My main problem with the card, besides the unnecessary break from tradition, is its incongruous flavor.
Vanilla creatures should have vanilla names. Creatures with non-vanilla names should have corresponding abilities.
Grizzly Bears was a vanilla creature. What does Runeclaw Bear do that's different from the Grizzlies? Nothing.
There's a trading card game I've heard of where creatures have grandiose names without matching abilities. A card could be called "Doma the Angel of Silence," or "Sorcerer of the Doomed," for example, and be entirely vanilla. That would be Yu Gi Oh. Let's not go in that direction, please.
So how could you design a Runeclaw Bear that makes sense? Let's think about card design for a moment.
Runes suggest objects that have been inscribed with spells to grant them magical powers. What are magical objects? Artifacts. Enchantments. Claws suggest that he could destroy said objects. So we have "destroy target artifact or enchantment".
Now there was a 2/2 crea... (see all)
Posted By:
Wanderer25
(3/13/2011 5:20:31 PM)
Hallelujah! My prayers have been answered!
Runeclaw Bear makes his triumphant return and what a return it is! I spent many sleepless nights over the past year worrying that some idiot at WOTC would decide that Runeclaw Bear was too powerful and that it would not see reprint. Now my night terrors are over. I will be able to sleep soundly at night, knowing that If a burglar breaks into my house and challenges me to a game of Magic (Standard format of course), I can summon the might fury of Runeclaw Bear to rip him apart 2 damage at a time.
Who honestly cares about some of the other returning M 10 cards;
Lightning Bolt Lame.
Baneslayer Angel sideboard at best.
all other cards fall short of Runeclaw Bears Glory
Still doubting Runeclaw Bear? try comboing it with Bear Umbra and watch your opponent's eyes bleed as their br... (see all)
Posted By:
PEVE_O
(7/8/2010 12:39:29 PM)
Peve O, you get points in my book for giving me a mental image of Russian Stacking Bears. I'm not sure what you can spend those points on. Dexterity, perhaps?
Well, the bear is back. No surprises there, but I do find it odd that some of the other recently re-tooled cards in M10 didn't make it into the set, where this did. It seems equally absurd in this set, actually, next to cards like Garruk's Companion, which can serve equally well as a new player tutoring aid due to it's flavour tie-in and simplistic nature.
The inclusion of the bears (sorry, bear) really isn't upsetting without the preview fake-out of last year. The real problem I have is that I can't see Popeye Bear here as being nearly as iconic as his Grizzly counterpart. So that just begs the question- why is he here?
Posted By:
DoctorKenneth
(7/8/2010 5:28:24 PM)
Strictly worse than Grizzly Bears. Aside from that, about as good as Grizzly Bears.
Posted By:
Khavrion
(6/30/2011 9:33:57 PM)
I don't understand at all why they replaced the Grizzlies. I don't really need 8 bears in my imaginary vintage deck.
Why break tradition?
Well, I guess I could be thankful that running bear tribal for the lulz is now slightly more feasible. Um, make that bearly more feasible, I guess.
Posted By:
Gelzo
(12/20/2010 12:28:53 AM)
Grizzly Bears
Balduvian Bears
Bear Cub
Forest Bear
You may only put 20 bears in a legacy legal deck. To fill slots add Werebear and Caller of the Claw
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(7/26/2010 12:17:42 PM)
"Hi, I'm the Zendikar block and I have a minimum of three cards just in green that make vanilla 2/2 bears look terrible. All of them are common."
Posted By:
count_dorku
(10/2/2010 1:49:36 PM)
Poor bear... he's taken all the steroids in the world, and he still can't keep up with Garruk's Companion :(
Posted By:
Stray_Dog
(10/16/2010 6:36:31 AM)
I find it funny that even though its the exact same card, its ratting is about 1/3rd that of grizzly bears.
Not that i'm arguing though, I totally agree.
Posted By:
bijart_dauth
(3/18/2011 11:14:56 AM)
This sucks. Like, really, really sucks. Zendikar has maybe like EVERY ONE of it's creatures better than this. And, anyway, what's wrong with the good old Grizzly Bears?
Posted By:
land_comment
(3/9/2011 8:20:47 AM)