So what do you guys think of this guy? He's very expensive for not a super impressive guy, but he does have the benefit of being green which means there are more ways to cheat him into play and/or ramp into him.
Also he has an ability that can impact the board the turn he hits play, and it goes well with some ramp cards like Kodama's Reach and also has some interactions with Life from the Loam if for whatever reason this guy can't finish off a player quickly.
In all reality though I feel like if he ever resolves, he should be able to close out a game in one attack phase due to his large body, mulch ability, and Seismic Assault ability.
So what do you think? I feel like he might be better than he seems, but his mana cost is so massive.
Isn't this just a bad Inferno Titan for 2 additional mana?
No... That's pretty silly.
He's modular unlike the Titan which means he does the same amount of damage if you only have on land in hand, but does significantly more for each extra land.
He's also green, which means he can be cast off of Natural Order as opposed to Inferno Titan who can not.
The reason I'm even discussing this card, is because he seems very "meh" when compared to other cards, but because of the bulk of abilities he has, while having certain colours in his cost, makes him debatable. The fact that he's a better Seismic Assault that can be reanimated is already pretty good, I don't know about you but Inferno Titan can't easily win a game with one attack phase if reanimated early, even if he can do it with two attacks that's a big difference.
In short, reanimating this guy pretty much assures a win if he attacks, Inferno does not. The same goes for Terestradon. The trample assures you get the mulch effect and even one land means you have an extra Lightning Bolt for no mana in hand.
I'm very dubious about this card, but I do have a strange feeling it can be better than it seems at first, much like Grislebrand.
I think it's safe to say that this guy has a lot more to offer than Scaled Wurm, and it's not unprecedented for cubes to run 8 CMC creatures (Griselbrand).
That said, I'm certain RG does not want an 8 drop, even with all the abilities here. I think this is definitely an EDH card.
griselbrand and scaled wurm's demented love child is not cube material because he is so expensive, fails the vindicate test, and has a large luck component to deal his massive damage.
Inferno Titan is way better and that is without looking at the mana cost.
I think that if he costed 6 mana he would definitely go in my cube. If he had haste maybe. I think he should've gotten haste btw. I proxied one for my cube to try him out. Somebody used Sneak Attack to play this guy to kill me in one turn. But either haste or a lower casting cost would make this card a lot more playable and even pretty good I think.
I think this card got written off pretty early, so most here never got any real testing in with it. Thought I'd post my observations having run it a few months now.
This card is surprisingly good, especially in fast/broken reanimator decks where it truly excels. We've never had a seismic assault ability in cube (the original being too prohibitive to cast and knock off's costing mana which hurts the burst factor). Bobo works amazingly well in typical UB reanimator builds for a few reasons that I didn't originally expect or think about:
If your deck is working, you really only need 2 maybe 3 lands in play. Enough to get this in the yard and reanimate it. That means you very often have 1-2 lands in your hand when it comes into play. In other words, you'll have food for it without trying to have food for it.
All the library manipulation you already need to make reanimator work allows you many opportunities to stage land on the ability trigger. Most probably aren't running Lim-dul's Vault, but that card is exceedingly good in reanimator in general and very synergistic with Bobo. Brainstorm is sick here too since you can just put those lands in your hand on top and get 3 cards off the trigger.
Played early, the traditional "terminate test" is IMO actually a weak measure of how playable a card is. The primary reason for that is because early you aren't necessarily going to have answers for things. Inkwell fails the edict test and cubes tend to have more of those effects than unconditional 2 mana destroy creature spells - but that's not counted against Inkwell.
If your opponent has the answer for Bobo, good on them. You can still discard extra lands in response so it's not a complete loss most of the time. Reanimator decks generally have multiple finishers too, so you don't have to run Bobo into an obviously bad matchup either. There are many decks that simply can't kill him early in the game and others which will have enough answers that things are riskier for you. That's actually somewhat an interesting mini game to have to solve.
Getting a one turn kill off this is easier than it seems. With no manipulation, the trigger will find 1 land usually and occasionally two (plus what you have in hand). Almost all decks take self damage from things like shock lands, etc. So 4 lands plus one swing of this will usually kill your opponent. Haste helps immensely with value for obvious reason, so it's very good with sneak attack (one of the better targets in fact). Bogardan Hellkite isn't in many lists anymore, but it's been my go-to for board control/immediate impact reanimation targets. Borborygmus Enraged is often even better than Hellkite.
