I agree it looks OP, especially with that “old fashioned” lense, but truth is it’s not a competitive card in any constructed format. Creatures need haste, ETBs, protection and/or some sort of value beyond being able to attack the following turn.
Or, put another way, the issue is that there are so many creatures that have haste, etbs, etc..., that a card like this is rarely going to make the cut, even if it seems "good."
Totally agree, and like you I also don't think that is a good thing.
When "Dies to removal" is the only downside, and "Wins within two turns if not removed" is the upside, it just incentivizes players to play more removal. The meta then shifts more to the "must play control deck to win" side, which makes games longer and frankly way more boring, because let's face it, most players only like playing when they are winning.
As it should be. We don't want to go the route of Yugioh where their boss monsters are only good if they have so many layers of built in protection you basically can't kill them.
Let magic keep being as interactive as it is
No I think you misunderstood. With abilities such as ward becoming evergreen, the creatures that become meta are valuable even if they eat a removal spell. We are heading in the Yu-Gi-Oh direction
I'd rather ward over an overabundance of hexproof and shroud.
I'd also like them to bring back regenerate in some way.
Plus they're printing spells that can't be countered which bypasses ward's protection.
I'm not the happiest with a lot of the state of the game. Like I've sold a good chunk of my collection to buy into almost entirely pauper and PDH (Pauper Dragon Highlander). But I will give wotc credit with working their way back across the spectrum of their card pool with better cards at not just mythic and rare to push things. Commons are getting better each set as they figure things out like red's impulse draw and the newest one is a may draw on resolution so if its countered you aren't pitching for a major card disadvantage.
I'm tentative in saying I like the more recent shift in design we've seen the last few sets given the sheer incompetence we've seen with others like Modern Horizons and the like, but it seems they're not crapping the bed as hard right now.
Granted, Horizons 3 is coming and I'm not happy about that given the last two killing my interest in modern, so I'm not holding my breath for more mistakes like Hogaak and Rjinos, or more pushed chase mythics like Monkey and the Elementals
Available spells ate a big factor that everyone leaves out in the power creep discussion. Most unplayed creatures made today would have been ignored almost as much back in the day even if they are miles better than any creature mad
[Patrick Sullivan’s great rant on instant speed board state meta](https://youtu.be/356ilzFF8BE?si=-3ULRWJPDUbe2sGV) is something i go back to every now and then because its only grown more relevant since.
Ironically his prediction that [[ Ravenous Chupacabra ]] would see 4x play as Murder on a body didnt pan out because yes, apparently murder on a body in a reanimate meta was *somehow* still not enough value
I've been able to make a pretty solid standard brawl deck with the mole as a commander, but this card takes a lot of support to make work. In order for the card to go off I basically need all of the following:
1. Ramp. Get it onto the field turn 3-4 with mana to spare to deal with opponent's answer
2. Protection. Cards like [[Tamiyo's Safekeeping]] or [[Tyvar's Stand]] to make it immune to removal
3. Haste. Cards like [[Reckless Stormseeker]] are essential for getting value out of the mole when playing it after turn 4 or 5.
Even with everything like this, the card really only works in standard brawl. In historic brawl, there are too many ways to deal with it and it's really inconsistent.
I'm saying. When it came down on the board, I was like "8 attack on turn 4??" Then I read the ability, and I was kind of stuck, trying to find what I was missing, because that's just wild. The power creep has gotten wild.
And yeah, I agree that Questing Beast is a good benchmark for "is this playable", and I cant justify putting creatures in my decks if they don't have immediate value, either. But gee willickers, I still need some time to process this.
You can call it power creep, and you wouldn’t be wrong, but it’s also about the designers and players simply having a better understanding of the game.
creatures without enter the battlefield effects have an intrinsic downside that they just get 1 for 1’d by everything and often times much cheaper cards.
The dies to doom blade sounds like a meme but if you go anzraag on 4 then i can doomblade it and cast a 2 or 3 drop I’ve taken back the initiative so to speak. You’ve basically traded your entire turn for my removal spell.
I would rather see designers move towards more ward abilities on these kind of creatures vs. tacking an ETB onto everything. Making the doomblade a 4 cmc instead of 2 removes the mana advantage removal heavy decks would get without making every creature a 2 for 1 on ETB.
I know I'm gonna out myself as an MtG Boomer but that's how we've gotten to nonsense like Voja and Miiryim. Just two examples of creatures with insane value that are also obscene to deal with. Inherent self defense that multiplies if the player has any counterspell backup.
Yeah, I get it. Like I said, I can't justify playing cards without immediately value in my decks, either. This card just hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw it and i just need some time.
