Voracious Wurm 1G
~ETB with x +1/+1 counters, x=amount life you gained this turn.
2/2
This looks like it might see play in Naya or Bant, if the meta allows it. It's not always great t2, but it can still be really relevant late game. Maybe in a life gain shell with Trostani, the angel enchant, and Archangel of Thune?
It likes an active Nearhearth Pilgrim, that's for sure.
At the end of the day, it's still a bear. Ya, it's been a long time since Kavu Titan was the bee's knees, but this guy is a solid roleplayer. Makes for a worth while Limited body and potential Standard critter.
edit: You still get a 2/2 for 2. That's much better than Talara's Battalion.
I feel like you'll need to find a reliable way to activate the effect T2/T3 because the longer the game goes on the worse a vanilla beater becomes. Maybe if the whole counter/lifegain thing transcends the realm of "gimmick" he'll see play though. It's another card that could be good with the right synergies but right now he's just feels like a better Boneyard Wurm, mostly because you can turn him on a lot earlier.
Who wants to see a ****ty combo?
T1 -> play Land, cast Dork
T2 -> play Land, cast Nearheath Pilgrim (bond with Dork)
T3 -> play Land, attack with Nearheath Pilgrim (gain 2 life), cast Heroes' Reunion (gain 7 life), cast a 11/11 Voracious Wurm.
It combos with Nourishing Shoal and some big green card to pitch (e.g. Worldspine Wurm, Autochthon Wurm), but really, if you want to use three cards to make a big fat creature, play Bogle and 2 Auras instead.
Nearheath Pilgrim, in particular, seems like a solid fit for Selesnya aggro builds, since Pilgrim plus other 2cc creature gains 4 life, into Voracious Wurm for a 6/6.
It can also be dropped off a Burning-Tree Emissary, which means that there are possibilities in Naya Blitz.
Well, you still need to gain life on the same turn that you bring the Wurm in. This means that, say, if you're comboing it with Centaur Healer, it's a 5/5 on turn 5. Not exactly impressive when Advent of the Wurm makes an equally big token 1 turn earlier.
If we're talking about Modern, there's Sunspring Expedition to consider. My goal so far is to try and make it as large as possible on T2, but it doesn't seem likely aside from that Nourishing Shoal idea posted earlier. If you happen to double Sunspring and then play Elspeth on T4, you're swinging for the win... I think there's a lot of potential here, just need to find a good fit.
I find it very funny some of the posters go "THIS CARD IS BAD".
PROS
1G = Splashable and already in 1/2th of the color of life gaining.
2/2 = In the worst possible scenario, its just a Grizzly Bear.
Optional Effect = Makes it an easy and versatile card that doesn't lock you of having a possible blocker.
Synergy with Life Gain = Good if you want to stay alive and have a big body to boot as well.
CONS
You gotta play lifegain to make it very good.
Seriously though... its like adding 1G Kicker to a heal spell. Imagine if was like Healing Salve.
Healing Salve W
Instant
Kicker 1G
Choose one — Target player gains 3 life; or prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
If this card was kicked, put a green 5/5 Wurm token into play if you gained 3 life from Healing Salve.
Ok, let's use the mana differently. Let's play 3/x life linker and attack with it on turn 4. Now, let's pay the 4 mana to drop two 5/5 Wurms. See, Advent doesn't require building around it, and it is always really good. But this, if built around can be great. And on its own is a bear, which is not always irrelevant. It has tons of support in the Standard (and Modern I guess)
If we're going for it, let's bring out the MAGICAL CHRISTMAS LAND
T1: land
T2: Tithe Drinker
T3: attack, cast wurm, extort, enters as 5/5.
T1: Dryad Militant
T2: Nearheath Pilgrim, Soulbond, attack with Dryad
T3: Path of Bravery, attack with Dryad and Pilgrim, gain 2 off path, gain 4 or 6 from lifelink (depending if you're over 20 life)
T4: Attack again, gain 8, drop two 10/10 Wurms (with +1/+1 from Path :D)
T1: land, Aether Vial
T2: land, bump vial to 1, Nearheath Pilgrim, vial in Dryad Militant, soulbond
T3: land, bump vial to 2, Path of Bravery, attack to gain 8 life, vial in 10/10 Wurm (with +1/+1 from bravery)
T4: land, attack for 9 life gain, Momentous Fall the wurm for 11 cards and 11 life, vial in 20/20 Wurm. Look at opponent crying.
Silly? Yes. Doable? Well, maybe except the last one. Awesome? Heck yes.
I still standby the fact that a Healing Salve or even a Hero's Reunion gets you a beefy creature for simply casting a heal spell.
