AH Ha!... As the owner of bother a Dragonlord Ojutai and Deveri bird tribal commander deck... this is me on multiple levels.
Yeah okay being a 1/1 sucks :/, soulcatcher is probably better in some respects. But taurean mauler gets terrorfying very fast. Perhaps it will reach the testing stage, I mean that deck has some pretty bad cards in it already.
He feels absolutely dependent on Reyhan, as her much superior ability allows him to keep coming back without losing those precious counters. So I understand what they were trying to do there, but Reyhan is doing all the heavy lifting.
I think this card is bad to play as anything other than a commander (in those cases Sunscorch Regent would almost always be better). This card could be good if you go all in on trying to kill opponents with commander damage, as this sort of effect can get out of hand really quickly. Slap on some protection and I could see this killing opponents in 2-3 swings since it already has evasion. While I don't think it would have been game-breaking if they made this a 2/2 instead of a 1/1, it seems like Wizards was being overly cautious since we've never seen this effect on a legendary creature before, plus you get a partner to play with.
I'm surprised it took until Raptorchan to note that commander damage can make this guy dangerous, especially with counterspells to back him up. Built in evasion means he can grow quickly, and the UW player can work with the others to knock out the big guy at the table.
Powerwise, I think people are underestimating this card. It really doesn't matter if it's a 1/1 or a 2/2 if it's going to be a 6/6 or something after just one round across the table, and with Commander damage and maybe Bruse Tarl for backup he can easily become very dangerous. However, it's a thoroughly uninspired design. I really dislike how the card is entirely passive and dependent on what your enemy is doing. Also, that effect is a bit weird in terms of color pie, considering that we've so far seen it in green, red and white.
I don't understand why people think this will survive getting back to your turn. It comes out too late to be a 1/1. If you are countering kill spells you'll just have an empty hand on your turn and maybe a 7/7 bird? If your lucky? Finally it will swing and get chipped by a thopters or killed by other fliers. This thing is depressing. I was excited to see another bird commander too.
Yeah okay being a 1/1 sucks :/, soulcatcher is probably better in some respects. But taurean mauler gets terrorfying very fast. Perhaps it will reach the testing stage, I mean that deck has some pretty bad cards in it already.
I really really want to like it though....
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Damn this year's Commander legends... The bulk of them (especially the partners) are downright turd.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Atleast I have Dragonlord ojutai
Club Flamingo Wins: 1!
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