Honestly it is a sad state of things when a 2/2 for 1G and has a very easy ability to grow, is considered a bad card... Just saying...
Well a bunch of them are hypocritical cagafuego ninnyhammers who tend to follow the pro lists like a flock of sheep. It really is a foolocracy when anything above decent is looked upon in disgust which is why I see much of the arguments against any sort of card to be a bunch of buncombe.
As for the card itself? Its a flat out upgrade to the Grizzly Bear formula that seems to be following a trend with other cards being released. That trend being that its being criminally underrated.
So yea, everything has to be on curve to be good. So what its a bear, Burning-Tree Emissary is just a bear, and late game it sucks...
This card's potential grows late game. Same reason why Stonewright is sick late game in mono red.
People are stuck in the "it's gotta curve perfectly with awesome ETB or it sucks" mentality. Reminds me of Final Fantasy 11 players who would rather fight one enemy for 200 exp that takes 5 minutes or 3 enemies who give 220+ experience, more loot and less of a struggle in the same time, all because previous Japanese players said it was for the best (i.e. pro tour/scg sheep).
Well a bunch of them are hypocritical cagafuego ninnyhammers who tend to follow the pro lists like a flock of sheep. It really is a foolocracy when anything above decent is looked upon in disgust which is why I see much of the arguments against any sort of card to be a bunch of buncombe.
As for the card itself? Its a flat out upgrade to the Grizzly Bear formula that seems to be following a trend with other cards being released. That trend being that its being criminally underrated.
I think the main point against the card might be that trying to take advantage of the upside is a bit of a weakness. Let me explain: there's no current viable Standard lifegain deck. Lets say you've got an opening hand that's a bit light on mana, but you've got 2 Voracious Wurm, 2 Land, plus higher curve lifegain cards. You might be inclined to wait to cast this guy for full value. Maybe that extra value never comes, or you lose in the meantime. That same situation though, speaking in a competitive sense, if you had 2 Voice of Resurgence instead, they have a higher chance of providing some value later as the game develops, and might be enough to give you the edge you need to get back in it. Can this do well enough, early and late, when circumstances aren't ideal?
Despite it's greedy nature, Voracious Wurm is a card that I like. Scavenging Ooze seems like a good partner in crime. It'd be great if Theros gives Standard the tools for a lifegain style deck, rather than the current meta, which has my beloved Trostani riding the bench to fend off aggro. Voracious Wurm needs some new buddies before he can shine. But hey, Flinthoof Boar only needed Stomping Ground...
I'm not sure what's worse, the people who constantly bash cards or the people who constantly complain about the people who bash cards. It's very cyclical and very interesting.
This card is also interesting. Whether or not it sees play obviously hinges on whether or not you can turn him on early enough efficiently and consistently. Late game vanilla beaters are underwhelming. It has potential with the right pieces but there's nothing I see in the current (standard) card pool that constitutes a deck. The criticism of this card, standard wise, is very much justified. At least it was the best card spoiled yesterday.
There are things you can do with it lategame if you're playing something like Vault of the Archangel, but they don't seem rediculously exciting to me. Even playing this on turn 2 and doing something fancy with Restoration Angel and Trostani later is going to be overshadowed by other possible more efficient plays.
I understand that this couldn't realistically be a Kavu Predator that watches you instead of your opponents. I do. But the fact is that it's underwhelming as a two-drop and doesn't do enough as a 7-drop, and as a funky kind of narrow split card I have to say I don't like it. I think they should have made it a 1/1 with Lifelink and the ability, so that it scales with the work put into it.
Despite it's greedy nature, Voracious Wurm is a card that I like. Scavenging Ooze seems like a good partner in crime. It'd be great if Theros gives Standard the tools for a lifegain style deck, rather than the current meta, which has my beloved Trostani riding the bench to fend off aggro. Voracious Wurm needs some new buddies before he can shine. But hey, Flinthoof Boar only needed Stomping Ground...
I don't think this guy really has to be in a lifegain-style deck, Wizards just needs to keep printing a bunch of incidental lifegain cards like they have been. More cheap dudes that gain life (in the vein of Cathedral Sanctifier and Lone Missionary) would be nice, and pretty much any creature with lifelink is best bros with the wurm. You don't really need to go terribly deep to make this guy work, you just need a deck full of creatures that can stand on their own -- they just happen to do so in part due to life gain (such as Vampire Nighthawk).
