard heaven batman
RAV0004
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(6 votes)
I'm really mad that wizards ended up killing Xenagos. We have this pantheon of great magic villains:
In comes Xenagos, a guy with great character. He's not as smart as Nicol Bolas. He's not as tenacious or omnipresent as phrexians, and he's not as unstoppable as an eldrazi. He is a simple man (satyr, technically) who loved to live it up, and then had this amazing thing he never knew about called a planes-walker spark IGNITE WHEN HE PARTIED HIMSELF TO DEATH. (by doing cocaine or drinking too much alchohol or god knows what)
He saw the grand nature of the multiverse with his newfound spark and ran right the ***c back home to his mommie plane. , because his insignificance to everything scared him. This is a guy that everyone who's ever thought about death can really relate to. Knowing that Theros was this small insiginificant wedge of the multiverse, he holed himself up in it and gave away his planeswalking powers just to he could actually make a difference to something, anything.
He's not even evil. He's not sadistic, or vengeful. He just really enjoys life. His WHOLE (self stated) GOAL AS A GOD WAS TO MAKE HIS FOLLOWERS SO HAPPY THEY FORGOT THEY WERE GOING TO END UP DEAD ONE DAY!
And he didn't even lose his spark. According to Wizards, he could have planeswalked away at any time (AND KEEP HIS GOD POWERS). But he chose not to, because he loved his followers. With the end of the Theros block, They could have just kicked him out of nyx, out of theros. Sent him crying to another plane, where his hatred could fester into something that made him legitimately evil. Then he could become part of the MTG villain pantheon, with a complete and fully inspirational backstory. Something people could actually root for.
But instead Wizards killed him. And that makes me really, really, really upset as a vorthos.
LordOfTheFlies87
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(10 votes)
Meh.
TerrorKing
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Nooble, Godsend is the sword Elspeth's always depicted with. It was created by Purphoros and fell from Nyx during his battle with Heliod. Elspeth recovered the sword and planeswalked away. Years later, when she returned to Theros after the whole New Phyrexia thing, Heliod blessed her sword and turned it into a spear, modeled after his own personal one, Khrusor. That is the reason behind her weapon looking like a spear in this art.
MagicForDummiez
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Black had Hero's Downfall which I would have very much preferred seeing Elspeth getting decimated...
But killing (or at least exiling) an awesome character like Xenagos? Fo' Shame !
SkyknightXi
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@Terror King: That actually gives me an idea for how Elspeth can bring proper judgement against Heliod for HIS crimes.
Heliod: Impertinent fool! You think I can be harmed by anything under my control?! That is MY weapon you hold! Elspeth: Because of your blessing, at least. (casts Erase or the like on the blessing) But now, this is once again Purphoros's weapon I'm borrowing. Heliod: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! (dies horribly and gets his throne given to Ephara)
Gcrudaplaneswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Yeah, Elspeth, you go girl!! I'm really happy she killed this son of a gun. First, her home plane gets raped by Bolas. Second, her friends get slaughtered by monstrosities created by toxic oil, only to be turned into more monstrosities that slaughter more allies. And now she finds herself in the midst of another problem. Xenagos brought imbalance to the plane because of his selfish whims, and Heliod wants to kill Elspeth? Like WTF. Well now she's finally the plane's champion and deserves a day off. Next she'll probably have to go toe-to-to with some Eldrazi...
Tribor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My opponent cast Polymorphous Rush to copy my Athreos. I cast Deicide on his false God.
5/5
Agent_Gold
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Step 1: You play Elspeth. Step 2: You play Godsend. Step 3: You exile your opponent's Xenagod with this card. Step 4: Your opponent smiles,shakes your hand, and concedes at your awesome flavor skills.
Step 5: Your opponent shows you that they're sideboarding out their Xenagods and bringing something in from the side. Step 6: Your opponent ramps into Revel of the Fallen God. Step 7: You laugh and concede this time in awe of their flavorfulness.
Step 8: Someone wins the tiebreaker, I dunno, not important.
Melubb
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
An easy 5 star card - there're so many god decks in standard, because those enchantments win games. So an easy 5 star card - it can take out sveral cards for 1 - it also remove a strategy/synergy in the deck. A great card for constructed, and it'll be a value card.
Syrtees
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Goodbye Mono- Devotion. All it takes is one of these sideboarded in and the entire deck pretty much falls apart.
BorosGreengrocer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Art is like the video for Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz, with Elspeth as Noodle.
Yodha
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Man, this looks like Elspeth just got blessed a Godsend and sent Xenagod to the Shadows of the Colossus.
...Too bad it was all a dream.
Ennoble
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So how would this, Enchanted Evening, anything that turns lands into creatures, then say Artificial Evolution or things of the like (in which they gain all creature types, including God) interact? Would that let me search through their library, hand, and graveyard for all of their lands ?
