December 15, 1997

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The Card of the Day is...

Xanthic Statue

Weatherlight Rare
8 Artifact

"5: Until end of turn, Xanthic Statue is an 8/8 artifact creature with trample."

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A brief rundown of the card:

Only Jade Statue and Xanthic Statue have the distinct ability to change forms from an artifact to a creature. The odd situations that this can create are absolutly worth building a deck around. Even if any bizzare combos don't come your way while Xanthic Statue is in play, you still have an 8/8 trampler on your side!! Here is a good sampling of what nasty things you can do with Xanthic Statue:

• Wrath of God
  This is simple enough--bury all creatures with Wrath of God, then activate your Xanthic Statue to have the only creature in play (and an 8/8 trampler at that!)
• Drop of Honey/Pillar Tombs of Aku
  Each of these choice enchantments require players to sacrifice a creature during your upkeep. It is not very hard to keep your Xanthic Statue from being a creature at this time. It is also fairly easy to make it a creature after the fact, and wreak havoc upon your opponent's decimated forces.
• Winds of Rath+Tranquil Grove
  These cards work together just as well as Wrath of God--simply destroy all enchantments with Tranguil Grove, then . Sure, it takes a little more mana and cards, but the spiffy Tranquil Grove sticks around for further defensive use.
• Angelic Voices
  Why not go for a 9/9 trampler? Let us not forget about the "Bad Moon of artifacts", Angelic Voices.

E-mail me with comments, complaints, suggestions, or combos. I can't put every suggestion or combo up, but I will probably try to if I like it.