We cut Butcher of the Horde for Crackling Doom and, so far, that's worked out much better in that slot. This guy seems like he's worth testing as another boost for black aggro, but I don't know where he'll go. Mardu is not a deck that comes up that often, so it's a hard wedge to evaluate. I mean, what does that deck do? Maybe I'm wrong there. I feel like any Mardu decks will end up being XXy and splash for the third color. I like the hybrid aspect of this card, but I don't know if I like it more than Crackling Doom.
Mardu aggro decks come up all the time for us. It's the way to get your hands on all the best aggro cards at once, if you can manage the fixing requirements. Even if that was not the case, I would be trying out Hordechief anyway because it's a good aggressive four drop. Black has good utility four drops like Nekrataal, Skinrender, Braids and Graveborn Muse, but not so much in the way of offensive guys like this. It's totally stacked at the 1 and 3 slots and a bit undermanned at 2 and 4, so something of this calibre is really welcome, and it also ticks the lifegain box - the hybrid ability should be really strong in practice too to break stalls wide open or just get the big control creatures all blocking your lone token while you make this face:
I like this dude quite a bit, and it helps that black's 4s are pretty underwhelming and includes few cards that are must-includes. Seems incredible in any token theme--which has been improved by commander's flesh carver and potentially from includes from this set--and I think it'd be a fine card without access to the R/W ability, which can be quite absurd. Easy include for me if I can get my hands on one.
I've seen Mardu aggro and Mardu Wildfire decks on occasion, but it's not the most common wedge for sure (that would likely be Team America or maybe Abzan).
We cut Butcher of the Horde for Crackling Doom and, so far, that's worked out much better in that slot.
That's what I've been thinking when Khans of Tarkir was spoiled. Decks that support all three Mardu colors are pretty rare in my cube and if those decks happen, they are almost exclusively control or Wildfire decks. Therefore, Crackling Doom would have been my Mardu card of choice.
Being a Rakdos/Orzhov card (or even just a monoblack card) instead of a full-blown Mardu card is a big advantage of the orc here. I've recently cut Gray Merchant of Asphodel, so black could use another decent lifedrain creature. I am surely going to test the orc.
Almost positive this takes my RWB slot in gold (currently Oros, the Avenger). If anything, black gains a slight edge but if you go WRB aggro you now have a great curve-topper.
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I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I played against this last night and it was in Bu deck, so that he was not able to activate the ability, but it did some good work with his tokens (Especially impressive with Grave Titan) and gave a good source of life, which he was after in his otherwise suicidal black deck. I think this might be cubeable way for black to gain life. I was also following some of the games he was playing against others and noting the board states to see if the ability would have been good and there were many times it would have just won the game, had he the mana to activate it.
For me, this card is a miss. It's a good aggressive 4-drop in Black, but the problem is the card is useless unless you're in either Red and White as well; those colors both have excellent 4-drops already, and to make this guy's ability relevant you need to pay 5 mana to do so, which is a lot.
For me, this card is a miss. It's a good aggressive 4-drop in Black, but the problem is the card is useless unless you're in either Red and White as well; those colors both have excellent 4-drops already, and to make this guy's ability relevant you need to pay 5 mana to do so, which is a lot.
I think this card is fine even if you never get to activate the off-color ability, it's just gravy.
For me, this card is a miss. It's a good aggressive 4-drop in Black, but the problem is the card is useless unless you're in either Red and White as well; those colors both have excellent 4-drops already, and to make this guy's ability relevant you need to pay 5 mana to do so, which is a lot.
I think this card is fine even if you never get to activate the off-color ability, it's just gravy.
From testing experience this guy won me games without having to activate the ability. I agree with Fredo, the ability is super awesome gravy.
My testing showed the opposite, actually. The ability didn't have much immediate impact outside of a dedicated token deck that had a big board presence already. It needed the activated ability to warrant inclusion. After seeing it in action a few times, I probably wouldn't play it in a deck without the mana access to the activated ability. It's one of the reasons why it's going to take a back seat to Alesha in this Mardu slot. Both cards need access to their secondary colors to make decks, but I like the body/ability combo on the red critter.
For me, this card is a miss. It's a good aggressive 4-drop in Black, but the problem is the card is useless unless you're in either Red and White as well; those colors both have excellent 4-drops already, and to make this guy's ability relevant you need to pay 5 mana to do so, which is a lot.
