White decks in Standard are overloaded with great three-mana cards and Dominaria United is introducing one more to the fray.
To continue White’s embarrassment of riches, a new three-mana rare is coming in Dominaria United that contributes further to White’s control gameplans that are prevalent in Standard and Historic on Magic Arena.
While Anointed Peacekeeper will have to compete with cards like Brutal Cathar and Adeline, Respendant Cathar, the three-drop will help disrupt the opponent’s curve and tax their planeswalkers.
Anointed Peacekeeper (Unofficial translation via MTGGoldfish)
- Mana value: 2W
- Type: Creature Human Cleric
- Rarity: Rare
- Keyword: Vigilance
- Stats: 3/3
- First ability: As Anointed Peacekeeper enters the battlefield, look at an opponent’s hand then choose any card name.
- Second ability: Spells your opponents cast with the chosen name cost two more to cast.
- Third ability: Activated abilities of sources with the chosen name cost two more to activate unless they’re mana abilities.
Since the three-drop slot is so packed in White, this card won’t be an auto-include. There are just too many options available that it’s possible other three-mana creatures will be more useful. But Anointed Peacekeeper is a strong option and should find a home in the many White decks looking for a replacement for Elite Spellbinder.
White is losing some of its best low-cost threats like Luminarch Aspirant. This could lead Mono-White Aggro to transition into a disruptive taxes list centered around cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Brutal Cathar.
Anointed Peacekeeper can contribute to a broader taxes plan by making spells and activated abilities cost two more. It hates on planeswalker cards extra hard. This will make an opponent’s planeswalker cost two more, then its loyalty abilities will cost two more to activate.
The immediate comparison is with Elite Spellbinder but there are some key differences to note. Anointed Peacekeeper does not have evasion, but it is a more hefty body at 3/3. It won’t be an evasive finisher but it will be a better blocker on the ground.
Elite Spellbinder exiles a card, which is a useful way to get around abilities like foretell or cycling. Anointed Peacekeeper doesn’t exile, but it hits all copies of a certain card. If you name an opponent’s Welcoming Vampire, any copy they draw will cost two more to cast as long as Anoointed Peacekeeper is on the battlefield.
In the right metagame, Anointed Peacekeeper will be one of the strongest tools in White’s large toolbox.
Dominaria United releases on Magic Arena and Magic Online on Sept. 1, followed by a tabletop release on Sept. 9.