I would be leery of this card in Natural Order decks though (matchup dependent of course). Primarily because you are playing it later in the game when your opponent has had more time to find and save removal. Still, green is a good pairing since there are a lot of land tutoring and CA effects (cultivate and friends). As someone mentioned earlier, this plus LFTL is going to just end the game (and who doesn't like LFTL engines?)
This card is very swingy. If you are in the market for something that has a very high ceiling but isn't necessarily always going to net you automatic value, I would recommend trying this card. Had this been printed 10 years ago, I believe it would have been a mainstay in cubes early on and would have been part of many great cube stories. Card is fun and dangerously reckless for you and your opponent.
I had him in my cube years ago because I got one in a booster, he was fun but my list was super casual back then but as it got more powerful he just got out classed. If I was ever making a making a "battle-cruiser Magic" style cube I would definitly have him in my sights but for a normal cube environment he doesn't cut it.
Ehh, I like Atarka and Ruric Thar much more. Even mono green and red have more versatile / interesting options like Bogardan Hellkite / Craterhood Behemoth. Big B doesn't have enough immediate impact for high powered environments, imo.
Thanks for the detailed write-up! I don't think I want it in my section since Dragonlord Atarka is just so much better and it's the only fatty I need/want for that color combination, but it's cool to hear that it's working for you.
Atarka probably sealed this guys fate in most mainstream cubes. But for anyone that had been considering him, he is definitely fun and pretty frightening to face down without removal.
This is so much fun in my 44 land Mina and Denn EDH deck, but I can't see playing it in my cube. Atarka is way easier to cast and more generically powerful.
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It's very difficult for RG fatties to compare to mono color options like Inferno Titan and Woodfall Primus. Inferno Titan just does everything Big B wants to do but has an immediate impact and is very castable. Woodfall Primus has a slightly easier mana cost but also has immediate impact + self recursion.
Atarka probably sealed this guys fate in most mainstream cubes.
That seems to be the case, Atarka's cheaper, easier to cast, bigger, flies, and has a more consistent (if lower-ceilinged) ETB effect than Borborygmos Enraged. The difference in casting cost makes a real difference for ramp decks, and Wildfire decks that might be interested in this as a finisher are far less likely to have extra lands on hand to pitch to Borborygmos. However, reanimator and Sneak & Show decks don't care at all about the casting cost, and I hadn't considered that those types of decks might be more likely to have extra lands on-hand in the early game to pitch. If I were able to get more reps in with my cube, I could see rotating the fatties to be cheated, and it sounds like this could be a better choice than I'd previously thought. Thanks for the detailed write-up, ahadabans.
Ehh, I like Atarka and Ruric Thar much more.
I ran Ruric Thar, the Unbowed for quite a while in the early days of my cube, and it's definitely a sweeter card than a lot of people here give it credit for. It hits like a truck, it's hard to attack through, and it definitely passes the Terminate test (but not the Shriekmaw test). However, it doesn't really play the same role as Borborygmos or Dragonlord Atarka. Ruric Thar needs to be in a creature-heavy deck, so it fits best as a curve-topper for midrange decks, but it's a terrible option as a Sneak Attack target because it has no evasion, and not a great reanimation target because reanimator decks tend to have a higher percentage of noncreature spells.
So what do you guys think of this guy? He's very expensive for not a super impressive guy, but he does have the benefit of being green which means there are more ways to cheat him into play and/or ramp into him.
Also he has an ability that can impact the board the turn he hits play, and it goes well with some ramp cards like Kodama's Reach and also has some interactions with Life from the Loam if for whatever reason this guy can't finish off a player quickly.
In all reality though I feel like if he ever resolves, he should be able to close out a game in one attack phase due to his large body, mulch ability, and Seismic Assault ability.
So what do you think? I feel like he might be better than he seems, but his mana cost is so massive.
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No... That's pretty silly.
He's modular unlike the Titan which means he does the same amount of damage if you only have on land in hand, but does significantly more for each extra land.
He's also green, which means he can be cast off of Natural Order as opposed to Inferno Titan who can not.
