Something not hard for red to pull off.
T1 : Mountain, Raging Goblin
T2 : Mountain, Dragon Fodder
T3 : Mountain, Thunder-Thrash Elder
Like it has been said before, this card is a high risk/reward card. A turn three 10/10 is cool, but essentially losing four creatures to a single Doom Blade just sucks.
Posted By:
Eved
(6/2/2010 10:48:46 PM)
Great card, well-rounded and easily playable. I could prolly think of lots of things better for a Jund deck, and of course their is removal. Which by the way all you guys that constantly trip about removal, seriously stop. BIG CREATURES WITH AMAZING ABILITIES ARE WORTH RISKS. But this guy is not an amazing creature he is just really good. I have put him in a few decks and he can be a heavy hitter in the early game.
Posted By:
niallcmurray86
(7/8/2010 11:57:36 AM)
I already ran Rockslide Elemental in my Nether Shadow/Ashen Ghoul deck, but then I ran across this guy and added him in as well. Surprisingly, this guy serves in a defensive role most of the time: I'll attack with a huge mob of Shadows and Ghouls, then feed whatever of them is left over (and tapped) to the Elder, who remains untapped and serves as a rather gigantic blocker during my opponent's turn. Yeah, I attack with him successfully on occasion, but he's rarely won me a game on the offense. Weird, I know.
Oh yes, aside from Rockslide Elemental and the other "things die and we get bigger" Jund mini-cycle from the Alara block, the Elder works great with Mortician Beetles and Khabál Ghouls.
Posted By:
yyukichigai
(9/11/2011 9:23:13 PM)
Stupid huge dudes with drawbacks and low mana costs are not unfamilliar, but without evasion or a way to keep him alive, he is just gonna keep splattering my token-blockers on his windshield.
Posted By:
Shoe2
(12/6/2011 2:24:18 PM)
Okay. I understand people objecting when someone says "Dies to removal" on absolutely every good creature. Fine, that's silly.
However, you'll note that the "dies to removal" argument, albeit explained slightly differently, is a legitimate grievance against Auras (and to some extent buff spells): you can two-for-one your opponent by killing something that's getting an aura put on it or already has one. It's the same deal with this guy: you're consuming cards to make him bigger, so if your opponent kills him they're getting card advantage by effectively destroying all the devoured creatures too. He therefore carries the same drawbacks and cautions as creature enchantments (well, ones that don't provide removal protection, anyway).
That doesn't mean he can't be used to good effect, but you have to realize that you're generally losing more than just that card and the mana spent on it if it gets hit with removal. Eating otherwise useless tokens is nice, for instance, just don't devour yo... (see all)
Posted By:
LordRandomness
(12/22/2011 2:25:24 AM)
It dies to removal, but it looks like it plays nicely with Hissing Iguanar and Fling, doesn't it?
Only complaint is that it devour doesn't work in a viashino tribal build all that well. You need things like end step Rith's Charm, and haste enablers like Fires of Yavimaya.
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(1/25/2012 12:51:48 AM)
@ DoragonShinzui
If that scares you then Thromok the Insatiable must be your worst nightmare. :P
Posted By:
DritzD27
(8/9/2012 8:07:54 AM)
With a pair of goblin tokens, he's a 7/7 for 3 mana. How can you not like this guy?
Posted By:
Pendulous
(6/4/2013 9:10:40 PM)
Honestly it's not just removal that makes me not like this guy. It is a valid argument though; For all the people who say something like Raging Goblin, Krenko's Command, then this guy for a 10/10 turn three, it is true that Doom Blade or etc. is basically killing four creatures when you play it on this guy then. Not to mention being down three turns and three cards.
Yeah one could argue there is always board wipes that can do that regardless, but killing this guy can essentially turn into a cheap one sided board wipe. Oh, and removal is easily more common than wipes anyways.
Back to the thing I started with, saying it's not just removal. Apart from that this guy is horribly vulnerable to other forms of control for the same reasons; Tapping this guy out with a Master Decoy essentially taps out all the creatures you sacrificed by proxy, a Pacifism locks down that investment, a... (see all)
Posted By:
Yukikah
(6/24/2013 4:17:09 PM)