Yeah but in standard Heroes' Reunion is just plain bad. I'm not going to play bad spells just so I can cast a big vanilla beater. Right now, the most efficient, effective and realistic method of dropping a big Wurm is going to be via Nearheath Pilgrim, since the Pilgrim is rather good on it's own.
Why I like this card:
-A low cmc baby wurm that can grow. Even with all its hangups, it's still better executed than all those attempts at baby dragons that have been made.
-Is basically a Grizzly Bear with a situational/conditional kicker.
Why I don't:
-Doesn't have flash.
-Doesn't play nice with all the etb lifegain. It certainly should've. If in the flavor, gaining life is feeding (On Sheep,) then why does Heroes' Reunion work and Leyline of Vitality doesn't? The Heroes brought sheep? :|
Those are pretty big cons that take the card from being semi-competitive to cute at best and generally meh.
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Let's not forget Gift of Orzhova and Unflinching Courage, which both work well with the card regardless of which you draw first. Either the auras hit another creature and help the wurm get big, or they go on the wurm and help give him evasion.
Vampire Nighthawk is also a nice companion, swinging in and letting you play a 4/4 wurm on turn 4 while keeping up Doom Blade mana or something similar. As noted above, Tithe Drinker is similar (but probably not as good since it's so fragile). This card with Tavern Swindler, however...is just hilarious
I find it very funny some of the posters go "THIS CARD IS BAD".
PROS
1G = Splashable and already in 1/2th of the color of life gaining.
2/2 = In the worst possible scenario, its just a Grizzly Bear.
Optional Effect = Makes it an easy and versatile card that doesn't lock you of having a possible blocker.
Synergy with Life Gain = Good if you want to stay alive and have a big body to boot as well.
CONS
You gotta play lifegain to make it very good.
Seriously though... its like adding 1G Kicker to a heal spell. Imagine if was like Healing Salve.
Healing Salve W
Instant
Kicker 1G
Choose one — Target player gains 3 life; or prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
If this card was kicked, put a green 5/5 Wurm token into play if you gained 3 life from Healing Salve.
Not even close, unfortunately. Give that kicker an additional "discard a creature from your hand" and you're closer. It's card disadvantage, and this doesn't net you anything when it comes into play except a big dude with no abilities. In a fair deck, the best case scenario is that you get this out as something like a 5/5 on turn 3 with card disadvantage. Any other turn and you're better off playing Kalonian Hydra, which gets bigger and comes with trample. Make no mistake, this is a fine card for casual, but take it from a guy who played Ghoultree decks... it doesn't matter how big your creature is when you're never allowed to punch through with it.
Let's not forget Gift of Orzhova and Unflinching Courage, which both work well with the card regardless of which you draw first. Either the auras hit another creature and help the wurm get big, or they go on the wurm and help give him evasion.
Vampire Nighthawk is also a nice companion, swinging in and letting you play a 4/4 wurm on turn 4 while keeping up Doom Blade mana or something similar. As noted above, Tithe Drinker is similar (but probably not as good since it's so fragile). This card with Tavern Swindler, however...is just hilarious
Agreed.
I think this is a 3-4 drop masquerading as a 2 drop. Plenty of ways to make this a 4/4+ on turns 3-4, and getting that for just 2-mana is very strong, allowing you to make extra plays in those turns.
This feels like the green version of jace's phantasm. There's nothing offensive about a 1/1 flyer for 1 that could be big and there's nothing bad about a 2/2 wurm for 2 that could be big, but if the path to turning these things on is mill or life gain you're probably trying to do something bad overall.
Maybe he's even a little worse than jace's phantasm, because if he gets bounced you lose the counters. Playing life gain to turn him on is like playing give/takes or increasing savagerys that only work on 1 creature.
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~ETB with x +1/+1 counters, x=amount life you gained this turn.
2/2
This looks like it might see play in Naya or Bant, if the meta allows it. It's not always great t2, but it can still be really relevant late game. Maybe in a life gain shell with Trostani, the angel enchant, and Archangel of Thune?
So in other words, it's even worse than talara's battalion?
At the end of the day, it's still a bear. Ya, it's been a long time since Kavu Titan was the bee's knees, but this guy is a solid roleplayer. Makes for a worth while Limited body and potential Standard critter.
edit: You still get a 2/2 for 2. That's much better than Talara's Battalion.
Who wants to see a ****ty combo?
T1 -> play Land, cast Dork
T2 -> play Land, cast Nearheath Pilgrim (bond with Dork)
T3 -> play Land, attack with Nearheath Pilgrim (gain 2 life), cast Heroes' Reunion (gain 7 life), cast a 11/11 Voracious Wurm.
this + martyr of sands = redicolous
special thanks to sentimentgx4 for the sig
Pourquoi?
