First of all-- Everything. Ever. Dies. To. Removal.
Heck, even True-Name Nemesis "dies to removal" (granted it has to be the right type.)
Format staples Thundermaw Hellkite, Master of Waves, Blood Baron, Voice of Resurgence, Soldier of the Pantheon, Desecration Demon, Boon Satyr, Polukranos, Stormbreath Dragon, etc., all die to some type of removal.
And with the exception of the two dragons, none of them have relevant ETB effects.
But cards that do plenty of work when they don't die to removal are good magic cards, and devastator does a lot of work.
And there are plenty of cards Monsters can run that make this creature infinitely more effective--Nylea as I mentioned, who does a phenomenal job on her own, and Ghor-Clan Rampager, which is a card that BBD ran maindeck to Top 8 SCG Open in Indy. He also ran Flesh//Blood which can just kill opponents out of nowhere with the Devastator.
I'm not saying it's format defining. I'm not saying it's the best card ever. But it does something Monsters doesn't normally have access to--kill stuff. And if you're opponent is going to have a removal spell--make them have a removal spell. If it's Mono-blue, make them use that hybridization instead of on your Polukranos. Dwindle down Monoblacks supply. One for one trading is a part of magic, and if they kill it, so be it. If they don't, you can wreck them pretty bad with the right cards.
"Thundermaw Hellkite, Master of Waves, Blood Baron, Voice of Resurgence, Soldier of the Pantheon, Desecration Demon, Boon Satyr, Polukranos, Stormbreath Dragon, etc., all die to some type of removal."
Just going to highlight this section. The two dragons have haste, Blood Baron has protection, VoR leaves behind a token, sometimes more if your opponent is dumb, Soldier has protection, Demon and Polukranos are well above the curve as far as their P/T goes and can themselves be 2 for 1's unconditionally, Boon Satyr has flash and bestow.
The point is, yes, they die to removal, but they have added value beyond coming in and dying. The only exceptions are Master and Demon (Most of the time), but unlike this hydra they win the game if unanswered. There is a reason Polukranos sees substantially more play than Dead Bridge Goliath.
I also take umbrage with the idea that R/G can't kill stuff. That's *why* Polukranos is so good, it gives them access to that. Also Domri, also Chandra. It's no coincidence that they run these cards. They don't need a far worse card that will *sometimes* kill something.
If you've ever looked at the GR Monsters deck, the deck is almost entirely vanilla creatures. Polukranos has a usually irrelevant fight effect, stormbreath dragon's only upside is that he has flying and haste (and is only a 4/4 for 5), scavenging ooze's only ability is that it makes itself bigger, boon satyr just has flash and then becomes a 4/2--the deck is just a lot of quality and efficient threats backed by planeswalkers. And when you stick in either a 12/12 for 6 mana or a 6/6 + terminate for 6 mana, that is efficiency.
Gruul Ragebeast requires other creatures to be effective, and is a 7 mana cost with two colors.
Meanwhile, Polukranos has intense mana requirements in order to be useful and can only be used once, on top of having no ETB effects, and is still a format defining card.
So a lot of your standards are in effective.
And every card might have bad matchups. Boon satyr (besides the unlikely potential for bestow) is really just a 4/2 vanilla, and I sideboard him out in a lot of matchups because he's just bad against aggro and most of the devotion decks. But I (and every other person playing monsters) still play multiple of them maindeck because they can always be used for something, even if that is just baiting a counterspell or making them blow a doom blade or trading one for one with a creature.
But there's also the fact that devastator will out-combat any other creature, so if they don't have a way to remove it, you will inevitably win (in most scenarios.)
Polukranos' ability is usually irrelevant? Whaaat? lol Seriously? I guess destroying any kind of Mono W or R deck isn't good enough, oh wait it's also extremely good against Mono U. But you know, irrelevant.
Also, unlikely as far as bestowing Boon Satyr? loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
I can't even, I'm done talking to you. Come back when you actually know how to play.
That's a pretty stylish Mohawk that dragon has there. A shame it has to attack to burn things and with that casting cost+ the lack of built-in haste it probably won't happen very often in any format.
That's a pretty stylish Mohawk that dragon has there. A shame it has to attack to burn things and with that casting cost+ the lack of built-in haste it probably won't happen very often in any format.
