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Magic the Gathering card analysis: Living Tsunami

"Living Tsunami" is a 4/4 blue elemental printed as an uncommon for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Zendikar." At first glance, the Living Tsunami may have a drawback that seems to be a major turn-off for the most part. However, Living Tsunami is something that ensures that one can make good use out of several of the various cards printed in the Zendikar expansion set.


The converted mana cost for the Living Tsunami is four. You will need two blue mana and two colorless mana to play Living Tsunami from your hand onto the battlefield. For what Living Tsunami can do, the converted mana cost seems to be reasonable enough. The card is incredibly useful if you have cards in your deck that have the ability of Landfall. Landfall is one of the major dynamic themes in the Zendikar expansion set. Landfall is an ability that takes effect whenever you play a land. The Landfall ability is different from one card to another.


What does Living Tsunami do in the first place?


To start things off Living Tsunami has Flying. If you attack with Living Tsunami and your opponent has no creatures with Flying or Reach, then s/he is probably taking four points of combat damage.


At the start of your upkeep, you have to return a land back to your hand. If not, then you have to sacrifice Living Tsunami. In most respects, this is a major drawback because you need the mana to cast your spells and so forth. However, with the dynamics brought forth via Zendikar, returning a land to your hand is not so bad. Again, there is the Landfall dynamic in Zendikar. In this respect, Living Tsunami ensures that you have lands in your hand that can be played to take advantage of those Landfall cards.


Say that you are playing a black and blue control deck and "Bloodghast" is in your graveyard, you can play a land to use its Landfall ability to return to the battlefield from the graveyard. In this respect, you have a definite way to constantly bring back the Bloodghast. This can come in handy in a "Grixis" themed deck with "Defiler of Souls." In this respect, you can sacrifice Bloodghast via Defiler of Souls' ability and bring it back by playing a land card.


In a pure blue deck, you can use cards such as "Hedron Crab" and "Roil Elemental." Hedron Crab has the Landfall ability that requires a target player to "mill" the top three cards in his/her library into the graveyard. With having to bring a land back to your hand via the Living Tsunami, you have a surefire way of milling your opponents' libraries to death. With Roil Elemental, you can constantly use its Landfall ability to constantly take control of your opponents' creatures as long as it stays on the battlefield.


It gets very brutal if you are using a black and blue deck with "Ob Nixilus, the Fallen." Its Landfall ability allows you to make a target player lose three points of life. In turn, you get to put three +1/+1 counters on Ob Nixilus, the Fallen. With Living Tsunami, you can keep on using Ob Nixilus, the Fallen's Landfall ability.


Overall, Living Tsunami is a great card to have in any deck that uses blue cards and has cards that have the Landfall ability. If you are using a Landfall deck with blue cards, consider having Living Tsunami as one of your cards.



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Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Magic the Gathering card analysis: Living Tsunami

  • 1 of 2

    by Can Tran

    "Living Tsunami" is a 4/4 blue elemental printed as an uncommon for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Zendikar."

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  • 2 of 2

    by Elton Gahr

    One of the things that blue has typically lacked are good creatures. It has had a few remarkably powerful creatures but

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