Rampaging Ferocidon 2R
Creature - Dinosaur (R)
Menace
Players can't gain life.
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, Rampaging Ferocidon deals 1 damage to that creature's controller.
3/3
I kinda like this as an anti-token option for red 3s, and a 3/3 menace for 3 isn't a terrible rate either. Am considering slotting this in over Hanweir Garrison. Only point of pause is how worth it this is, since we have a 3-power 3-cmc menace creature already in Sin Prodder which seems to garner mixed opinions.
Evasive 3/3 that prevents life gain and provides some rather double-edged "reach." I might test this at 540 despite the lack of haste, though I suspect this may be another Sin Prodder that looks good on paper but plays poorly.
This card seems pretty strong. Good stats, evasion, indirect damage, and random anti-lifegain are all things red wants to do. The damage is double-sided though, but so is Sulfurix Vortex, so.....
I definitely have a slot foe this, will test for sure. This can really hose a lot of plays / strategies / cards like Recurring Nightmare for Deranged Hermit / Tinker for Myr Battlesphere / Natural Order for Hornet Queen.
Seems really great. 3/3 for 2R with evasion and aggressive hate abilities. Punishes your opponent for trying to stabilize in two different ways. Wow this card seems awesome. Probably a 360 staple, right? If not, close.
I also like having anti-twin tech. Sometimes the deck can feel a bit to auto-winning/feel-bad depending on who is playing, so I like having something that will hate agains that deck some percentage of the time along with being a great aggressive card.
Obviously easier to remove than Sulfuric Vortex, but it's easier to cast and hits harder. Without menace, I don't think it would be enough, but I'm definitely going to try it.
This is another one that I've read a few times now and I'm just like, 'Eh, seems fine.' This doesn't look like a 360 staple to me at all. 3/3 with menace is decent, but what's the added damage output going to be against a deck that doesn't focus on tokens? I think I like Sin Prodder more than this and we've not ran him for a while.
But it's ability can hurt a go wide Aggro quite a bit, while the control opponent should be fine with it
I think that's a specific situation that even then isn't always going to be bad for the go-wide aggro player. Unless they're getting nailed with wrath after wrath, taking a bunch of damage off this guy vs control probably means you're doing really good. Wraths aren't irrelevant, but there are only so many and only so many turns they could have it. And, you're still stopping life gain while having an evasive beater. Seems like more pros than cons in this spot.
This is another one that I've read a few times now and I'm just like, 'Eh, seems fine.' This doesn't look like a 360 staple to me at all. 3/3 with menace is decent, but what's the added damage output going to be against a deck that doesn't focus on tokens? I think I like Sin Prodder more than this and we've not ran him for a while.
I'm with you. I've been burnt quite a few times by 3 power 3 drops in red with situational abilities. It looks really solid for a 540 maybe but I don't see it breaking into smaller lists. Testing might prove otherwise but I doubt it.
And how important, really, is stopping life gain? I play Vortex a lot, and I feel like that only really comes up sporadically.
This just seems like a solid red beater that could find a home in midsize or larger cubes, but nothing that's overly impressive or pushed. Against a midrange deck, I play this on T3 and they untap, play a 4 that's bigger than this and take 1? Seems fine for them.
I'd be less excited about it if it only had the damage clause or the lifelink clause, but having both means it'll be a relevant hater more often, and unless it's actual removal killing this guy--which is definitely a detriment--he'll be getting damage in. Testing is definitely needed, but there seem to be way more pros than cons with this guy as an aggressive beater.
I also think Sin Prodder is a *lot* worse than this guy. I feel like Prodder misses more than this guy's hate would be irrelevant, along with 2 toughness being a lot worse than 3.
Kinda helps that red 3s aren't exactly mind-blowing either. There are some great ones, but it's not like white 3s.