Hmmm...shall I splash green for this beater or black for Vizkopa Guildmage and Orzhov Charm? Hmmm...so tempting...
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
It is okay, in a limited deck with some amount of lifegain (lifelink?), which restricts it to G/W or G/B in limited.
Yes, it requires life gain, but with the sheer amount of life gain in the format, Voracious Wurm has serious potential.
RtR Block
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice + anything
Centaur Healer
Blood Baron of Vizkopa
Obzedat, Ghost Council
Innistrad Block
Nearheath Pilgrim
Thragtusk
Rhox Faithmender
Nearheath Pilgrim, in particular, seems like a solid fit for Selesnya aggro builds, since Pilgrim plus other 2cc creature gains 4 life, into Voracious Wurm for a 6/6.
It can also be dropped off a Burning-Tree Emissary, which means that there are possibilities in Naya Blitz.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
PROS
1G = Splashable and already in 1/2th of the color of life gaining.
2/2 = In the worst possible scenario, its just a Grizzly Bear.
Optional Effect = Makes it an easy and versatile card that doesn't lock you of having a possible blocker.
Synergy with Life Gain = Good if you want to stay alive and have a big body to boot as well.
CONS
You gotta play lifegain to make it very good.
Seriously though... its like adding 1G Kicker to a heal spell. Imagine if was like Healing Salve.
Healing Salve W
Instant
Kicker 1G
Choose one — Target player gains 3 life; or prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
If this card was kicked, put a green 5/5 Wurm token into play if you gained 3 life from Healing Salve.
Accept it costs you 2 cards. And the Wurm cannot be cast at instant speed.
So basically nothing like what you said.
I still standby the fact that a Healing Salve or even a Hero's Reunion gets you a beefy creature for simply casting a heal spell.
Omg Momentous Fall that is the absolute nuts.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
Yeah but in standard Heroes' Reunion is just plain bad. I'm not going to play bad spells just so I can cast a big vanilla beater. Right now, the most efficient, effective and realistic method of dropping a big Wurm is going to be via Nearheath Pilgrim, since the Pilgrim is rather good on it's own.
-A low cmc baby wurm that can grow. Even with all its hangups, it's still better executed than all those attempts at baby dragons that have been made.
-Prospects for more lifegain in green.
-Prospects for more interesting uses of lifegain.
-Continues a trend for Wurms to work with lifegain like Pelakka Wurm, Engulfing Slagwurm, Wurmcoil Engine, and Elderscale Wurm.
-Is basically a Grizzly Bear with a situational/conditional kicker.
Why I don't:
-Doesn't have flash.
-Doesn't play nice with all the etb lifegain. It certainly should've. If in the flavor, gaining life is feeding (On Sheep,) then why does Heroes' Reunion work and Leyline of Vitality doesn't? The Heroes brought sheep? :|
Those are pretty big cons that take the card from being semi-competitive to cute at best and generally meh.
"OH GOD MY BRAIN IS EXPLOADING AT HOW BAD THE ART IS ON MY OWN CARD"
-A friend's first impression of Ancestral Recall
10/10, I tapped.
Let's not forget Gift of Orzhova and Unflinching Courage, which both work well with the card regardless of which you draw first. Either the auras hit another creature and help the wurm get big, or they go on the wurm and help give him evasion.
Vampire Nighthawk is also a nice companion, swinging in and letting you play a 4/4 wurm on turn 4 while keeping up Doom Blade mana or something similar. As noted above, Tithe Drinker is similar (but probably not as good since it's so fragile). This card with Tavern Swindler, however...is just hilarious
Not even close, unfortunately. Give that kicker an additional "discard a creature from your hand" and you're closer. It's card disadvantage, and this doesn't net you anything when it comes into play except a big dude with no abilities. In a fair deck, the best case scenario is that you get this out as something like a 5/5 on turn 3 with card disadvantage. Any other turn and you're better off playing Kalonian Hydra, which gets bigger and comes with trample. Make no mistake, this is a fine card for casual, but take it from a guy who played Ghoultree decks... it doesn't matter how big your creature is when you're never allowed to punch through with it.
Cubetutor Link
Agreed.
I think this is a 3-4 drop masquerading as a 2 drop. Plenty of ways to make this a 4/4+ on turns 3-4, and getting that for just 2-mana is very strong, allowing you to make extra plays in those turns.
Maybe he's even a little worse than jace's phantasm, because if he gets bounced you lose the counters. Playing life gain to turn him on is like playing give/takes or increasing savagerys that only work on 1 creature.