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The art is fine, but not fitting on this card. I don't mind that it doesn't feature a shapeshifter imitating another creature, I mind that it doesn't look like a shapeshifter at all. I can understand the decision to break the trend of 'ling artwork so that the other two 'lings do not have predictable and could have more unique artwork, but this does not sit well on an intangible level. A 'ling is a creature of variable size and shape, but the artwork depicts a big chunk of thorns that looks so painfully static, bulky, and bears an unintentionally humorous dopey expression.
The combination of indestructible and power/toughness shifting is fun, especially when you add trample, but the haste ability has no audience. Timmy hates to have to wait to play his creature just so it's ability may be useful when the benefit seems so unwieldy, and competitive players will never wait for six mana to play this, or more if they want to actually take advantage of the other abilities on that turn. What... (see all)
Posted By:
vesu_
(1/30/2009 10:06:32 PM)
Haste is alright but next turn its useless so you may as well not count this ability at all,
Indestructible is good and so is trample, but in green does this creature really stand out much at all.
compared to morphling in blue, i don't think so.
its still good though, i give this a 4/5
i gave morphling a 5/5 tho
Posted By:
Ava_Adore
(12/5/2009 3:17:12 AM)
The haste ability is kinda blah.. shroud would have prolly made this see some standard play. Oh well still is a neat card to pick up.
Posted By:
chicho27
(2/1/2009 6:58:33 AM)
Morphling sucks, he has been replaced about 17 times now. He used to be good, but Juzam Djinn used to be amazing. Creatures have gotten better, and Morphling has stayed the same.
I would still like to see the cycle completed.
Posted By:
desolation_masticore
(5/25/2011 8:00:48 AM)
... I don't see what everyone's beef with the art work is, it's great art work and the card it's self is a gnarly addition to any deck! Done me alot of good!! All so helpful and useful! If only it could get vigilence too LOL :P
Posted By:
AbyssalManZero
(11/13/2009 8:35:39 PM)
A lot of people are lambasting the art. I know why, and I agree that it is unfortunate that it isn't in the same vein as Morphling or Torchling with a mirror image, and therefore a shapeshifter, but I can't agree that the art is 'terrible" in any way here. I challenge those who say it's "crap" to do something better, and using photoshop on/with other people's artwork does not count; when I say "do something better", I mean actually create something, i.e. paint the image for the Thornling the way you want it to look. If you can't produce a better looking image than Kev Walker, then how can you say it's crap? (last question to be read: STFU :P ) He did what he was told to do I'm sure (it's not like Wizards said: "Scrawlz teh apez-lik3 mirrorzzez 4 uss plz LOL!" and he replied with a: "LOL!!!1one! I drawlz teh ubberz BEATS-b34sts in$tedd s0 d13 1n 4 f1r3! LOLZ!" ... ), and he did it quite well. It's a great painting all in all, it just doesn't conjure up... (see all)
Posted By:
professornutbutter
(9/26/2009 5:35:30 PM)
I agree with vesu_ . It's not necessarily that it doesn't follow the trend, but it doesn't look at all what I would have imagined. Definitely something smaller and more humanoid would have been more appropriate. I mean, 3/3 is elephant and this guy's 4/4 and TOWERING over the trees. That and the picture is quite static. It's abilities also don't really make it stand out that much from other green creatures. Indestructibility is cool, but everything else is just so-so. I mean, how hard is trample to come by and why would I give it a -X on either side when green is all about bigger and bigger. That lends itself better to either of the other -lings but not this one. All in all not terrible and still usable. Would have been 4.5/5 if it had the untap ability. 3.5/5
Posted By:
InsideousRakael
(5/23/2010 7:20:10 AM)
Morphling, Torchling and Thornling is already in existance now.
too bad this time the card is not as consistant to the original as Torchling used to be.
but well, i guess that means that wizards will likely come up with two more Mythic Rarelings sooner or later. Spoiltling and Saintling, i'm waiting for you ;)
Posted By:
Mode
(1/30/2009 1:20:06 PM)
@ professornutbutter: There is absolutely no prerequisite for critiquing art. Art is not a practical endeavour, so to suggest that a person needs to propose a better alternative to be able to criticize it is ridiculous. To complain about politics with no alternative is one thing, but art is a totally different matter. Walker tried to evoke an emotional response with his work, and it looks like he failed to do so with most of the posters here; he sure did with me. And that's my personal inner experience, that I don't need to justify to anyone else. No one needs to rationalize their emotional experience to the arts.
Anyway, Thornling has the worst design of any of the 'lings by a wide margin. It's not very tempting to pump his toughness one point at a time when you can just make him indestructable. They were willing to throw the size and the art conventions out the window when making this card, so why stick with the -1/+1 ability when it matters in only the most narrow of situations?... (see all)
Posted By:
scumbling1
(4/20/2011 6:18:27 PM)
OK I have no qualms with Kev Walkers work on this shapeshifter but I must say i was really looking forward to the "Green" interpretation of the anthropomorphic figure. Its nice to have change but when it breaks the trend substantially it lowers my expectations. Anyway wouldnt the suffix -ling be used to imply something as scrawny, not that i have any problem with a huge beast on my side of the table.
AND Whats with all this fuss about their abilities. I dont see much of a problem we cant have an all powerful shapeshifter, it would be really ***y to be up against someone with a creature that wont go down, its up to us as gamers to utilize these abilities creatively. isnt that what magics all about, personally i think these blunt abilities are potentially a waste of mana. so if i was looking at these from someone elses point of view weve got superman(morphling), bizzaro (torchling) and metallo? (thornling) i guess... The idea is theyre almost on par with each other (to the noob).
Posted By:
Gheridarigaaz
(3/21/2010 3:59:23 PM)