Not including planeswalker ultimates, there are ~32 cards from your cube that either have lifelink or gain life. So yeah, not all the time, but not really irrelevant either. A number of those are creatures with ETB abilities too, so you're hating those card twice with this guy at times.
If it was just that, I agree it wouldn't matter and I'd be way less excited, but these types of abilities compound when they give you another option to hate.
I like how the menace combos with his own ping ability. "Oh you want to block my guy. I guess you have to play two creature and take two." I think he does enough stuff on his own to warrant testing.
I like the body and the anti-lifegain, but I'm also pushing Purphoros, which this does not synergize with. This card is certainly a consideration at the moment, though.
Well, this is good. I hate that this is the place they're willing to push cards. I'm super tired of beefy creatures that have really good on-curve stats. I never wanted centaur coursers in red, and I'd be a lot happier with a weaker body and a stronger ability.
This is a good card, but I don't think I'll be playing it.
I like the body and the anti-lifegain, but I'm also pushing Purphoros, which this does not synergize with. This card is certainly a consideration at the moment, though.
It's not that bad, though. I imagine in a lot of spots you're OK taking 1 off your tokens when your opponent is still taking 2, and the purphoros buff on a menace dude is nice. Yeah it's kinda awk, but really not the worst.
I guess my line of thought is, if I'm taking a lot of damage from this dude, then my opponent probably is too unless some specific scenarios are occurring. Moat and such makes this card awful, sure, but there aren't many cards like that. And in addition, if I'm taking like 3-5 damage, that not only means that I have 3-5 creatures but also that this guy hasn't died yet. And unless it's more beneficial for my opponent to keep this guy alive--which there aren't too many scenarios where that's realistic, they exist but prob not at enough of a regular rate to count as a detriment--then him doing me a bunch of damage is probably more of a good sign than a bad sign, right?
This doesn't go in the same deck as Purphoros since this is mainly a pure aggro card. Conflicts of interest with things like Hero of Bladehold / Hanweir Garrison / planeswalkers that generate tokens, but the drawback isn't backbreaking.
I like the body and the anti-lifegain, but I'm also pushing Purphoros, which this does not synergize with. This card is certainly a consideration at the moment, though.
It's not that bad, though. I imagine in a lot of spots you're OK taking 1 off your tokens when your opponent is still taking 2, and the purphoros buff on a menace dude is nice. Yeah it's kinda awk, but really not the worst.
I guess my line of thought is, if I'm taking a lot of damage from this dude, then my opponent probably is too unless some specific scenarios are occurring. Moat and such makes this card awful, sure, but there aren't many cards like that. And in addition, if I'm taking like 3-5 damage, that not only means that I have 3-5 creatures but also that this guy hasn't died yet. And unless it's more beneficial for my opponent to keep this guy alive--which there aren't too many scenarios where that's realistic, they exist but prob not at enough of a regular rate to count as a detriment--then him doing me a bunch of damage is probably more of a good sign than a bad sign, right?
Yeah, initially I was thinking of a situation where I have this guy on board without Purphoros in play, the opponent has two Giant Spiders or equally large creatures, and I have a bunch of token producers in hand. But I did a search in my cube, and the only creatures that fit that role that cost less than 4 are Brimaz and Courser of Kruphix. There's a few 4cmc+ creatures that fit the description, but honestly not as many as I first thought. I think Green and White may still be an issue for this guy, but it should beat up Blue and Black pretty good, and it may be fast enough that Green and White aren't as big of a concern as I may be thinking. This card does seem fantastic in a more stream-lined red deck of just efficient 1-drops, burn and the like.
This doesn't go in the same deck as Purphoros since this is mainly a pure aggro card. Conflicts of interest with things like Hero of Bladehold / Hanweir Garrison / planeswalkers that generate tokens, but the drawback isn't backbreaking.