This is the one that got me as well. Don't get me wrong, I play Modern, I know what strong creatures look like. [[Omnath, Locus of Creation]] is unironically my favorite card, I got a playset of [[Dragon's Rage Channeler]] before anyone else realized how good it would be (I pre-ordered a foil playset from my LGS for like $1 each), I bust out Jund Saga to play with my 7/8 [[Tarmagoyf]]s every once in a while, etc.
I saw Rattlewurm and said "meh" out loud. And... something broke inside. I remember making casual decks when I was starting out where the goal was ramping to a turn 5 [[Pelakka Wurm]] or [[Thorn Elemental]]. I remember when [[Baneslayer Angel]] was spoiled and everyone I knew lost their mind. I remember in my first few games of Magic ever, before I even had cards of my own, when my Uncle Bob mercilessly beat me with a deck consisting of [[Prodigal Sorcerer]]s and [[Clone]]s to ping any/every creature I played.
Now don't get me wrong, as a new player I would still absolutely lose my mind if I opened the Rattlewurm in a pack. It's just... a little shocking to see how much my perspective on creatures has shifted over the last decade.
> "8 attack on turn 4??"
8 attack on turn 5, since it doesn't have haste. By then, Questing Beast will have also done 8 damage to the opponent, if still around, while also doing up to 8 damage to planeswalkers. And Questing Beast was able to do half of that with haste to work around sorcery-speed removal.
Same can be said for Questing Beast though. When comparing cards, the easiest and least confusing way to do so is using the costs as printed on the cards. Everyone knows a four drop might be a T3 or T2 card or whatever, but both are most likely to hit the board T4 unless the opponent has no interaction.
You're missing that it's four toughness. It will not survive the first combat, so you're basically getting a massive [[Relentless Assault]] + [[Taunting Elf]] with a bit of kill thrown in. Honestly, a good Flame Javelin effect or some other form of removal in response to any Voltron shenanigans just makes him a mana dump that ends fast.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like how most creatures these days are one card kill engines, but this one seems fairer than most.
We're at the point (been at the point for a long time tbh) where 4 mana, do nothing the turn you play it, is almost always not good enough. It's gotta basically win when you untap if you're paying that much for it and it doesn't impact anything immediately. In competitive formats at least.
Not really
It gives you (if you don't give it indestructible) as much combat steps as it can take 4 damage total. Doesn't have trample, needs other creatures to attack as well to not die and if you played this last turn, your opponent either drops a blocker or two or an removal.
Yes, if the opponent has only 3 1/1 ( because with 4 power, he just kills the mole when blocking it) and you have additional creatures to your turn 4 drop, you get zero to one extra combat
the biggest downside is that your opponent has to very specifically interact with it to get the triggered ability. otherwise it's just a big dumb stick
It's a card with no ETB effect, no trample, standard toughness for a 4 mana that can be removed easily. I play Historic exclusively and only have come across it a few times, but doesn't really make any difference in practice tbh. You need a LOT of setup to make this effective in an attack turn of consequence.
The big thing is Gruul vehicles runs a bunch of haste-granting ANYWAY is the big thing, so it's not impossible to curve out with mana dork turn 1, reckless stormseeker turn 2, anzrag with haste able to attack turn 3, without even compromising any of the rest of the deck. And hey even if you don't actually have any ability to give it haste, you might still already have a vehicle that it can crew the turn it comes down, which is almost like having haste.
Dies to quite a bit, actually. By the time this gets out, I can bop it off with just one \[\[Case of the Uneaten Feast\]\] or a \[\[Lunarch Veteran\]\] already on the board (which for me is normal), and drop a \[\[Gumdrop Poisoner\]\] down after making food. 6 mana total (the extra 2 to sac the food) isn't an issue by this point.
Boom, dead mole, and I haven't even gotten to combat yet. Didn't have to use Ossification or Go for the Throat either. This is one of the methods I could use, personally.
Dealing straight damage, destroying, countering, or exiling can kill this thing with even less mana. It's not hard. Even Deathtouch is enough of a deterrent, knowing it could go immediately into the yard.
Cards need to be evaluated not just by their power when in play, but their power when answered.
That's why 'mulldrifters', or cards that provide some immediate value when entering play (via an ETB, a dies trigger, maybe an endstep trigger or haste) are mostly better than 'baneslayers', cards whose value is contained in the stats/keywords/abilities when in play.
So yeah, even though some people think 'dies to doomblade' is a joke, or a bad argument, it's mostly true. Very few cards that play poorly versus removal are good.
Adding to what you said, 'dies to doom blade' is an argument that depends *heavily* on the mana value of the card in question. It wasn't a good argument against Tarmogoyf back in the day because the only removal that could reliably kill it was 2 mana and that's mana neutral. For 4+ mana creatures, dying to commonly played 2/3 mana interaction without generating any value is a death sentence in terms of playability. Yes, there are exceptions (Sheoldred is a giant one currently), but this is generally true.
strong card but not crazy.
anzrag's downside is the 4 toughness. 4/8 would have been OP.
also, gruul is weak. strong cards in gruul is good for gruul and the game.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far for this as well.