I think this card is fine even if you never get to activate the off-color ability, it's just gravy.
From testing experience this guy won me games without having to activate the ability. I agree with Fredo, the ability is super awesome gravy.
My testing showed the opposite, actually. The ability didn't have much immediate impact outside of a dedicated token deck that had a big board presence already. It needed the activated ability to warrant inclusion. After seeing it in action a few times, I probably wouldn't play it in a deck without the mana access to the activated ability. It's one of the reasons why it's going to take a back seat to Alesha in this Mardu slot. Both cards need access to their secondary colors to make decks, but I like the body/ability combo on the red critter.
Would you play the hordechief if it took up a black slot instead of a mardu slot?
This card was a solid aggro topper in every game I had it, if he keeps it up he'll stick it out until his replacement comes along. Probably gets a lot worse with power.
Would you play the hordechief if it took up a black slot instead of a mardu slot?
Well, no, because you need more than just black mana for it to be playable. It needs to be in BW or in BR. I would play it if I was running two Mardu cards though.
It's far more playable in mono-B than Nacatl is in mono-G and I've had Nacatl in there happily for years now, and all the other hybrid activated cards are likely to occupy those monocolour slots too. I'll probably run Hordechief in B/G tokens and things anyway.
Well, if the cube is small enough to not have slots/sections for tri-color cards, fitting it into mono-black seems fine. However, in a cube that size, I don't think it's good enough, so the point is moot. Whether it was a Mardu card, Miscellaneous card or Black card, it wouldn't matter at 360, because it wouldn't make the cut anyways.
I stumbled upon this card today while looking for black creatures with activated abilities (there aren't many )
What are your thoughts about it now that three years have passed, and we have gotten more good black four-drops (Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Ravenous Chupacabra, ) ? Is it no longer good enough for cube, or just outclassed by new shiny options?
If wanted to push agro I would add him in, it's not a black Hellrider but a black deck can find uses for health and helps close games by helping break board stalls and making creatures into 2 point life swings. I have enjoyed the tri-brid cards as a way to sneak in some guild slots, this is another card that helps with that.
Hordechief is alright, the best aggro-only black 4 drop. His ability is very strong and a big part of his playability. He's at best #5 in his slot through, with other four drops being broader in scope and very important for other archetypes.
I recently re-added him. There isn't really an aggressive 4 drop aggro card for black outside of Braids for certain builds. Being 3B means he's pretty splashable too, the same way you might splash for Purphoros in the same kind of decks. Tokens is becoming one of the strong Mardu main/subthemes and he fits in pretty perfect no matter what combination of those 3 colors you're in. If Jaleela tests well he's also a warrior.
I stumbled upon this card today while looking for black creatures with activated abilities (there aren't many )
What are your thoughts about it now that three years have passed, and we have gotten more good black four-drops (Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Ravenous Chupacabra, ) ? Is it no longer good enough for cube, or just outclassed by new shiny options?
I probably didn't test him for as long as he deserved, but he under performed my expectations in the smallish sample I had with him and cut him from my ~450 (500 with duplicates). Haven't really looked back
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Being a Rakdos/Orzhov card (or even just a monoblack card) instead of a full-blown Mardu card is a big advantage of the orc here. I've recently cut Gray Merchant of Asphodel, so black could use another decent lifedrain creature. I am surely going to test the orc.
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My testing showed the opposite, actually. The ability didn't have much immediate impact outside of a dedicated token deck that had a big board presence already. It needed the activated ability to warrant inclusion. After seeing it in action a few times, I probably wouldn't play it in a deck without the mana access to the activated ability. It's one of the reasons why it's going to take a back seat to Alesha in this Mardu slot. Both cards need access to their secondary colors to make decks, but I like the body/ability combo on the red critter.
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Would you play the hordechief if it took up a black slot instead of a mardu slot?
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Well, no, because you need more than just black mana for it to be playable. It needs to be in BW or in BR. I would play it if I was running two Mardu cards though.
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What are your thoughts about it now that three years have passed, and we have gotten more good black four-drops (Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Ravenous Chupacabra, ) ? Is it no longer good enough for cube, or just outclassed by new shiny options?
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I probably didn't test him for as long as he deserved, but he under performed my expectations in the smallish sample I had with him and cut him from my ~450 (500 with duplicates). Haven't really looked back
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