MTG Community Reacts to Torrent Elemental's First Reveal

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Torrent Elemental by James Paick — Fate Reforged card art

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Community Reactions to Torrent Elemental’s First Reveal

When Torrent Elemental shattered onto the Fate Reforged stage, the MTG community lit up with a mix of awe and healthy skepticism 🧙‍♂️🔥. A blue creature with wings is nothing new, but this Sultai gem carries a multi-layered identity that sparked conversations across forums, streams, and deck-building spreadsheets. The initial buzz wasn’t just about its mana cost or its 3/5 body for five mana; it was about design philosophy: can a creature that flies and taps blockers at attack become a tempo swing in midrange and control shells? The answer, for many players, was yes—and with a few caveats. Some expressed excitement over exile-to-battlefield reanimation as a surprising surprise in long games, while others fretted about timing and potential commander-era shenanigans. The result was a chorus of opinions, with “this card feels powerful” and “this is too cute by half” trading blows like a friendly octopus in a coffee shop of ideas 🧩⚔️.

“Torrent Elemental looks like a tempo dream in the right shell, and a hobbyist nightmare in a crowded boardstate. The exile revival is the kind of twist that makes you rethink how you value combat”

That mix of wonder and caution is precisely what makes MTG reveals memorable. In a set engineered around Jace-level cunning and green-sweet gruel, Torrent Elemental landed as a signal card for Sultai identity—blue for countermagic and evasion, black for attrition, and green for resilience. The initial reactions weren’t uniform, but they were loud and colorful, much like the art itself 🧙‍♂️🎨. The chatter extended beyond traditional formats, seeding conversations about reanimator play patterns in Modern-legal contexts and the card’s potential in Pioneer’s landscape, where acceleration into a late-game threat could redefine tempo in the right metagame.”

Card design and mechanics

At its core, Torrent Elemental is a careful meditation on how to compress threat density into a blue-green-black umbrella. Its mana cost of {4}{U} and its hybrid activation cost {3}{B/G}{B/G} create a tension between early tempo and late-game inevitability. The flying racehorse aspect lets it cruise over ground-based blockers, while its attack trigger—tapping all defending creatures—forces opponents to reevaluate every decision about blocks and chump tactics. This is a card that asks you to consider not just what your board will do next turn, but what your opponent’s board will be forced to do as you swing in 🪄💨.

The exile mechanic—bring Torrent Elemental onto the battlefield tapped from exile for a sorcery-speed cost—adds another layer of strategic depth. It’s the kind of ability that invites players to build around it: tutor/force-removal interactions, graveyard synergy, and reanimation subthemes that celebrate the graveyard as a resource rather than a final resting place. In a format that loves style and speed, Torrent Elemental’s edge is its potential to surprise—turning a late-game stalemate into a decisive, flying-on-ether moment. The mythic rarity and James Paick’s evocative art only amplify that sense of impact and style 💎⚡.

How players imagined using Torrent Elemental

  • As a tempo pivot in midrange mirrors, where opponents’ boards are delicately balanced, and a single attack with a tapped-down foe can swing the momentum.
  • In reanimator or self-mend archetypes that love value from exile and graveyard recursion, letting you replay the threat after a devastating swing.
  • In Commander, where the Zilfi-like chaos of a Sultai shell can prime a late-game alpha strike that your pod won’t soon forget 🧙‍♂️💥.

From a collector’s viewpoint, the card’s foil and nonfoil finishes offer a dual path for enthusiasts: the foil versions are a little sparkle in a deck that leans into a dark, glossy mood, while nonfoil copies offer more accessible entry points for casual players. Its set, Fate Reforged, sits in the continuum of Khans block storytelling—a time when multiverse connections and tri-color identity were taking bold, experimental shapes. For those who track price and rarity, Torrent Elemental’s arc—hovering in modest ranges in nonfoil and a touch more in foil—became a reminder that myths about power often outlive their first whispers, especially when reanimation and evasion collide on the battlefield ⚔️🧭.

Flavor, lore, and the art of anticipation

The Sultai watermark beneath Torrent Elemental is more than a mark of color identity; it signals a philosophy—control, reclamation, and a certain scheming patience. The artwork by James Paick captures a charged moment where water and wind fuse with a shadowed, otherworldly edge, inviting players to imagine the elemental’s origin story as a tide that pulls both opportunity and danger into the gutter of the battlefield. This is the kind of card that fuels lore-friendly moments in multiplayer settings, where a precise attack can unlock a cascade of decisions that define a night of gaming with friends 🎨🧭.

Where it sits in the broader MTG conversation

Community chatter around Torrent Elemental has matured into a celebration of design that rewards thoughtful, multi-layered play. It’s not a “spam-the-board” threat; it’s a card that tempts you to plan not just your next draw step, but your next two turns, and perhaps your next game’s trajectory. The first reveal did not just promise a creature with wings; it hinted at a philosophy: in the hands of the right pilot, even a five-mana elemental can steer a match toward a memorable, cunning victory 🧙‍♂️🔥.

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Torrent Elemental

Torrent Elemental

{4}{U}
Creature — Elemental

Flying

Whenever this creature attacks, tap all creatures defending player controls.

{3}{B/G}{B/G}: Put this card from exile onto the battlefield tapped. Activate only as a sorcery.

ID: dc4850e4-acb9-458d-952f-b3952cab2a5b

Oracle ID: 0335e7db-5e0e-4271-8ae7-437a1d2c16ac

Multiverse IDs: 391945

TCGPlayer ID: 95308

Cardmarket ID: 271599

Colors: U

Color Identity: B, G, U

Keywords: Flying

Rarity: Mythic

Released: 2015-01-23

Artist: James Paick

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 16654

Penny Rank: 14224

Set: Fate Reforged (frf)

Collector #: 56

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — legal
  • Modern — legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — not_legal

Prices

  • USD: 0.37
  • USD_FOIL: 1.17
  • EUR: 0.36
  • EUR_FOIL: 1.25
  • TIX: 0.02
Last updated: 2025-11-14