There are things you can do with it lategame if you're playing something like Vault of the Archangel, but they don't seem rediculously exciting to me. Even playing this on turn 2 and doing something fancy with Restoration Angel and Trostani later is going to be overshadowed by other possible more efficient plays.
I understand that this couldn't realistically be a Kavu Predator that watches you instead of your opponents. I do. But the fact is that it's underwhelming as a two-drop and doesn't do enough as a 7-drop, and as a funky kind of narrow split card I have to say I don't like it. I think they should have made it a 1/1 with Lifelink and the ability, so that it scales with the work put into it.
It wouldn't call it awful but it has to have the right build for it to function. There are plenty of things to make it worthwhile in Standard. It isn't the 2 CMC bomb that people were looking for in Green (god forbid one color gets a full curve out of good/great creatures in a CORE SET) but it will probably see play in some decks. 1G makes it very splashable. If it were GG, it would slide into your common/uncommon box never to see the light of day again.
I think its an overall good card that is balanced.
In other news I think I herped when I should have derped after looking at this card.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Failed Opression Stories:
Legend of Korra
Return to Ravnica
(Not that the stories or character are inhernetly bad, but that they failed to further delve into the topic. Like Gateless/Non-Benders feeling opressed by the Guilds/Benders that sought a revolution but it became less of importance according to the story.)
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
I don't think this guy really has to be in a lifegain-style deck, Wizards just needs to keep printing a bunch of incidental lifegain cards like they have been. More cheap dudes that gain life (in the vein of Cathedral Sanctifier and Lone Missionary) would be nice, and pretty much any creature with lifelink is best bros with the wurm. You don't really need to go terribly deep to make this guy work, you just need a deck full of creatures that can stand on their own -- they just happen to do so in part due to life gain (such as Vampire Nighthawk).
Vampire Nighthawk is good, but Golgari isn't exactly the kind of deck that wants a 2/2 when Mutilate is the game plan. And there's no ****ing way that I'm playing Cathedral Sanctifier, but maybe that's just me.
If you're not playing lifegain, why bother with this in the first place? If you want it on-curve, you're kinda in the Trained Caracal plan. No thanks.
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
Seems to me this will at least see sideboard play if bant hexproof remains a thing, for the mirror match. Mirror match seasaw would be won with this guy coming in as some stupidly large creature.
Vampire Nighthawk is good, but Golgari isn't exactly the kind of deck that wants a 2/2 when Mutilate is the game plan. And there's no ****ing way that I'm playing Cathedral Sanctifier, but maybe that's just me.
If you're not playing lifegain, why bother with this in the first place? If you want it on-curve, you're kinda in the Trained Caracal plan. No thanks.
Art is still sweet.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's worth playing in a deck without any lifegain. I'm just saying that you don't have to be going as deep as using Heroes' Reunion or Cathedral Sanctifier to make the wurm worthwhile. Good value creatures with lifegain attached, Vampire Nighthawk being an example, are what this guy goes with.
As for what Golgari wants, who's to say that they actually want Mutilate? Perhaps there's an efficient lifegain aggro deck with this card waiting in the wings. More than anything in the scenario I put forth, I'd be worried about having the 1BB for nighthawk on turn 3 followed by 2BG for wurm + doom blade on turn 4. I'm interested to see the possibilities, however.
This card suffers from the same thing that Grim Return does; it has a timing restriction that pushes it out of playability. You need to gain alot of life that turn, and then you need to resolve him. Otherwise, he's just a bear.
To be fair, he is versatile. He reminds me a lot of Scute Mob. Like ol' Scuty, this card can come down early as an on-curve, if unexciting, dork. Then, in the late game, if your deck is designed to naturally do what he wants to do, he can be enormous. If in a deck with Knight of the Meadowgrain, for example, I could see him being a very legit turn 3 midgame play.
The problem, in my eyes, is that there is no deck that wants to gain life as its plan that would be satisfied playing a Bear Cub if it needed to. I cannot imagine a decklist involving this Wurm that would not be improved by removing this Wurm.
They could easily print a card that makes Wurm very good, though:
Blink Heal 1W Instant
Exile target creature you control. You gain 5 life. Return that creature to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Which means this card is worth getting a playset of, because it's only one trashy white combat-trick common away from being very cool.
How do you figure? If it was White or Black, at least you could trigger Extort off of casting the Wurm itself. As is, you'd need to: 1) Have an Extort dude in play; 2) Cast a W/B spell; 3) Pay for Extort; and 4) have mana left over for Wurm.
This is not a recipe for success.