Arachnos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Lazenca_Seifus: Oh, and John is a zombie.
deworde2510
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(3 votes)
@Syrtees: So you're running a single Revoke in a 60 card deck. The chances of you drawing it before Master of Waves goes off aren't great. The chances of you drawing it *AT ALL* aren't great, less than 10%. And if you run more? Then suddenly every other copy becomes a dead card, BECAUSE SHE'S THE ONLY ENCHANTMENT IN THE DECK.
The idea that this "takes out several cards" is nonsense. If you remove a card from my deck, that is just a card that I won't draw. Half my deck is cards that I won't draw. You've done nothing that the 3 other Thassa's being 20 cards down in my deck won't already have done. Hell, if I have a Thassa on board and I scry to a new one, I myself will bottom deck it, because it's a dead card.
Mono-Blue Devotion is not a combo deck. Thassa's a useful tool, but the deck has other answers.
Alvorada
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Xenagos is like, "B!TCH, WHAT YOU DOIN'?!?"
Axelle
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@RAV004: Xenagos is not evil? Hardly. This is a man who doesn't give a damn about other people's lives. He had a guy at his revels stoned to death just because he felt angry. When he was a child, he pushed another kid off to his death. HE KILLED SCRYFISH.
And we don't even know if he's dead. Godsend doesn't kill people, it cuts them from Nyx. It would kill a normal god, since they're entirely from Nyx, but Xenagos is a different story.
Whiskerbro
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card has WAAAY too low of a rating right now. It is so much better than Revoke Existence.
Thestral
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Never in my time playing magic has a single card so deeply lowered the value of my collection. After selling off my old collection a while back I bought back in around Theros and invested in the Gods heavily, thinking they'd gain value over time just like other powerful cycles recently. And then Wizards screwed me. They screwed me so hard. And they used the name of one of my favorite bands to do it, talk about insult to injury.
EvilDarkVoid
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
To those who think that Xenagos really wasn't that bad a guy and didn't deserve to get de-deified, I present to you the following article from Wizards.
He killed and ate his sister before he was born. That's kinda "bad guy" right there.
Hunter06
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
On the art, Another stellar piece by Mr. Chan
On the card, its really narrow search and remove ability will rarely come up after standard, but its a pretty sweet removal spell for enchantments, although its a bit narrow
3/5 Stars
F33N1X
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
What I've concluded from looking at this card and all of Jason Chan's other artworks:
Jason Chan really likes his flappy capes.
Tiggurix
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Absolutely perfect card flavour-wise. Name, effect, illustration, flavour-text, just everything, really, comes together in a perfect amalgamation to make an absolutely awesome card for a Vorthos. Oh, and as mentioned, it's good for the sideboard as well.
I find it ironic that the Hero's Path story for the pre-release was all about an epic quest to "Infuse mystical energy into a powerful weapon and forge an armament mighty enough to defeat a god!" And then you pull out this and you're like, "Or I could just spend 1W and call it a day."
PlatypusTheFifth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"Will you then say, 'I am a god,' in the presence of those who kill you? You will be but a mortal, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you." -Ezekiel 28:9
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This can't kill Stitcher's Apprentice. It seems like there is more to being a god than just creating life and taking it away.
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nooooo! My Mega Ultra Chicken!
Cyberium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Now I see, the symbol of this expansion is pretty much Xenagos being stabbed by Godsend.
Maybe Elspeth is more ready to face the Phyrexians now. Come to think of it, how would Phyrexia "compleat" Gods on Theros?
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you use this to win the "Defeat a God" challenge deck, you win Magic forever.
Comments (50)
Elspeth kills Xenagos!
Snape kills Dumbledore!
Bolas kills Nissa, and no one notices!
For you anime fans, Ayumu Kasuga kills Mihama Chiyo (in a dream, but it totally counts)!
Anyway. Theros block had a good run, but it's over now, I guess. Thanks, Elspeth.
Also, http://nooooooooooooooo.com/
And absolutely no one was surprised.
(For context, see my comment on Xenagos, God of Revels)
No one who missed the books has any idea who won the Implicit Maze in Ravnica. We never knew what happened to Elspeth after New Phyrexia's compleation until we saw her in Theros, and we still don't know what happened to Koth. Each of these storylines had different needs, but it really felt bad when big moments happened "off-camera" in the past. The flavortext on Avacyn, Angel of Hope felt the tiniest bit awkward to me, but I'm glad they at least mentioned that important moment in the cards.
The card's mechanics are perfect also. It's almost always useful, and sometimes game-changing. Even players who don't care about flavor won't be mad to see it.
Sure, this doesn't hit artifacts, but ask yourself this question: How many people do you really see playing artifacts in Standard? Modern and Legacy are a different case, but at least in Standard, I think this card is much better than Revoke.
Flavor wise, I was hoping something like this would be called "Disbelief," but it's still a good name.