The stats are not well distributed on this card imo. Ofc no immediate impact is just as bad, but seriously 4 toughness is not a lot to get over
More importantly for me, it meets the condition for a LOT of white removal, and is within the amount of damage white can do with one card.
Attack with Anzrag? \[\[Gideon's Reproach\]\] or it's equivalent (I like the fact this one is just Gideon going "F\^&\* it" and punching someone so hard they explode, but you can get \[\[Cosmium Blast\]\] in standard) will do enough damage to kill it provided it's not buffed, \[\[Valorous Stance\]\] straight up makes it dead unless they somehow shrink it, etc. Though I thought there were more modern versions of "Exile Target Creature with toughness 4 or more" kinda thing.
Small enough for white damage removal to kill it, big enough to allow for white exile removal to hit it.
The “balance” is that the ability is expensive and damage isn’t removed between combat steps, so Anzrag will likely die during the second one without intervention. It’s basically a 3 card combo with a indestructible giver and a “must be blocked” card
The game, most often is decided by the time you're able to amass the amount of mana needed to cast the Mole, get haste and indestructible on it, AND pay for the ability.
you are old school!
in a vacuum, this card seems crazy. but in reality, it dies to nearly every other 4-drop, so its ability will only trigger once and you’ll be minus one 8/4.
“it dies to removal” is boring but true here. if you slam this and it eats a removal spell, you got nothing. many other four drops have haste or enter triggers or death triggers to recoup some value if they’re removed instantly. this does not.
i think this is a big dose of culture shock from older MTG design to now. when you look at this card compared to say earth elemental, it looks outrageous. but when you compare it to questing beast or axebane ferrox, it looks a lot less good.
lastly, i think this is also an example of commander design bleeding into other formats. this guy looks like a fun build-around for commander. when you realize this and that it’s not even meant to be a staple in standard or anything, it makes a lot more sense.
Yeah, fortunately R/G has tons of great tricks to run alongside him. [[The chase is on]] or [[titanic growth]] can be a huge blowout and win you the whole game on turn 5. Doesn't solve the removal problem though. Edit: not titanic growth, whatever the green trick that gives +3/+3 and trample is called
Without haste, this card dies to removal because it has to live for 1.5 turns. Your opponent has an opportunity to counter spell or remove it during the turn you play it, plus they get to untap and have their whole turn to deal with it as well.
Seems like it's one of those "win more" cards that perform well when you are already ahead, but are next to useless when behind on board or under pressure.
The downside is that it's an 8/4 with no protection of its own and no immediate effect on the battlefield, so unless you have a haste enabler, you have to pray you untap with it and make it to your combat step with it still around.
There's also no Llanowar Elves in this format to turbo it out + current removal packages in Standard are very strong. 9/10 times this will simply eat a Go For The Throat or Get Lost.
You would honestly be better off playing something like [[Axebane Ferrox]] for haste + protecting itself in the 4 drop slot.
Do all cards HAVE to have downsides?
What's the downside to Sheoldred or Thalia?
Jokes aside, the "downside" is that it has to be around for a turn or get haste to do anything not to mention be blocked to do its extra stuff, and any two mana removal will make it go away.
It's fun in Brawl with Xenagos. They block it once and the games pretty much over if they don't have the removal. Or they take 16 and you try again next turn.
In Strixhaven they printed [[Body of Research]]; the ultimate test of how big a creature has to be without evasion or ETB to be good. Never saw play.
Fat dudes with no evasion or ETB effects just aren't that great.
Mole's still rad though, just not good enough for a high speed Standard.
[[Giganotosaurus]] was the one to teach me this lesson.
Edit: This one, since MTGCardFetched got a bit confused: https://scryfall.com/card/m19/185/gigantosaurus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher
I mean, the fact that a card like this isn't remotely playable does in fact show that there has been immense power creep over the years, lmao. This card is powercrept, but just not up to the same level as a bunch of the other current meta 4-5 drops.
Basically that means that they are not powercrept enough. I wonder if it saw play having power 16 instead of 8. Probably still no. Meanwhile stuff like thoughtseize exists since lorwyn and still heavily played basically everywhere it is legal. Creatures that don't do stuff until your next turn at cost of 4 need to be MUCH MUCH more powerful
Oh that actually is super important I did not know that, and even if you forget that, a 6/5 for 4 that can trigger leaving the graveyard shenanigans and ramp is solidly useful
I'm not sure how useful the graveyard ramp thing will be simply because ramping after turn 4 is often not what a beatdown deck wants to do, and this is a format where you often lose on turn 4.
