Sarkhan Vol is a green/red Planeswalker and his abilities reflect the creature-centric nature of these colours. Sarkhan Vol costs four mana to cast, of which one must be red and one green. He enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters and has three abilities.
The first ability gives all of your creatures +1/+1 and Haste until the end of turn. If you’re playing a deck with lots of small green or red creatures, such as saprolings or goblins, this is ideal. It can also make your larger creatures able to attack the turn you cast them, and slightly stronger to boot. A nice ability that adds a loyalty counter to Sarkhan.
The second ability allows you to take control of a creature until the end of turn. This ability costs two loyalty counters and can be incredibly powerful at the Grand Melee table. With four players’ creatures to choose from, you can spring all manner of surprises. If you have the means to sacrifice a creature you control for some benefit, you can ensure that what you take never comes back!
Sarkhan Vol’s third and final ability gives you 20 power worth of creatures, in the form of five 4/4 red dragons, with flying. This costs the removal of six loyalty counters. In Grand Melee with all the life gain around the table, this won’t necessarily allow for a single swing kill. However if you’ve been using Sarkhan first ability to put the player to your left under pressure, it very well might do just that.
While at first glance Sarkhan is a straightforward Planeswalker, in a Grand Melee situation he is surprisingly flexible, particularly with his second ability.
Verdict: Strong. A deck based around Sarkhan Vol will do well at the Melee table, this
card can also be used to strengthen other green/red decks, and should also provide benefits to three colour decks that use green and red.
Connections: Like Sarkhan Vol? You may also like [Garruk Wildspeaker] [Garruk, Caller of Beasts] [Xenagos, the Reveler] Don’t like Sarkhan Vol? You may prefer [Ajani Goldmane] [Liliana Vess] [Venser, the Sojourner]