The reason I'm even discussing this card, is because he seems very "meh" when compared to other cards, but because of the bulk of abilities he has, while having certain colours in his cost, makes him debatable. The fact that he's a better Seismic Assault that can be reanimated is already pretty good, I don't know about you but Inferno Titan can't easily win a game with one attack phase if reanimated early, even if he can do it with two attacks that's a big difference.
In short, reanimating this guy pretty much assures a win if he attacks, Inferno does not. The same goes for Terestradon. The trample assures you get the mulch effect and even one land means you have an extra Lightning Bolt for no mana in hand.
I'm very dubious about this card, but I do have a strange feeling it can be better than it seems at first, much like Grislebrand.
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I think it's safe to say that this guy has a lot more to offer than Scaled Wurm, and it's not unprecedented for cubes to run 8 CMC creatures (Griselbrand).
That said, I'm certain RG does not want an 8 drop, even with all the abilities here. I think this is definitely an EDH card.
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Now, not even in a 800 card cube.
Inferno Titan is way better and that is without looking at the mana cost.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear
I think that if he costed 6 mana he would definitely go in my cube. If he had haste maybe. I think he should've gotten haste btw. I proxied one for my cube to try him out. Somebody used Sneak Attack to play this guy to kill me in one turn. But either haste or a lower casting cost would make this card a lot more playable and even pretty good I think.
This card is surprisingly good, especially in fast/broken reanimator decks where it truly excels. We've never had a seismic assault ability in cube (the original being too prohibitive to cast and knock off's costing mana which hurts the burst factor). Bobo works amazingly well in typical UB reanimator builds for a few reasons that I didn't originally expect or think about:
If your opponent has the answer for Bobo, good on them. You can still discard extra lands in response so it's not a complete loss most of the time. Reanimator decks generally have multiple finishers too, so you don't have to run Bobo into an obviously bad matchup either. There are many decks that simply can't kill him early in the game and others which will have enough answers that things are riskier for you. That's actually somewhat an interesting mini game to have to solve.
Getting a one turn kill off this is easier than it seems. With no manipulation, the trigger will find 1 land usually and occasionally two (plus what you have in hand). Almost all decks take self damage from things like shock lands, etc. So 4 lands plus one swing of this will usually kill your opponent. Haste helps immensely with value for obvious reason, so it's very good with sneak attack (one of the better targets in fact). Bogardan Hellkite isn't in many lists anymore, but it's been my go-to for board control/immediate impact reanimation targets. Borborygmus Enraged is often even better than Hellkite.
I would be leery of this card in Natural Order decks though (matchup dependent of course). Primarily because you are playing it later in the game when your opponent has had more time to find and save removal. Still, green is a good pairing since there are a lot of land tutoring and CA effects (cultivate and friends). As someone mentioned earlier, this plus LFTL is going to just end the game (and who doesn't like LFTL engines?)
This card is very swingy. If you are in the market for something that has a very high ceiling but isn't necessarily always going to net you automatic value, I would recommend trying this card. Had this been printed 10 years ago, I believe it would have been a mainstay in cubes early on and would have been part of many great cube stories. Card is fun and dangerously reckless for you and your opponent.
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That seems to be the case, Atarka's cheaper, easier to cast, bigger, flies, and has a more consistent (if lower-ceilinged) ETB effect than Borborygmos Enraged. The difference in casting cost makes a real difference for ramp decks, and Wildfire decks that might be interested in this as a finisher are far less likely to have extra lands on hand to pitch to Borborygmos. However, reanimator and Sneak & Show decks don't care at all about the casting cost, and I hadn't considered that those types of decks might be more likely to have extra lands on-hand in the early game to pitch. If I were able to get more reps in with my cube, I could see rotating the fatties to be cheated, and it sounds like this could be a better choice than I'd previously thought. Thanks for the detailed write-up, ahadabans.
I ran Ruric Thar, the Unbowed for quite a while in the early days of my cube, and it's definitely a sweeter card than a lot of people here give it credit for. It hits like a truck, it's hard to attack through, and it definitely passes the Terminate test (but not the Shriekmaw test). However, it doesn't really play the same role as Borborygmos or Dragonlord Atarka. Ruric Thar needs to be in a creature-heavy deck, so it fits best as a curve-topper for midrange decks, but it's a terrible option as a Sneak Attack target because it has no evasion, and not a great reanimation target because reanimator decks tend to have a higher percentage of noncreature spells.
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