Sir Shandlar of Eberyn: A good defense is a great offense

"Remember Sir Shandlar! Remember and stand firm!"

—rallying cry of the Eberyn militia

The Vanilla Legends are interesting, to say the least. Instead of the flashy abilities with low p/t we get now, they instead offer another idea, their greatness being shown through their p/t instead. This doesn't just extend to physical prowess, if flavortext is to be believed, it also shows their weapons, cunning, skill, and even destiny and magical capabilities. I mean, Riven Turnbull is an advisor who otherwise can literally wrestle a Craw Wurm to the ground with little problem. Some even got basic abilities (no banding though), which brings me to one of my favorite vanilla legends. Sir Shandlar.

Fun Fact: He's the only knight in Magic with a proper 'Sir' title.

Flavor: While literally no lore of him exists outside his own flavor text, it can be seen he's a more than capable fighter with great defense (being a 4/7). This makes him, and his greatness, stronger than a Craw Wurm (remember he's a single human). I'd argue this just doesn't extend to his own endurance, but to the gear he carries, and his skills as a combatant. I mean, who's to say that kite shield or sword isn't magical in it's own right. Like all the 'loreless' legends of Legends, it's hard to say a proper flavor score. So I give it a 3/5.

Art: Andi Rusu is an unsung brilliant artist. His style deliberately used an 'aged' look, making it look like medieval book printing, with a false fade of age. Legends was his most prolific expansion, though he features art all the way until Alliances. For Shandlar, it almost looks like a brass carving. Simple colors but nice details of bronze, white, and rust. Everything is detailed and shaded just enough to help with the look, without it being too detailed to become confusing. The most elaborate thing in my opinion is how 3D it looks, again, helping with the carving look I mentioned earlier. I can't honestly say if that was his intention, but in my opinion, that's what it is. 5/5.

Mechanics: When working on my Gen Con Ehrmaggedon deck, I had an issue. I knew my chances of encountering a Legend was slim, but I wanted to run my Karakas. I looked over 3 Green/White legends, that I felt were strong enough to be worth including. Jasmine Boreal, Torsten Von Urses, and Sir Shandlar.

Seriously? No profession?

Jasmine is actually a fairly costed card. Arguably an Erhnam with no drawback for a mana more. However, in a deck like Erhmagged, that one more mana, can be a tall order. If I was in possession of a Legends copy, I'd probably have done it, but I sadly only own a foil TS version.

Torsten Von Ursus, at 6 mana, is rather fairly costed. However, not only does that make him 'bad', it also makes him boring. He does have the creature type 'Soldier', which I'm sure will include him running along side the Icatian's at some point in my brews, but as he stands, he's just not that great.

Which brought me to Shandlar. 7 toughness is almost impossible to swing over, and is rather difficult to burn out. Further more, without assistance from other cards, it's tougher then almost ever creature in the format. At 4 power, he can take out many staples, including Serendib Efreet, Su-Chi, Juggernaut, Every red creature, Sengir Vampire, Serra Angel and Assembly-Workers. The fringe creatures I may have encountered included the likes of Clockwork Beast, Craw Wurm/Giant, and well you get the idea.

When he came into play, he had to be answered quickly, which usually meant he was going to the retire out on a farm, or he was being terror'd (both which happens). I sadly didn't get a single game against Burn at Gen Con, but I only sided him out once (against a mono-black deck that was putting in a playset of Gloom).

All and all, he did his job, even if it was soaking removal so others my live. Like his flavor text implies. I'd say he's honestly a good card, and unlike the founder of Benelia up there, is actually not to boring do to his unusually high toughness.

In other suggestions, being white, he does synergize with Crusade/Jyhad, and being green, you can keep him alive with Avoid Fate/Death Ward. 

Playability 4/5

12/15=4/5 A solid card in it's own right, and a good reason to try him out.