Havengul Lich is a mythic blue/black Zombie Wizard featured in Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Dark Ascension. Noel deCordova previewed Havengul Lich on the official Magic: The Gathering site today, and out of the long history of Magic Liches, this may be the best of the bunch. Many Liches have tried to break into decks in Magic: The Gathering history, including the recent artifact aligned Phylactery Lich, but Havengul Lich brings such a powerful mix of abilities to play that this card is one to watch as Innistrad block’s focus on the graveyard continues to take hold.
Havengul Lich
3UB
Creature – Zombie Wizard Mythic Rare
1: You may cast target creature card from a graveyard this turn. When you cast that card this turn, Havengul Lich gains all activated abilities of that card until end of turn.
4/4
Where to even begin with the twisted possibilities that this undead aberration brings to the table?
Yes, Havengul Lich works with *any* graveyard.
Are you playing with Snapcaster Mages? Maybe your opponent is. Either way, pay a point of mana (Total 2U) and enjoy another one! Havengul Lich isn’t picky, and the ability works exactly like it sounds – Feel free to actually CAST creatures from any graveyard on the table for a the price of the creature +1.
This is an incredibly powerful ability, especially in the context of Innistrad block. If you play Havengul Lich in Limited, you win. If you play it in Commander, it had better die instantly or you probably win. Do we dare to dream about the constructed viability of this problem-solving intelligent Zombie? Yes. Yes we do. The fact that Havengul Lich is color coded to fit into a tribal Zombie “self-mill” deck is icing on the cake, as players will absolutely find applications for this game wide graveyard link. Titans, mages, sphinxes, engines, crusaders, heroes, geists, anything and everything under the sun is fair game and it only costs one colorless mana to get the party started!
And unbelievably, there’s more. Not only is Havengul Lich a solid 4/4 (Downright huge for a “caster” creature with cast-from-the-yard ability) but there’s yet another ability tacked on that will take a little more work to abuse but will certainly end up being relevant. Havengul Lich also takes all activated abilities of his resurrected selections, allowing players to essentially “haste in” all kinds of additional surprises.
As a multicolored 4/4 for 5, it might be hard to get behind the Havengul Lich as a viable selection outside of Limited and Commander, but on some levels it is every bit as exciting as Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. This is a REAL Lich, and while on the expensive end of things and vulnerable to removal without any intrinsic “insurance”, the options that Havengul Lich provide make it a terrifying prospect.
Get your first chance to bring out the dead with Havengul Lich at Dark Ascension prerelease events on January 28-29!
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