ran across mold shambler when i was looking for another green card i understand that there's woodfall primus but i'm not asking a bout primus.
it can target
artifacts
enchantments
lands
plainswalkers
The thing that keeps him from being good is really that he requires his kicker to be played, so you must cast him from your hand. That means he can't be tutored for using Green Sun's Zenith or Chord of Calling and still get his ETB effect. Similarly, reanimation on him is not possible.
4GG is also quite a bit for a removal spell and a 3/3 body isn't going to do much work besides chump some damage. The one good thing about Mold Shambler is that he can kill lands, but killing planeswalkers is easier done by just attacking them with greens beefy creatures, rather then through direct means.
I think that green decks are better off playing cards like Reclamation Sage and Acidic Slime, because they can kill artifacts and enchantments just fine while being cheaper on manacost and able to fetched off a tutor in a pinch.
If you still like Mold Shambler, then the best and easiest thing you can do is just put him in your deck and play it a few times with him in it to give him a chance to shine. Maybe he ends up being an all-star in your deck and you can come back and tell me how wrong I was about old moldy.
There's also Indrik Stomphowler which went unmentioned, and Terastodon at higher mana cost. Between all those not needing you to pay the kicker cost and in general having superior stats as well, Mold Shambler kinda falls behind.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
The "un-blink-ibility" is the largest mark against Moldy. At 6 mana you've got Brutalizer Exarch which can fetch up creatures, and tuck other targets, which is often more valuable in a format where graveyard shenanigans are very strong. 5 mana gets you the commander staple Acidic Slime (and Indrik Stophowler for builds that care more about P/T...think Life's Legacy for example) at 8 cmc like others have mentioned you get Woodfall Primus and Terrastodon. At 3 cmc you get Reclamation Sage, Beast Within, and Fade into Antiquity. It's the same with Den Protector vs Eternal Witness...morph is the mark against it for most decks (though with the "hard to block" ability it'd probably still be a fine edh card).
Personally, I'm a huge fan of Bane of Progress. Just tailor your deck to not rely on artifacts and enchantments, this gets past shrouded permanents and leaves you with a FAT beater.
The thing that keeps him from being good is really that he requires his kicker to be played, so you must cast him from your hand. That means he can't be tutored for using Green Sun's Zenith or Chord of Calling and still get his ETB effect. Similarly, reanimation on him is not possible.
he is a beast, noone takes care of that?(beast IS a tribe) compared to Indrik Stomphowler it can kill planeswalkers and/or lands, it IS unblinkable,and costs 1 more mana but i think he is a worthwhile guy
He saw play in my old playgroups before a lot of the modern destruction creatures came around. These days this guy is just outclassed. Decent budget option I suppose, but the only card would replace because of price is Woodfall Primus.
Primus is even way cheaper ($$) than he used to be after the first MM.
Yeah, the only benefit I see in Shambler is that he can hit Planeswalkers, otherwise I want to be playing Acidic Slime and Reclamation Sage. As others have said, you get Exarch for the same price (there's really no situation where you want to be casting an unkicked shambler, his cost is effectively six) if you need to hit lands (over Rec Sage) and 'walkers (over slime).
Is there a really cheap card in Green that destroys lands, out of curiosity? Beast Within? If you're up against a lot of problem lands I could see wanting to have more options to hit those, but I still don't think I'd play Shambler.
Your recursion package definitely has a lot of influence on how useful this guy is, as any deck with decent graveyard recursion or blink may feel put off by him. Having more cards that interact with Kicker like Saproling Infestation would be a nice way to up his value, but as it stands those cards are far and few between.
Agreeing with the others. I used to play him, but he is now heavily outclassed. The biggest problem with him is that there is basically never a situation where it's the right play to cast him without kicking him, so he brings none of the flexibility that kicker card usually offer and effectively costs 4GG. At 6 CMC or less, green has at least five better options, and most of them are quite cheap moneywise. I do like that he hits planeswalkers, but that's not enough to motivate me to play him.
At 4GG you get Desert Twister, which is a pretty solid green removal spell.
When you compare to that, the shambler is pretty cool, you get an extra 3/3 body on top of it, it's much easier to give it flash, and in dire situations you can curve him as a hill giant. Not too shabby.
