by Can Tran

Created on: November 04, 2009

"Nova Chaser" is a 10/2 red elemental warrior printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Lorwyn." This is one of the many cards in the Lorwyn set that encourage players to build around a certain theme of creatures. In the case of Nova Chaser, players are encouraged to build around elementals. For aggressive players, Nova Chaser is an awesome card to have. In a five-color elemental deck, one should definitely have Nova Chaser.

The converted mana cost for Nova Chaser is four. You will need one red mana and three colorless mana to bring Nova Chaser from your hand and onto the battlefield. For what Nova Chaser can do, the converted mana cost is well worth it. When you play Nova Chaser, you need to "Champion an Elemental." That simply means that you temporarily Exile an elemental creature from the game as long as Nova Chaser remains on the battlefield. After Nova Chaser leaves the battlefield, the Exiled creature returns. But, you can Exile a measly 1/1 elemental token.

What does Nova Chaser do in the first place?

The Nova Chaser has one ability and that is all you really need. It has Trample. Whenever Nova Chaser attacks and is blocked, the defending player is still getting damaged. Say that Nova Chaser attacks and the defending player blocks with a 3/3 creature, the defending player is still going to suffer seven points of combat damage. For any aggressive player, creatures with Trample are very good to have. It ensures that the player can still deal combat damage.

However, there are ways to get a lot out of Nova Chaser. One can ask: How do you get the most out of Nova Chaser? One obvious means would be to build a deck around elementals.

You can use "Horde of Notions" to bring back Nova Chaser whenever it gets sent to the graveyard. Should Nova Chaser be sent to the graveyard, you simply pay one mana of each color to use Horde of Notion's main ability. The main ability of Horde of Notions will allow you to play Nova Chaser from the graveyard. Unfortunately, Nova Chaser does not have Haste.

You may want to add in "Fervor" give all of your creatures Haste. Haste means that creatures are unaffected by summoning sickness. Fervor allows you attack with Nova Chaser the moment it enters the battlefield.

Also, you can add in "Rage Reflection." Rage Reflection allows your creatures to deal Double Strike. Double Strike lets your creatures deal First Strike damage first and them regular damage. A 10/2 creature with Trample and Double Strike is impressive.

Overall, Nova Chaser is pretty impressive by itself. You can really mess up an opponent by attacking with Nova Chaser. With cards such as Rage Reflection and Fervor, you can attack with Nova Chaser. Doing so allows you to attack with Nova Chaser and take off a sizable chunk of your opponent's life points.

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