the card has been changed in the Oracle (and errata) to fit the M10 rules. but this is a Mana Drain on a creature... its funny and really intresting
Posted By:
xaer0knight
(5/10/2010 3:23:22 PM)
they can tap all their lands and play as many spells as they can in response to her ability, but even with that it messes up peoples strategy and timing.
Posted By:
supershawn
(8/4/2010 4:36:48 PM)
I just love this card, its a hippo and I just love the photo the hippo looks so shiny and proud. As mentioned Favor of the overbeing is a good combo for some real fun.
I agree M10 rules makes it is not as useful (they can tap their lands during the declare attackers step to make sure you don't get any mana), but there was an interesting situation that did come up online while I was attacking with him. During the declare blockers step they swords to plowshares so they would have mana afterward... and at the end of combat Magic online forced them to tap all their lands and I got the mana. If you read the situation above carefully the pygmy hippo attacked, no blockers were declared (instead he was plowshared), his ability still triggered. The other person learned afterward next time, to have something block it and THEN swords it :)
It's just a fun card, 4/5.
Posted By:
Piedmont
(8/30/2010 9:03:47 AM)
On how the mana burn change impacted this card -
Sure, it sort of used to be something of a Wilderness Elemental with mana burn. But, it was always sort of this straight beef kind of card. Your opponent could always just tap their land to avoid the drain, if that's what position they were in. But, what's a few damage? That's not why this card would be played over Tarmogoyf.
Everything it used to do, it still does. A cheaper Dosan the Falling Leaf, making you mostly immune to everything your opponent would want to cast on your turn. It's one half of a Nature's Will on a stick, which is just what you want in a deck with Winter Orb and similar effects.
Still a very solid card, one with an effect that we rarely see.
Posted By:
Justice1337
(5/24/2012 7:42:25 PM)
That's somewhat incorrect. Pygmy Hippo drains all mana from the opponent's mana pool, even if it wasn't put there by the first part of the ability. So your opponent would have to put the mana in his pool and have it evaporate away before combat, not in response to the ability. Still, if he knows he's going to get hit, he has time to prepare.
Posted By:
Tanaka348
(11/23/2009 11:19:17 PM)
Way to make this useful again: get out Price of Glory and attack with the pygmy hippo, using a Magus of the Candelabra to make sure their lands are untapped on your turn. And then just do w/e while they wallow in despair.
Posted By:
Ritius
(4/9/2010 9:14:29 PM)
Might as well slap a Writ of Passage on this guy and call it a day.
After you cast your Darksteel Colossus, of course!
And if your opponent wants to tap out before combat, tough luck, 'cause you can run Early Harvest and Turnabout. Or, even weirder, Upwelling. Manabarbs also helps.
On the other hand, when you have a hippopotamus on your side, you've basically already won.
Posted By:
Ragamander
(12/24/2011 1:29:29 AM)
All your mana is belong to us?
Posted By:
storm_crow4presidnt
(4/22/2010 7:12:24 PM)
with all the 
card drawing aggro (think cold-eyed selkie) out there, you're gonna need a lot of mana to play all those drawn cards. oh, gee whiz, look! a hippo! if you're up against permission, punch thru to prevent counterspells. and 2cc for a 2/2 body with all that? c'mon people
it actually got BETTER with m10 rules, as there's no longer any mana burn, and those who said it got nerfed are batty. what part of "and empty his or her mana pool" don't you understand??
Posted By:
kronos539
(7/10/2010 11:45:15 PM)
Made useless with no mana burn, they can just tap out after the main phase and loose the mana before the hippo can eat it.
BUT you can cast spells counter free (excluding Force of WIll and Mental Misstep) during your 2nd main phase.
OR you can get fun and run with Upwelling and Turnabout. But the point is, with mana burn you didn't need 2 cards to take advantage of his 2nd ability.
Posted By:
TheWrathofShane
(3/9/2012 7:22:30 AM)