@Fanaticmogg
The lesson isn't that grizzly bears is better than this, it's that you shouldn't hold out for the 5/5 trampler when you need the 2/2. When you have two mana and this in hand, cast it, when you have five mana, cast it kicked.
The point of a kicker like this is that Kavu Titan won't be a dead draw on turn 4 or later.
Posted By:
Atali
(2/22/2011 12:12:08 AM)
Good with the few green cards that return a creature to your hand as a cost: drop it early, bounce it, drop it kicked later.
Posted By:
LordRandomness
(8/22/2012 6:55:45 PM)
Kavu Titan, King of Bears!
Posted By:
garbagegatherer
(1/5/2011 1:51:53 PM)
For those wondering, Maro's story about the card is here:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr188
@Fanaticmogg, Atali, Magnor_Crio, scumbling1
The point of the story is that the grizzly bears are easier to play correctly, and that this card taught him to play aggressive decks more effectively.
Decisions are skill testing, but after a certain point they are just annoying. If you have to make a million decisions in a game, how many of them actually mattered? Imagine that you have the choice each turn to skip your draw phase. This choice adds no skill to the game. The decision to play Kavu Titan on the second turn or to hold it does add skill, and the correct play changes with your deck, the format and the metagame without being annoying.
Posted By:
kiseki
(6/29/2011 7:10:13 PM)
Easily, one of the greatest grizzly bears every printed.
Posted By:
HairlessThoctar
(1/9/2011 4:24:28 PM)
Mark Rosewater tends to greatly underappreciate the intelligence of Magic players. He'd rather have a simpler card printed in Grizzly Bears than a more complicated one in case the player makes the mistake of playing it wrong and feeling bad about it.
I don't think you should coddle players. The people who appreciate the greater complexitiy are the players who will become more greatly invested in the game.
Posted By:
scumbling1
(3/28/2011 5:09:34 PM)
Atali's correct. He wasn't saying Grizzly Bears was better than this card. He was making a point about how giving the player too many choices and decisions can, design-wise, be quite bad. And on a gameplay scale, how you need to cast things as you need them, not hold on to them until they can't help you anymore. =p
As everyone else has said, this is just a great card. It's one of the few kicker cards that is aggressively-costed on both ends (2 for a 2/2 is good, 5 for a 5/5 trample is great).
Posted By:
Magnor_Criol
(2/23/2011 9:02:18 PM)
Wow, it's strictly better than Grizzly Bears!
That aside, this card is really good. It's an efficient 2/2 in the early-game, and it's an efficient 5/5 trampler in the mid-game. Not many creatures can boast that flexibility.
Posted By:
Ragamander
(12/19/2009 4:45:15 PM)