The 4 toughness is interesting, perhaps to bring it in the range of more removal? I notice the black demon also has four toughness. Rage of Purphoros is one common 4 damage removal spell, perhaps there will be another (Grasp of darkness?)
The 4 toughness is interesting, perhaps to bring it in the range of more removal? I notice the black demon also has four toughness. Rage of Purphoros is one common 4 damage removal spell, perhaps there will be another (Grasp of darkness?)
You seriously think they'd print Grasp right after printing the strictly worse Lash of the Whip?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Whenever someone claims to hate blue I automatically assume they're a bad player.
Which is funny because I always thought it had a card with some potential against creature matchups. 7 mana is a lot, but GR is not the last when it comes to ramp, and beating a 6/6 that whacks their dudes over and over seems though.
Gruul Midrange/Aggro/Ramp decks are definitely viable. Green and Red might have some of the best cards in the format. I could certainly see a "Ramp into big Aggressive Dudes" deck being created. We have all the necessary tools, and we are about to get even more candidates, including a Red/Green God.
Modern: RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries Legacy:BRx Renimator Playing right now:Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
I actually prefer the original art for the sphinx over the promo version. Am I the only one?
Not at all. I like the original art better than the promo art for all them. Same with the Theros prerelease promos as well. The promos tend to depart from the overall style of the set or block way too much for my liking.
Can someone tell me for what purpose are the manifestation counters created by Mediator of the Ideal? I don't see anything such as "All permanents with manifestation counters are enchantments in addition to their other types.". Is there gonna be another card that will make use of these counters?
"Thundermaw Hellkite, Master of Waves, Blood Baron, Voice of Resurgence, Soldier of the Pantheon, Desecration Demon, Boon Satyr, Polukranos, Stormbreath Dragon, etc., all die to some type of removal."
Just going to highlight this section. The two dragons have haste, Blood Baron has protection, VoR leaves behind a token, sometimes more if your opponent is dumb, Soldier has protection, Demon and Polukranos are well above the curve as far as their P/T goes and can themselves be 2 for 1's unconditionally, Boon Satyr has flash and bestow.
The point is, yes, they die to removal, but they have added value beyond coming in and dying. The only exceptions are Master and Demon (Most of the time), but unlike this hydra they win the game if unanswered. There is a reason Polukranos sees substantially more play than Dead Bridge Goliath.
I also take umbrage with the idea that R/G can't kill stuff. That's *why* Polukranos is so good, it gives them access to that. Also Domri, also Chandra. It's no coincidence that they run these cards. They don't need a far worse card that will *sometimes* kill something.
TLDR you're bad at this game lol
Polukranos' ability is usually irrelevant? Whaaat? lol Seriously? I guess destroying any kind of Mono W or R deck isn't good enough, oh wait it's also extremely good against Mono U. But you know, irrelevant.
Also, unlikely as far as bestowing Boon Satyr? loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
I can't even, I'm done talking to you. Come back when you actually know how to play.
Christ lol
The 4 toughness is interesting, perhaps to bring it in the range of more removal? I notice the black demon also has four toughness. Rage of Purphoros is one common 4 damage removal spell, perhaps there will be another (Grasp of darkness?)
You seriously think they'd print Grasp right after printing the strictly worse Lash of the Whip?
Gruul Midrange/Aggro/Ramp decks are definitely viable. Green and Red might have some of the best cards in the format. I could certainly see a "Ramp into big Aggressive Dudes" deck being created. We have all the necessary tools, and we are about to get even more candidates, including a Red/Green God.
Maybe the Ragebeast's time has come? Haha
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron
R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries
Legacy:BRx Renimator
Playing right now: Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
Not where it matters for this.
30 more minutes
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Edit: And here's the white one.
Level 1 Judge
I write flavor articles for RoxieCards.
I play and judge at Giga Bites Cafein Marietta, Georgia.
Feel free to tell me yours!
Not at all. I like the original art better than the promo art for all them. Same with the Theros prerelease promos as well. The promos tend to depart from the overall style of the set or block way too much for my liking.
TRADE BAIT.
You enter two events and you will probably be able to trade these quickly for just about anything your friends crack open who DIDN'T attend.
Just sayin'.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1988614295/worlds-finest-mtg-pewter-life-spinner-is-about-to?ref=category
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=16581
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH_UXXKRzlM
Eater of hope
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Looks like ghave, guru of spores could abuse it in EDH
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)