MTG Salvation

A simple little swiss army knife of a card, making it worth running in Mono B and select other black decks. As others have said it's a solid (but not stellar) way to refuel and an acceptable finisher in a pinch. I have also more used it, as its name implies, as a double-edged political tool; feeding friends at the table cards they need to recover from behind, but at a sometimes-lethal price.

Damnable Pact works really grossly with Leovold, Emissary of Trest. I was thinking about it when building him. It's also a great mana sink with Black Market or a sac outlet.

Good card, would be greater if it had at least instead of one

I wonder how many people would use this in a Nekusar deck...

Quote from Mercury01 »

I wonder how many people would use this in a Nekusar deck...

That's the deck I've seen use it for the kill.

Totem-Guide Hartebeest



Well, it's a tutor, has enough toughness to hold back some small aggro and auras are often nice choices to tutor for. But is that where you want to be at 5 mana?

Great budget tutor option and a perfectly fine target for the aura you fetch in a pinch. I appreciate cards that have solid internal synergy, so while I'm paying more than is ideal for this guy I would still run it in an all-in aura deck like Krond the Dawn-Clad. (It also works very well on curve with Krond.)

It's not the worst card, but the extra P/T ain't worth two mana over Heliod's Pilgrim, nor is the body really worth it over spells like Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic Tutor or Three Dreams even with the various shenanigans you can pull off with an ETB trigger.

As others are saying, 5 mana is a little awkward - I think almost all of us would rather Heliod's Pilgrim for a few less, and we now have Open the Armory as an option for players who don't have the cash to burn on Enlightened/Idyllic. I'd also be more inclined to consider Boonweaver Giant for a little more mana and there is Three Dreams in the same CMC Slot to draw even more auras.

For a Krond, Heliod, or Anax and Cymede deck I may still consider it; in any enchantress deck with access to Blue or Black it feels outclassed. It's definitely a 3/10 card for me.

Meh, it gives Uril, the Miststalker one more option/toolbox piece. It's fine. As said, Heliod's Pilgrim is usually more like what you want.

There's Bruna, Light of Alabaster who could put the aura into play without paying for it.

And EDH singleton can always use another copy of aura-fetcher.

Quote from PhroX »

the extra P/T ain't worth two mana over Heliod's Pilgrim

I kinda agree. Most effects that give a creature +1/+3 cost 2 (Alarum, Conviction, Divine Favor, etc.), but have some other upside that can be found on another card for 1 mana (Twiddle, Flickering Ward, Healing Salve, etc.) which suggests the actual P/T buff is worth ~1 mana. There's also Glaring Aegis and Ornamental Courage, which each give +1/+3 and some upside for 1.

Does the Hartebeest elope with Ants? (And more pun-related questions. Stay tuned!)

Gorilla Berserkers



Supermenace! With it's ability, if you want to block it it'll be a 6/7 trample at the least, so chances are it'll be a nice trade.
However, would you play a 6/7 trample for 5 in anything that isn't Xenagod?

Or, you could consider it an unblockable 2/3 for 5. Not exactly the best deal. Apes of Rath is where it's at.

I had already gone through my Rampage phase before Alliances, so I never gave this a spin. No real application in EDH I'm afraid. The power creep on green beaters is such that this guy just doesn't make the cut.

Gorilla Shaman is the only gorilla who makes the cut in my decks.

I would be hard pressed to play this even in Xenogod, since you already have access to an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great targets and the five-drop spot in particular tends to be extremely crowded with stuff like Deus of Calamity, Verdurous Gearhulk, Malignus, Thunderfoot Baloth, utility spells like Soul's Majesty and Acidic Slime, and your commander himself.

1/10 - until we get a great legendary ape to support the tribe? 10/10 if your EDH group allows Uktabi Kong as a Commander.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the artist just misheard Guerilla Warfare?

You can't force your opponent to block it with Lure, can you?

Quote from Sephon19 »

You can't force your opponent to block it with Lure, can you?

You can if they have three or more available blockers.

Quote from Sephon19 »

You can't force your opponent to block it with Lure, can you?

I believe you can, but "Can't" beats "Can" - if they only have one or two creatures they won't block as it would be illegal. Also, if they have 100 creatures all will block if possible; it isn't limited to just three.

Even if you also give these monkeys deathtouch though (with Nylea's Bow or Nightshade Peddler) it seems like a bit of a "meh" combo.

Its bad enough for garbage cube, where its a solid build around and finisher. In EDH, no.

Quote from Sephon19 »

You can't force your opponent to block it with Lure, can you?

"Can't" beats "must". (Hence the "if able" clause.) If your opponent has three or more blockers, you can.

This card seems to be trying to make rampage work by including trample and a menace variant, but in Magic at the time? Well, the good news is, Necro decks were so prominent that Terror might be completely sideboarded. The bad news is, green is the only color that doesn't have an easy answer, and the most prominent green deck I can think of from this time is Stompy. Oh, and five mana (non-pitch) is too big in the shadow of a Winter Orb.

3/10 I give them an A for effort, but an F for results.

I play it in a really bad lure/rampage deck I run. It's a ton of fun in there, but since the whole deck's focus is forcing the block, it isn't that great. That said, I do remember a fond moment when I had a haste outlet (red/green rampage) and my opponent dropped an avenger of zendikar with a whole lot of plant tokens. That was the funniest one sided wrath I ever had.