Now, on the flip side, in Legacy the following would be hilarious, and cheap enough to potentially be a thing:
T1 - Land, Ivory Tower
T2 - Gain 2, land, drop a 4/4 Wurm YO.
How do you figure? If it was White or Black, at least you could trigger Extort off of casting the Wurm itself. As is, you'd need to: 1) Have an Extort dude in play; 2) Cast a W/B spell; 3) Pay for Extort; and 4) have mana left over for Wurm.
This is not a recipe for success.
Now, on the flip side, in Legacy the following would be hilarious, and cheap enough to potentially be a thing:
T1 - Land, Ivory Tower
T2 - Gain 2, land, drop a 4/4 Wurm YO.
But this just makes him a conditional Tarmagoyf.
Huh? Since when does extort only trigger off white and black spells? Not saying it makes the combo any better(kinda does) but you may want to take another look at extort.
T2 tithe drinker, t3 swing with tithe drinker(if it'll survive or if you have a thrull parasite turn 1) play the wurm, extort, 5/5 wurm t3
Huh? Since when does extort only trigger off white and black spells? Not saying it makes the combo any better(kinda does) but you may want to take another look at extort.
Ah, I see, it just costs W/B, it doesn't require the spell to cost W/B. I still don't think that is very good. A 3/3 for 3 or a 4/4 for 4 is not above the curve.
T2 tithe drinker, t3 swing with tithe drinker(if it'll survive or if you have a thrull parasite turn 1) play the wurm, extort, 5/5 wurm t3
Yeah, you just deployed three cards and potentially ran your 2 drop into a superior creature, allowing it to die, just to get a 5/5 on turn 3. Meanwhile, W/G is dropping a natural 4/4 for 3. I dunno, that just seems like too much has to happen at once to make this good.
Idk, I still like the, mana dork, mana dork, heroes reunion, drop wurm setup. Something about a turn 3 9/9 wurm just makes me smile. With trostani, archangel, this guy and a couple other g/w life gain oriented cards I think life gain beat down could be effective. Playing creatures that are constantly needing to be answered, absurd amounts of life gain to mitigate a slow start, and finishing with more giant beat down.
This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.
Well a bunch of them are hypocritical cagafuego ninnyhammers who tend to follow the pro lists like a flock of sheep. It really is a foolocracy when anything above decent is looked upon in disgust which is why I see much of the arguments against any sort of card to be a bunch of buncombe.
As for the card itself? Its a flat out upgrade to the Grizzly Bear formula that seems to be following a trend with other cards being released. That trend being that its being criminally underrated.
This card's potential grows late game. Same reason why Stonewright is sick late game in mono red.
People are stuck in the "it's gotta curve perfectly with awesome ETB or it sucks" mentality. Reminds me of Final Fantasy 11 players who would rather fight one enemy for 200 exp that takes 5 minutes or 3 enemies who give 220+ experience, more loot and less of a struggle in the same time, all because previous Japanese players said it was for the best (i.e. pro tour/scg sheep).
I think the main point against the card might be that trying to take advantage of the upside is a bit of a weakness. Let me explain: there's no current viable Standard lifegain deck. Lets say you've got an opening hand that's a bit light on mana, but you've got 2 Voracious Wurm, 2 Land, plus higher curve lifegain cards. You might be inclined to wait to cast this guy for full value. Maybe that extra value never comes, or you lose in the meantime. That same situation though, speaking in a competitive sense, if you had 2 Voice of Resurgence instead, they have a higher chance of providing some value later as the game develops, and might be enough to give you the edge you need to get back in it. Can this do well enough, early and late, when circumstances aren't ideal?
Despite it's greedy nature, Voracious Wurm is a card that I like. Scavenging Ooze seems like a good partner in crime. It'd be great if Theros gives Standard the tools for a lifegain style deck, rather than the current meta, which has my beloved Trostani riding the bench to fend off aggro. Voracious Wurm needs some new buddies before he can shine. But hey, Flinthoof Boar only needed Stomping Ground...
Lastly, the art on this is sweet.
This card is also interesting. Whether or not it sees play obviously hinges on whether or not you can turn him on early enough efficiently and consistently. Late game vanilla beaters are underwhelming. It has potential with the right pieces but there's nothing I see in the current (standard) card pool that constitutes a deck. The criticism of this card, standard wise, is very much justified. At least it was the best card spoiled yesterday.
I understand that this couldn't realistically be a Kavu Predator that watches you instead of your opponents. I do. But the fact is that it's underwhelming as a two-drop and doesn't do enough as a 7-drop, and as a funky kind of narrow split card I have to say I don't like it. I think they should have made it a 1/1 with Lifelink and the ability, so that it scales with the work put into it.