This is part of where I have a problem with it. If I'm building an attacking based RDW cube deck, Hanweir Garrison is great. Purphoros is just icing on top if I can put him into that deck. This dino is a bit of a nombo with a card like Garrison and other cards that make attacking based mono red decks great. I'll have to see this in action, I think, to truly form an educated opinion on it before I decide on inclusion. On paper, I'd give this a solid fine rating.
And how important, really, is stopping life gain? I play Vortex a lot, and I feel like that only really comes up sporadically.
I think people seem to be overlooking the power of that clause. Note how rare it is that they throw that on a card. Incidental life-gain kills burn/RDW - even just a little bit allows stabilization.
Also, people seem to be focusing on the negatives associated with the creatures etb ability rather than the upside. This ability reminds me of the symmetrical damage ability on Eidolon of the Great Revel in that it would "seem" that it hurts the aggro player more than the control player. What people don't take into consideration though is even if I as the aggro player take two damage for every one you take as the control player that's ok. My life total should be higher than the guy getting attacked and it should be under zero pressure if my opponent isn't playing creatures. In addition, I can just stop playing creatures at some point and resort to the burn plan or wait for my opponent to kill this guy should it become a liability. What I'm saying is that this ability is simply icing on the cake for a non-tokens red aggro deck.
I agree with those that rank this as red's third best 3-drop after Goblin Rabblemaster and Hanweir Garrison (yes, this is better than Sin Prodder - though it is close). It's the first auto-include I've seen this set.
I think people seem to be overlooking the power of that clause. Note how rare it is that they throw that on a card. Incidental life-gain kills burn/RDW - even just a little bit allows stabilization.
For sure. Incidental life gain is huge vs the red deck. I don't disagree with that at all. The life gain clause on Vortex only comes up every now and then, but when it does, it's really clutch. I totally understand how sweet that ability can be. I just think that tacked on ability needs to be tacked onto something that's great on its own without that ability. You could erase that from Vortex and it'd still be one of red's top spells. This guy is fine, but I don't believe he's a stone cold staple, third best 3-drop as people seem to be suggesting.
Rampaging Ferocidon 2R
Creature - Dinosaur (R)
Menace
Players can't gain life.
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, Rampaging Ferocidon deals 1 damage to that creature's controller.
3/3
I kinda like this as an anti-token option for red 3s, and a 3/3 menace for 3 isn't a terrible rate either. Am considering slotting this in over Hanweir Garrison. Only point of pause is how worth it this is, since we have a 3-power 3-cmc menace creature already in Sin Prodder which seems to garner mixed opinions.
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Evasive 3/3 that prevents life gain and provides some rather double-edged "reach." I might test this at 540 despite the lack of haste, though I suspect this may be another Sin Prodder that looks good on paper but plays poorly.
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I definitely have a slot foe this, will test for sure. This can really hose a lot of plays / strategies / cards like Recurring Nightmare for Deranged Hermit / Tinker for Myr Battlesphere / Natural Order for Hornet Queen.
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I also like having anti-twin tech. Sometimes the deck can feel a bit to auto-winning/feel-bad depending on who is playing, so I like having something that will hate agains that deck some percentage of the time along with being a great aggressive card.
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I think that's a specific situation that even then isn't always going to be bad for the go-wide aggro player. Unless they're getting nailed with wrath after wrath, taking a bunch of damage off this guy vs control probably means you're doing really good. Wraths aren't irrelevant, but there are only so many and only so many turns they could have it. And, you're still stopping life gain while having an evasive beater. Seems like more pros than cons in this spot.
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I'm with you. I've been burnt quite a few times by 3 power 3 drops in red with situational abilities. It looks really solid for a 540 maybe but I don't see it breaking into smaller lists. Testing might prove otherwise but I doubt it.
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This just seems like a solid red beater that could find a home in midsize or larger cubes, but nothing that's overly impressive or pushed. Against a midrange deck, I play this on T3 and they untap, play a 4 that's bigger than this and take 1? Seems fine for them.
