This is the third version of Elspeth, the others being Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Elspeth Tirel. Elspeth Knight-Errant is one of the best planeswalkers for multiplayer (or duel, for that matter) making the card expensive to acquire. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion seems similar to Elspeth Knight-Errant.

Elspeth, Sun’s Champion costs six mana to cast, two of which must be white. Elspeth Sun’s Champion enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters and has three abilities. Four counters seems a little low for a planeswalker that costs six mana.

The first ability adds one loyalty counter and puts three 1/1 white soldiers creature tokens down. This helps you protect Elspeth from your opponent’s creatures. It’s also a fast way to build your army and recover from mass removal.

Speaking of mass removal, Elspeth’s second ability costs three loyalty counters and destroys all creatures with power 4 or greater. Very useful when you are facing down large creature threats. It also leaves Elspeth on the battlefield, ready to build that soldier army in future turns.

The last ability costs seven loyalty counters, so it will take a few turns to get there. This one gives you an emblem with “creatures you control get +2/+2 and have flying”. This is a useful ability, but given the high initial mana cost of Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, and the number of turns it would take before you could activate this last ability, I’m not sure it’s worth it. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion will work best in white decks that are creating large numbers of token creatures, and need a way of dealing with larger creatures other players bring to the table.

Verdict: Marginal. Stick with Elspeth, Knight-Errant is my advice. This never version of Elspeth is good, but too expensive in mana, and too long a journey to get to the emblem.

Connections: Like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion? You may also like [Chandra Ablaze] [Tezzeret the Seeker] [Garruk, Caller of Beasts]
Don’t like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion? You may prefer [Elspeth, Knight-Errant] [Ajani Vengeant] [Ral Zarek]