Just look at Kraul Warrior or Darkthicket Wolf. They're not playable in Constructed by any stretch.
Power creep escalates quickly.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
I don't think this guy really has to be in a lifegain-style deck, Wizards just needs to keep printing a bunch of incidental lifegain cards like they have been. More cheap dudes that gain life (in the vein of Cathedral Sanctifier and Lone Missionary) would be nice, and pretty much any creature with lifelink is best bros with the wurm. You don't really need to go terribly deep to make this guy work, you just need a deck full of creatures that can stand on their own -- they just happen to do so in part due to life gain (such as Vampire Nighthawk).
It wouldn't call it awful but it has to have the right build for it to function. There are plenty of things to make it worthwhile in Standard. It isn't the 2 CMC bomb that people were looking for in Green (god forbid one color gets a full curve out of good/great creatures in a CORE SET) but it will probably see play in some decks. 1G makes it very splashable. If it were GG, it would slide into your common/uncommon box never to see the light of day again.
In other news I think I herped when I should have derped after looking at this card.
Legend of Korra
Return to Ravnica
(Not that the stories or character are inhernetly bad, but that they failed to further delve into the topic. Like Gateless/Non-Benders feeling opressed by the Guilds/Benders that sought a revolution but it became less of importance according to the story.)
Those haven't been constructed playable for years, and not because of power creep.
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Vampire Nighthawk is good, but Golgari isn't exactly the kind of deck that wants a 2/2 when Mutilate is the game plan. And there's no ****ing way that I'm playing Cathedral Sanctifier, but maybe that's just me.
If you're not playing lifegain, why bother with this in the first place? If you want it on-curve, you're kinda in the Trained Caracal plan. No thanks.
Art is still sweet.
Seems to me this will at least see sideboard play if bant hexproof remains a thing, for the mirror match. Mirror match seasaw would be won with this guy coming in as some stupidly large creature.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's worth playing in a deck without any lifegain. I'm just saying that you don't have to be going as deep as using Heroes' Reunion or Cathedral Sanctifier to make the wurm worthwhile. Good value creatures with lifegain attached, Vampire Nighthawk being an example, are what this guy goes with.
As for what Golgari wants, who's to say that they actually want Mutilate? Perhaps there's an efficient lifegain aggro deck with this card waiting in the wings. More than anything in the scenario I put forth, I'd be worried about having the 1BB for nighthawk on turn 3 followed by 2BG for wurm + doom blade on turn 4. I'm interested to see the possibilities, however.
To be fair, he is versatile. He reminds me a lot of Scute Mob. Like ol' Scuty, this card can come down early as an on-curve, if unexciting, dork. Then, in the late game, if your deck is designed to naturally do what he wants to do, he can be enormous. If in a deck with Knight of the Meadowgrain, for example, I could see him being a very legit turn 3 midgame play.
The problem, in my eyes, is that there is no deck that wants to gain life as its plan that would be satisfied playing a Bear Cub if it needed to. I cannot imagine a decklist involving this Wurm that would not be improved by removing this Wurm.
They could easily print a card that makes Wurm very good, though:
Blink Heal 1W Instant
Exile target creature you control. You gain 5 life. Return that creature to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Which means this card is worth getting a playset of, because it's only one trashy white combat-trick common away from being very cool.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
This is not a recipe for success.
Now, on the flip side, in Legacy the following would be hilarious, and cheap enough to potentially be a thing:
T1 - Land, Ivory Tower
T2 - Gain 2, land, drop a 4/4 Wurm YO.
But this just makes him a conditional Tarmagoyf.
Huh? Since when does extort only trigger off white and black spells? Not saying it makes the combo any better(kinda does) but you may want to take another look at extort.
T2 tithe drinker, t3 swing with tithe drinker(if it'll survive or if you have a thrull parasite turn 1) play the wurm, extort, 5/5 wurm t3
Ah, I see, it just costs W/B, it doesn't require the spell to cost W/B. I still don't think that is very good. A 3/3 for 3 or a 4/4 for 4 is not above the curve.
Yeah, you just deployed three cards and potentially ran your 2 drop into a superior creature, allowing it to die, just to get a 5/5 on turn 3. Meanwhile, W/G is dropping a natural 4/4 for 3. I dunno, that just seems like too much has to happen at once to make this good.
this card is bad. bad card. is. bad. card.