Throne of Eldraine - Black
Sorry about the slow post - I left the draft for this open (alongside other work I had for MTG) and lost like 3 hours of work when it wouldn’t save. Oof.
Clackbridge Troll
Grade: C
Home: BBC (Big Black Creatures)
Range: Narrow
I typically view cards that let opponents tap down your creatures, or give your opponents things, or allows them to have choices, rather negatively. Clackbridge here has enough abilities and sheer power to muscle through value.
Most fun making some diplomatic scenarios - seeing if someone will sac something to save a player from dying. It makes it fun to ponder what fun can happen.
Compare with Boldwyr Heavyweight, another fun not-quite hug card.
It can also work well defensively in a pinch, played in the second main phase as a 5 mana 8/8 blocker, which is tolerable.
I also like following him up with a low to mid level sweeper, like Pyroclasm or Languish, to remove other players options to sacrifice, so even if they want to do so, they’re gonna have to lose something that matters.
Murderous Rider
Grade: A
Home: Any Deck. Really.
Range: Very Wide
IMO, the best card in the set.
Hero’s Downfall for 2 more life is worth it every day of the week, and it doesn’t lose a card slot in just being removal. The 2/3 lifelink body is underwhelming, but its bottom deck ability has some interesting possibilities with Divining Witch - Laboratory Maniac plays.
At the end of the day, I wish I could survive a non-aggro game in MTGA without getting ganked and stonewalled by this dude. Thems the breaks
- Me, playing Piper of the Swarm
Grade: A-
Home: Sac Synergy, Rat Tribal, Most Black Decks
Range: Average
This card goes to work.
In Rat (or changeling) tribal, it can quickly get to work in stealing the best creatures on the board. Sure, it can die really easy (not passing the Bolt test even) but since a lot of removal in EDH is unconditional or otherwise really good, then this guy is eating removal that would otherwise hit more important creatures you’re running.
Menace is a decent buff as well, especially if you’re running Ink-Eyes that can really benefit from it.
Even with zero support, it’s a decent growing threat to drop early and dump mana into.
Taste of Death
Grade: C+
Home: Most Black Decks as Board wipe
Range: Average
Scaling to EDH really makes it worthwhile - sure, WOTC stuck it into the Brawl deck, but if this is what we get, I’ll take that every day.
Going three creatures goes deep - unless I’m running tokens or a wide board, I may only have a single creature I feel like losing. The fact that this doesn’t care about targeting at all, and gets around every conventional form of protection makes it even more amazing.
A trio of food offers some nice life, or artifacts, or Food synergy. Makes a nice gift to stabilize with.
Witch’s Vengeance
Grade: C-
Home: -X Removal Usage?
Range: Narrow
I debated having this on the honorable mentions list, as it’s more niche than it could be.
Hitting one creature types makes it attractive against tribal decks - unless they’re packing lords (like Elves or Merfolk) or are too big to be affected (Angels, Dragons, Giants).
I feel it better hits vocation style, like aiming for Advisors, Druids, or Clerics, and view this as -X removal, killing one target, and getting additional kills by happenstance.
Blacklance Paragon - I view this as a Black kill spell with limitations - like Doom Blade, a conditional piece of removal, hitting attacking creatures that can be blocked by Black creatures and aren’t indestructible.
Order of Midnight - I like playing Gravedigger in a lot of decks. Splitting the effect from the creature is an interesting choice - I lose out on ETB abuse for an easier to use piecemeal creature.
The Cauldron of Eternity - The replacement effect of messing with your graveyard is a deal breaker for me - what’s the point in doing a GY deck if you’re not restocking it?
Chitterling Witch - It scales, but it’s a weak scaling. Removal is okay, but I think Phyrexian Plaguelord is a better go-to.
Specter’s Shriek - Nice for those control sadists who run a Thoughtsieze type package - for the same cost and speed, there’s way less restrictions on what can be
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Rejected Flavor Text:
“Oddly, initial symptoms include hairy butt crack, Sriracha intolerance, physical attraction to Bono, and insistence on discussing politics at family gatherings. Then again, we used a very small sample size, so it’s possible we just happened to pick a couple of weirdos to experiment on.”
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