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I also think Sin Prodder is a *lot* worse than this guy. I feel like Prodder misses more than this guy's hate would be irrelevant, along with 2 toughness being a lot worse than 3.
Kinda helps that red 3s aren't exactly mind-blowing either. There are some great ones, but it's not like white 3s.
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Not including planeswalker ultimates, there are ~32 cards from your cube that either have lifelink or gain life. So yeah, not all the time, but not really irrelevant either. A number of those are creatures with ETB abilities too, so you're hating those card twice with this guy at times.
If it was just that, I agree it wouldn't matter and I'd be way less excited, but these types of abilities compound when they give you another option to hate.
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This is a good card, but I don't think I'll be playing it.
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It's not that bad, though. I imagine in a lot of spots you're OK taking 1 off your tokens when your opponent is still taking 2, and the purphoros buff on a menace dude is nice. Yeah it's kinda awk, but really not the worst.
I guess my line of thought is, if I'm taking a lot of damage from this dude, then my opponent probably is too unless some specific scenarios are occurring. Moat and such makes this card awful, sure, but there aren't many cards like that. And in addition, if I'm taking like 3-5 damage, that not only means that I have 3-5 creatures but also that this guy hasn't died yet. And unless it's more beneficial for my opponent to keep this guy alive--which there aren't too many scenarios where that's realistic, they exist but prob not at enough of a regular rate to count as a detriment--then him doing me a bunch of damage is probably more of a good sign than a bad sign, right?
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Yeah, initially I was thinking of a situation where I have this guy on board without Purphoros in play, the opponent has two Giant Spiders or equally large creatures, and I have a bunch of token producers in hand. But I did a search in my cube, and the only creatures that fit that role that cost less than 4 are Brimaz and Courser of Kruphix. There's a few 4cmc+ creatures that fit the description, but honestly not as many as I first thought. I think Green and White may still be an issue for this guy, but it should beat up Blue and Black pretty good, and it may be fast enough that Green and White aren't as big of a concern as I may be thinking. This card does seem fantastic in a more stream-lined red deck of just efficient 1-drops, burn and the like.
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This is part of where I have a problem with it. If I'm building an attacking based RDW cube deck, Hanweir Garrison is great. Purphoros is just icing on top if I can put him into that deck. This dino is a bit of a nombo with a card like Garrison and other cards that make attacking based mono red decks great. I'll have to see this in action, I think, to truly form an educated opinion on it before I decide on inclusion. On paper, I'd give this a solid fine rating.
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I think people seem to be overlooking the power of that clause. Note how rare it is that they throw that on a card. Incidental life-gain kills burn/RDW - even just a little bit allows stabilization.
Also, people seem to be focusing on the negatives associated with the creatures etb ability rather than the upside. This ability reminds me of the symmetrical damage ability on Eidolon of the Great Revel in that it would "seem" that it hurts the aggro player more than the control player. What people don't take into consideration though is even if I as the aggro player take two damage for every one you take as the control player that's ok. My life total should be higher than the guy getting attacked and it should be under zero pressure if my opponent isn't playing creatures. In addition, I can just stop playing creatures at some point and resort to the burn plan or wait for my opponent to kill this guy should it become a liability. What I'm saying is that this ability is simply icing on the cake for a non-tokens red aggro deck.
I agree with those that rank this as red's third best 3-drop after Goblin Rabblemaster and Hanweir Garrison (yes, this is better than Sin Prodder - though it is close). It's the first auto-include I've seen this set.
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For sure. Incidental life gain is huge vs the red deck. I don't disagree with that at all. The life gain clause on Vortex only comes up every now and then, but when it does, it's really clutch. I totally understand how sweet that ability can be. I just think that tacked on ability needs to be tacked onto something that's great on its own without that ability. You could erase that from Vortex and it'd still be one of red's top spells. This guy is fine, but I don't believe he's a stone cold staple, third best 3-drop as people seem to be suggesting.
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