The Predecessors
A White card that produces four 1/1 token creatures is nothing new. As far back as the very first Pro Tour, then-Canadian National Champion Eric Tam made the Top 8 of that inaugural event with a four-color Green deck utilizing, among countless other strange and mismatched cards, Icatian Town as a finisher.
You probably notice that Eric’s deck looks to be a mess... Part of that is because deck design wasn’t at that point what it is now, and partly because the tournament format of the first Pro Tour was a modified "Home-dicapped" Standard where each player had to run five cards from each of the then-legal Type II sets. Icatian Town was probably included solely due to its representation of Fallen Empires… but that doesn’t explain why Eric played it main deck as well as sideboard other than he wanted to. Nevertheless, Tam seemed to have something going on with his unique selection of Icatian Town; I know I tried to build countless decks utilizing that expensive sorcery, just to see if I could get it to work.
Several years later, Tomi Walamies ran an impressive 6-0 during the Block Constructed portion of Worlds 2002 with a deck that defied the field. Even though most players thought of Odyssey Block as a U/G or B format, at least until the appearance of three- and four-color Wake decks late in the PTQ season, Walamies cruised to a perfect record on the strength of Battle Screech.
So why drag out old deck lists with obsolete white creature producers? Icatian Town and Battle Screech aren’t exactly Kjeldoran Outpost and Decree of Justice, after all... They aren’t even “Processor for one.” Yet these cards were played in highly successful decks for their eras.
The Savior of Kamigawa
As far as token creature generators, Promise of Bunrei produces at a significantly cheaper cost than both Icatian Town and Battle Screech. However, the card comes with a catch. Unlike its predecessors, Promise of Bunrei does not produce creatures immediately. It is an enchantment that has to be triggered by the death of a creature in order to put its tokens into play. Promise of Bunrei’s trigger condition slows the card down but can also be very helpful. Traditionally, the worst cards for White Weenie are global sweep effects like Pyroclasm and Wrath of God. Because especially mono-White Weenie decks need to win via creature damage, big creature defense can put a real bend in the aggro plan. But if you think about it, getting your creatures killed is the perfect setup... That Wrath of God might take out your Lantern Kamis, but Promise of Bunrei will ensure that you have a small army of follow up threats in what otherwise might have been your worst case scenario.
引用元
PROMISING NEWCOMER Posted in Feature on May 12, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/promising-newcomer-2005-05-12
《分霊の確約/Promise of Bunrei》のプレビュー記事です。
まず、1/1のトークンを４体出すカードの前例として、《アイケイシアの都市/Icatian Town》や《金切るときの声/Battle Screech》を紹介し、それと同様の効果として《分霊の確約/Promise of Bunrei》を紹介しています。ただ、特にそういうカードの系譜が確立しているというわけではないでしょう。
用途としては、白ウィニーの全体除去対策、というのも触れてはいますが、本題は生け贄に捧げるカードで能動的に誘発させるコンボです。実際に活躍したのも、《ナントゥーコの鞘虫/Nantuko Husk》や《オルゾフの御曹子、テイサ/Teysa, Orzhov Scion》との生け贄シナジーデッキ、ゴースト・ハスクでした。
ドラゴンスピリットサイクルの《明けの星、陽星/Yosei, the Morning Star》も、《よりよい品物/Greater Good》でよく生け贄に捧げられていたのを思い出します。
補足
記事として取り上げることはありませんが、神河のことが触れられているものについて、付記しておきます。
『神河謀叛』の《道を塞ぐ者、黄泉示/Yomiji, Who Bars the Way》は、『神河物語』の《祝福の息吹/Blessed Breath》のイラストで先行登場していました
YOMIJI’S BREATH Posted in Arcana on May 12, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/yomijis-breath-2005-05-12
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