Hey,

This week I'm going to cover one of my favorite cards in Standard, Obelisk of Alara:



The "tower of power" as I like to call it, Obelisk of Alara is a 6 CMC artifact which features 5 different activated abilities. Each ability is representative of the color in its activation cost, as follows:

• You gain 5 life - Great ability, stalls the game by gaining life, negates damage from burn, and is very efficient for its ability cost.
• Draw a card, then discard a card - Filtering for any color. Good to use when using colors that don't have a card draw or card filtering spell, like red or white. Also forces you to discard a card, which can be good for reanimation strategies.
• Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn - Repeatable, colorless removal, so it gets around pro-color abilities on cards such as Black Knight and Malakir Bloodwitch. Also great when paired with first strike creatures (Vampire Hexmage, Plated Geopede) to keep your creature around and make them lose theirs.
• Obelisk of Alara deals 3 damage to target player - This ability is what makes the Obelisk a great win-condition. Use it to ping your opponent for 3 damage.
• Target creature gets +4/+4 - Pumps a creature, working well for creatures with lifelink or double strike. Just be careful for your creature not to get removed in response.

As you can see, the Obelisk of Alara is like a Swiss army knife, performing various functions basic to each color. Also, it being an artifact means it can be in any deck; just make sure to have the colored mana abilities to protect it. Here are some cards I would recommend using it with:

• Rupture Spire - Able to produce any color of mana, using this one land will allow you to use any mode of the Obelisk. Downside is that it comes into play tapped and requires one mana when it comes into play. Also, beware of targeted land removal such as Goblin Ruinblaster and Acidic Slime.
• Fabricate - At 6 mana, the Obelisk is a card that's best drawn late game. Fabricate allows you to minimize the number of Obelisks while still having virtual copies in your deck. In addition, Fabricate opens up the ability to search for other good artifacts such as Mindlock Orb, Pithing Needle, or Sphinx Summoner.
• Tezzeret the Seeker - Tezzeret will allow you to untap your Obelisk during your turn, allowing you to use its abilities twice so long as you have enough mana.
  

Here is my final review on the card:
+ Colorless source of removal, efficient lifegain, efficient pump, card filtering, direct damage all in one card.
+ Cool looking art
- Costs 6 mana, meaning you must be able to survive until late game.
- Works best with nonbasic lands, which is the target of hate recently.

Until next time,
shadowsketched
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