This won me three or four games at the prerelease today. In fact, it won me every game in which it stuck to the the board without getting Dispatched or Arrested. I found that I almost always payed life to cast it for 4 or 5, but I only rarely paid life to pump it. As an artifact, it was just too much of a liability with two or three instant speed removal cards available to every color. Paying 3 or 4 red mana to have an 8/5 or 9/5 flying attacker on turn 5 was often more than enough to tip the balance.
I love this guy, but I feel like I'm getting mixed messages about suicide strategies from this set. They print all these phyrexian mana cards, but at the same time they take one of the most iconic suicide black cards and turn its balancing drawback into a ridiculous advantage. I'm talking about Phyrexian Negator /Phyrexian Obliterator of course. I don't know, I just feel like suicide play is much more fl... (see all)
Posted By:
Wanderer25
(5/8/2011 1:58:54 PM)
Easy, on turn 4, play him, cost yourself the 4 life. Attack the following turn, wait until the enemy has declared blockers. If they have not,proceed to pay ALL red four mana and pay 14 life to buff him up to a 15/15, or a 16/16 if you played an extra mana.
Since your running red, you should have burned an oppenent for at least 5 by turn 4.
Posted By:
SoulShatterer
(5/8/2011 5:47:55 PM)
Hey MOE-How can you pay life when you don't have any?
Posted By:
blindthrall
(5/9/2011 9:07:32 PM)
Oh look there's a dragon in my tempered steel deck...
Posted By:
K9black
(5/11/2011 8:29:23 AM)
AWESOME RED-ARTIFACT-DRAGON ART!
Imma be spamming boosters to get 1 of this!
Posted By:
Enraged
(5/12/2011 2:01:47 AM)
I serious wish this artwork and this flavour text was on a better card. It's not bad or anything.... far from it. Just wish it was an Eldrazi-crushing God-dragon - is that too much to ask? lol
Posted By:
darkgnosis
(5/16/2011 3:30:04 PM)
DEFINITELY want a playset...now it looks like any color deck can run an old school Hatred-black-suicide deck. I'm curious to see the ruling as to its color based on how you cast it. In other words, if you cast it with 4 colorless mana and pay 4 life, does that make it just a colorless creature and not a red creature? Can it then be safe from pro red?
We shall see :)
Posted By:
friendtoall17
(5/18/2011 6:51:27 PM)
Honestly, the main reason why I love this card is that you can as easily kill yourself as you would your opponent with the abillity to pay as many life as you want to buff him up. Unblocked, and if you don't pay any red mana, you can literally trade 2 of your life points for 1 of his... which is preety epic for a red deck. You can then just cast Lightning Bolt or whatever red spell that goes your way to finish the rest of his life points. Risk and recieve. That's the very essence of Red decks right?
On top of that, I can only imagine what sort of combination this life-shaving abillity can do in YOUR favour. Near-death experience, Death's Shadow, Repay in Kind and Soul Conduit... just to name a few.
Anything is possible if you're a Red Dragon Robot.
Posted By:
Zerof89
(5/30/2011 10:30:49 AM)
I bought this with the Scion of the Ur-Dragon in mind. Then I thought about infect.
Posted By:
Tynansdtm
(5/30/2011 9:20:38 PM)
Life gain deck, anyone?
Posted By:
draco_nite
(5/31/2011 12:24:09 PM)