I initially passed over this card because I did not realise the backside has two instances of prowess. The frontside is not far off rate, and the fairly low flip cost gets you a real pile of keywords. I think this is better than Abbot of Keral Keep, as it has a better base body, is significantly better early (where you cannot make use of Abbot's impulsive draw, but can still flip the spellspear later) and comparable in value later on.
This one caught my eye as well. I think the ward 2 is also nice, because leveling it up only for your opponent to untap, kill it, and move onward without much tempo loss might feel kinda bad. Obviously instant removal will still hit your tempo hard, but I feel like the front body is entirely reasonable so it's not like you MUST transform ASAP and can wait for the best opportunity.
This has been in my original testing pile as well as I wanted another spells matter piece in red. OP summarises it well. It's a efficient card and the flip is reasonably costed to fill out the curve, it also hits very hard with double prowess.
This card piqued my interest.
My concern is that the front side is quite a bit below rate such that it needs to transform a high % of games to be worth it. The total cost invested to do so is significant for a mono red aggressive deck.
That said , the backside looks really powerful in the right deck. The ward partially offsets the extra mana invested.
My guess is it’s not good enough, but my confidence in that statement isn’t high.
I like this card too and plan on testing at Legacy450. Red’s 2 drops are not nearly as saturated as its 3 drops so there’s potential space for improvement. The front side is really not too shabby on its own - slightly below rate but only slightly. I played seeker of the way for many years and it was very solid. Lifelink is often better than trample but if there’s one deck where it’s not its R aggro or Rx aggro/tempo. Add in the very threatening flip side and I think this can make it until something better comes along.
I think this is a good card, but I'm going to give it a pass. My experience with spells matters decks in limited is they are at their strongest when the deck has a high density of good removal and I've found that removal spells have consistently underperformed.
I would reconsider this if we have +1-2 good 1 CMC red removal.
I once farted during the final match for prizes at an FNM. It was a tense moment, everything was quiet, control vs control, I was about to mana leak, thought about it.. and farted. Then mana leaked.
Initial testing of Khenra Spellspear has been pretty positive. There were a good amount of people in my playgroup that weren't too hot on this card, but their opinions of it have improved over time. The floor of a 2/2 with trample and prowess is acceptable for how high its ceiling is. The transformed side is annoying to deal with both with removal and in combat, and it can hit like a truck if you don't have an immediate answer for it. I like this as a spells matters card that can also do well in generic aggro. Trample is very key if you're playing initiative.
I initially passed over this card because I did not realise the backside has two instances of prowess. The frontside is not far off rate, and the fairly low flip cost gets you a real pile of keywords. I think this is better than Abbot of Keral Keep, as it has a better base body, is significantly better early (where you cannot make use of Abbot's impulsive draw, but can still flip the spellspear later) and comparable in value later on.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
My concern is that the front side is quite a bit below rate such that it needs to transform a high % of games to be worth it. The total cost invested to do so is significant for a mono red aggressive deck.
That said , the backside looks really powerful in the right deck. The ward partially offsets the extra mana invested.
My guess is it’s not good enough, but my confidence in that statement isn’t high.
Last Updated 02/06/23
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I would reconsider this if we have +1-2 good 1 CMC red removal.
Obviously it's weak to removal right away but a early ward 2 creature is annoying as hell to remove and it's impossible to race or block well.
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