To Nooble, check the older Elspeth cards. She's had the same dual-gemmed sword the whole time. In Gods Willing, it shows Elspeth offering it to Heliod, who took it and made a spear out of it ( more accurately, a bladed spear like that would be a partisan. ) Elspeth, Sun's Champion very clearly shows the resulting weapon, so she's been using it for two sets now. Godsend actually shows the spear ( notice how the haft is extending out of the art frame? )
Awww man, I hope Xenagos isn't truly dead? I'm not a particular fan of him or anything, but you gotta admit that he really worked his way up there on becoming a God, and now it's just gone, taken away from him. Kinda feel bad for the guy.
And as it has been said by JimmyNoobPlayer, I find that it's also good that pieces of information about the "closing" of the story is good to have in a card, so people are aware of what's going on at the last edition of the whole block, before moving on to something new.
BUT, I do have to say that I didn't like this one in particular, in that it's way too straightforward and direct. I mean, as I've said, I love the functionality of the card and the flavor, but there's something about the "it's so obvious" side that bothers me. I mean card is named Deicide, Elspeth kills the "baddy" God of the set. And the flavor text confirms that the deed is done.
3.5/5 for being a good and flavorful sideboard material
I too want to thank Wizards for showing us.
Nicol Bolas, evil mastermind
Phyrexia, unkillable virus
Eldrazi, unstoppable eldritch monstrosities
In comes Xenagos, a guy with great character. He's not as smart as Nicol Bolas. He's not as tenacious or omnipresent as phrexians, and he's not as unstoppable as an eldrazi. He is a simple man (satyr, technically) who loved to live it up, and then had this amazing thing he never knew about called a planes-walker spark IGNITE WHEN HE PARTIED HIMSELF TO DEATH. (by doing cocaine or drinking too much alchohol or god knows what)
He saw the grand nature of the multiverse with his newfound spark and ran right the ***c back home to his mommie plane. , because his insignificance to everything scared him. This is a guy that everyone who's ever thought about death can really relate to. Knowing that Theros was this small insiginificant wedge of the multiverse, he holed himself up in it and gave away his planeswalking powers just to he could actually make a difference to something, anything.
He's not even evil. He's not sadistic, or vengeful. He just really enjoys life. His WHOLE (self stated) GOAL AS A GOD WAS TO MAKE HIS FOLLOWERS SO HAPPY THEY FORGOT THEY WERE GOING TO END UP DEAD ONE DAY!
And he didn't even lose his spark. According to Wizards, he could have planeswalked away at any time (AND KEEP HIS GOD POWERS). But he chose not to, because he loved his followers. With the end of the Theros block, They could have just kicked him out of nyx, out of theros. Sent him crying to another plane, where his hatred could fester into something that made him legitimately evil. Then he could become part of the MTG villain pantheon, with a complete and fully inspirational backstory. Something people could actually root for.
But instead Wizards killed him. And that makes me really, really, really upset as a vorthos.
But killing (or at least exiling) an awesome character like Xenagos? Fo' Shame !
Heliod: Impertinent fool! You think I can be harmed by anything under my control?! That is MY weapon you hold!
Elspeth: Because of your blessing, at least. (casts Erase or the like on the blessing) But now, this is once again Purphoros's weapon I'm borrowing.
Heliod: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! (dies horribly and gets his throne given to Ephara)
5/5
Step 2: You play Godsend.
Step 3: You exile your opponent's Xenagod with this card.
Step 4: Your opponent smiles,shakes your hand, and concedes at your awesome flavor skills.
Step 5: Your opponent shows you that they're sideboarding out their Xenagods and bringing something in from the side.
Step 6: Your opponent ramps into Revel of the Fallen God.
Step 7: You laugh and concede this time in awe of their flavorfulness.
Step 8: Someone wins the tiebreaker, I dunno, not important.
So an easy 5 star card - it can take out sveral cards for 1 - it also remove a strategy/synergy in the deck.
A great card for constructed, and it'll be a value card.
...Too bad it was all a dream.
The idea that this "takes out several cards" is nonsense. If you remove a card from my deck, that is just a card that I won't draw. Half my deck is cards that I won't draw. You've done nothing that the 3 other Thassa's being 20 cards down in my deck won't already have done. Hell, if I have a Thassa on board and I scry to a new one, I myself will bottom deck it, because it's a dead card.
Mono-Blue Devotion is not a combo deck. Thassa's a useful tool, but the deck has other answers.
And we don't even know if he's dead. Godsend doesn't kill people, it cuts them from Nyx. It would kill a normal god, since they're entirely from Nyx, but Xenagos is a different story.
https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ur/297
He killed and ate his sister before he was born. That's kinda "bad guy" right there.
On the card, its really narrow search and remove ability will rarely come up after standard, but its a pretty sweet removal spell for enchantments, although its a bit narrow
3/5 Stars
Jason Chan really likes his flappy capes.
I find it ironic that the Hero's Path story for the pre-release was all about an epic quest to "Infuse mystical energy into a powerful weapon and forge an armament mighty enough to defeat a god!" And then you pull out this and you're like, "Or I could just spend 1W and call it a day."
-Ezekiel 28:9
Maybe Elspeth is more ready to face the Phyrexians now. Come to think of it, how would Phyrexia "compleat" Gods on Theros?