LSV calls him Gary.
I call him MFing Gray Oak.
Posted By:
mdakw576
(10/29/2013 7:58:12 PM)
I remember when my friend drafted two at the pre-release, I started calling it a "Great pain in the Ass-phodel"
Posted By:
AirborneLemming
(12/4/2013 6:40:20 AM)
After extensive playtesting it can be said that this thing is overpowered. Too many sudden game endings out of nowhere. Gets pretty boring after a short while.
Another extremely pushed card for mono black. It seems that the designers are not getting right the substantial difference between swingy lifedrain effect and simple lifeloss & lifegain effects. At least the mana costs do not reflect that. Compare this card to Fanatic of Mogis and Nylea's Disciple. Clearly the merchant should cost more colorless mana to be balanced.
Posted By:
AncientTimer
(1/9/2014 6:05:47 AM)
Throwing this guy into my Mikaeus zombie tribal deck, because why not?
Possible play: have Mikaeus out (along with anything else including Whip), cast Merchant. Then, destroy Merchant. Undying triggers, then destroy Merchant again. Then Whip him back. Oi. Just the possibility of triggering his craziness three times in one turn is nuts. Maybe throw in a Strionic Resonator for a fourth trigger.
Posted By:
kor6sic6
(1/26/2014 6:14:13 PM)
How is this only a 3.7... basically defines a deck archetype.
Posted By:
deggdegg
(2/20/2014 8:51:57 AM)
So strong, you won't believe it's a common!
Just pulled this play off in an EDH game in my Ghave deck:
1. Had 13 creatures in my graveyard. Tap Crypt of Agadeem for 13 mana.
2. Cast Immortal Servitude for 5. Get back Divinity of Pride, Vizkopa Confessor, and Phyrexian Plaguelord.
3. Tap one more to use the remaining 5 B to cast Gleancrawler.
4. Gray Merchant. 11 life drain. Had it been a multiplayer game, the results would have been disastrous.
Posted By:
Okuu-chan
(2/23/2014 4:30:17 AM)
The fact that this guy is already seeing play in Modern decks and nearly tripled the price of Phyrexian Obliteratior should say a lot.
Get your 500 playsets now. This common merchant may just offer you some business tips in the future.
Posted By:
PopcornBunni
(3/2/2014 3:12:58 AM)
As EternalUnreality said, this card seems to synergize very well with black.
You could probably make a deck around Grey Merchant
Anything that can send him to the graveyard is good because you can bring him back for a life swing.
Obviously he works well with devotion so he combos well with any cards that provide lots of black devotion like nightveil spectre or desecration demon.
All the sacrifice cards are good when used on him because you can get some use from him, perhaps declare him as a blocker, then sacrifice him and bring him back to reactivate the on battlefield enter effect.
Sanguine bond doubles his effect.
Posted By:
obesechicken13
(3/6/2014 9:15:52 PM)
In mono black multiplayer deck this zombie pwns ! I mean pwns hardcore !
Posted By:
Pipikako
(3/20/2014 8:14:52 AM)
If you think Gary is good in standard and limited, you should see the what the card does to pauper...
Posted By:
TexasDice
(4/20/2014 8:15:11 PM)