Sure, green has a number of cheaper removals that are more limited and more abusable, but as a general catch-all, he's pretty decent. I don't think he competes with the shaman or slime for a spot, he's a different beast altogether that serves a more limited role: the I need that thing gone, whatever it may happen to be. It's not a bad idea to have one or two of those catch-alls in a deck.
Of course, Tornado is still my number one slot for it.
He's six mana for a Bramblecrush that produces a token. At five mana you get Rootgrapple which is always instant speed, for six mana and up there are several pure Vindicate options you can run (bob mentioned a couple above), and this is all in addition to the other options already mentioned. Super budget or some kind of all-creature build might consider him but even then he faces a lot of very strong competition. I wouldn't run him personally but everyone and every group is different, so I would say just sleeve him up and see how he works for you.
I love how everybody shoots him down in here because Acidic Slime and Reclamation Sage. Because creatures that kill something of your opponent's on ETB are so lousy that the most you could possibly justify running is TWO, amirite?
Hey, try running all of the above. Green is starving for this effect; bounce him back to your hand and replay him. What, six mana is something to sweat over in green?
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I love how everybody shoots him down in here because Acidic Slime and Reclamation Sage. Because creatures that kill something of your opponent's on ETB are so lousy that the most you could possibly justify running is TWO, amirite?
Hey, try running all of the above. Green is starving for this effect; bounce him back to your hand and replay him. What, six mana is something to sweat over in green?
pretty much.
while i generally replace him quickly i have had tremendous successes with him in the past as a budget alternative and bouncing him makes him really easy to abuse.
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it can target
artifacts
enchantments
lands
plainswalkers
The thing that keeps him from being good is really that he requires his kicker to be played, so you must cast him from your hand. That means he can't be tutored for using Green Sun's Zenith or Chord of Calling and still get his ETB effect. Similarly, reanimation on him is not possible.
4GG is also quite a bit for a removal spell and a 3/3 body isn't going to do much work besides chump some damage. The one good thing about Mold Shambler is that he can kill lands, but killing planeswalkers is easier done by just attacking them with greens beefy creatures, rather then through direct means.
I think that green decks are better off playing cards like Reclamation Sage and Acidic Slime, because they can kill artifacts and enchantments just fine while being cheaper on manacost and able to fetched off a tutor in a pinch.
If you still like Mold Shambler, then the best and easiest thing you can do is just put him in your deck and play it a few times with him in it to give him a chance to shine. Maybe he ends up being an all-star in your deck and you can come back and tell me how wrong I was about old moldy.
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I used to be a world champion, but then I took a wolf to the knee. And three Galvanic Blasts to the face.
Concerning when returning to Kamigawa would be acceptable
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of Bane of Progress. Just tailor your deck to not rely on artifacts and enchantments, this gets past shrouded permanents and leaves you with a FAT beater.
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Thrasios and Tymna aggro-control voltron-combo
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True, but he can still be kicked off of Possibility Storm, Maelstrom Wanderer, or any Cascade spell.
i do use him in my Garruk (forest beasts) horde
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Yeah, the only benefit I see in Shambler is that he can hit Planeswalkers, otherwise I want to be playing Acidic Slime and Reclamation Sage. As others have said, you get Exarch for the same price (there's really no situation where you want to be casting an unkicked shambler, his cost is effectively six) if you need to hit lands (over Rec Sage) and 'walkers (over slime).
Is there a really cheap card in Green that destroys lands, out of curiosity? Beast Within? If you're up against a lot of problem lands I could see wanting to have more options to hit those, but I still don't think I'd play Shambler.
Draft my Peasant Cube.
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When you compare to that, the shambler is pretty cool, you get an extra 3/3 body on top of it, it's much easier to give it flash, and in dire situations you can curve him as a hill giant. Not too shabby.
Sure, green has a number of cheaper removals that are more limited and more abusable, but as a general catch-all, he's pretty decent. I don't think he competes with the shaman or slime for a spot, he's a different beast altogether that serves a more limited role: the I need that thing gone, whatever it may happen to be. It's not a bad idea to have one or two of those catch-alls in a deck.
Of course, Tornado is still my number one slot for it.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Hey, try running all of the above. Green is starving for this effect; bounce him back to your hand and replay him. What, six mana is something to sweat over in green?
pretty much.
while i generally replace him quickly i have had tremendous successes with him in the past as a budget alternative and bouncing him makes him really easy to abuse.