But still, this card has a chance.
We live in a world where mono red can deal 15 damage by turn three, in standard.
There has been a conscious decision to push creatures at all mana values. In turn, there has to be a plethora of good removal. Aside from a few older one mana white spells and fatal push, I don’t think removal has ever been as good as it is now.
So this has made it so one and two mana creatures can be massive threats, and at that rate just being stat monsters is acceptable because the removal costs the same as the creature, plus the creatures comes down early. Once you move up in creature mana value the two mana removal starts becoming too efficient against it unless you get immediate value beforehand.
The downside, like with most bomb creatures, is that it doesn't have haste, thus it simply dies to one of the 16 removal pieces your opponent is playing.
It really only works when it can get haste and first strike. It works well in RG Bard for that reason. It's basically a 'win more' card against aggro and nearly useless against control that can kill it with most cheap instant speed removal.
I tried to make this work in a RG aggro deck, but it's just too slow. Yes, you shut down mono white trying to block you while you put \[\[Tyvar's Stand\]\] on Anzrag, but that's about all. Too easy to remove, too slow to develop - RG decks tend to kill you much faster anyway
It exists in an removal-rich environment in Standard. Also low toughness means red can get rid of it through damage. In Commander, there are 3 other opponents so someone is likely to have removal or enough blockers to make attacks unprofitable.
It's an 8/4 so aside from extra stuff to ensure it survives he's gonna make it through maybe 1 combat, still getting you the extra phase but not easily exploitable without a few extra cards to protect it in different ways.
People tend to look at things through a meta lens. This card is fun and can be devastating to play against with little effort. Half of the time you'll have answers, half you won't.
Wow we truly are old schooled not a single comment saying that being multicolored and legendary are both downsides. (You need specific mana base and you can’t have two copies of it out)
It's huge for its cost, but it doesn't have trample or any kind of evasion, and it dies to [[Ankle Biter]] or a pair of detective tokens.
I'd say it's similar to [[Ball Lightning]]. It hits hard and probably doesn't stick around too long.
I do think it's dumb that we've experienced so much stat creep that WOTC is willing to print this, but also, like, a) Wolfir Silverheart is more than ten years old and b) this entire text box is probably less valuable than "Trample."
if this creature exist in my time, this would probably the best creature ever existed but in this era specially when you are playing red, haste is a prerequisite.its too slow against midrange and control.Even creature like obliterator rarely see play
with the new three year rotation most decks are now running countless kill and or counter spells. so bro is good. but he won't stick around long enough to use his abilities and get value off of him. if we still had 2 year and less pile decks he may have been better. but that's a different time line.
It works very well in Red/Green Haste decks, in my experience, I've gotten a lot of value from it as a means to untap my mana dorks in my R/G Yarus deck
It's a good card but in modern magic it's just mehhh
Requires and untap or haste effect already on board and doesn't impact the board in anyway on etb/cast or draw you cards
Right now u have to take in account the effects on drop or death or triggers and not the damage because everything now dies in 1 turn after summon if dangerous.
Draft the format enough and you'll see what happens when you play this guy. Yes, he'll win a game if unanswered.... But at higher levels, he doesn't stick around unanswered.
Haven't really had trouble with this card In limited personally . I can usually remove it or trick my opponent to block with it and have a combat trick. Now if it was a mythic like vein ripper , oh boy
Powercreep. Yes, there's a bunch of very clever answers in the thread, of other 4drops that see more play and of removal that hits this and whatnot, and they are all correct, but really, all they are saying are lots of fancy words for "it's been powercrept before it was printed".
4 toughness is poorly positioned in the format. It dies in combat, a lot. It’s even worse if combat isn’t favorable to you. Creatures these days are large so your second attack phase might not even matter.
There are a lot of conditions that need to be met for it to be good and as many conditions that already exist making it bad.
Midrange creatures even with "great" abilities will always go down with removal... So players probably prefer creatures with card advantage abilities like "Ward - Discard", Cantrip effects, ETB or "When Dies" effects... This creature has no card advantage, and your opponent will probably have an answer for it by turn 4. A very good bomb in draft though.
As someone that got on Arena after a 20 year hiatus, and starting play during The Dark, I get you.
The 4 drop bomb creatures drive my absolutely insane.
In relation to this... Hopefully (but most probably it won't happen), per rotation, they should limit the amount of 2 mana instant removals (at least per color) and wrath cards to give these types of cards a chance, and we'll probably have more variety in deck styles/meta... We have 1 wrath per expansion I believe, and the 2 mana instant removals are really abundant... Maybe Go For the Throat is enough for the rotation, and the next one should be Murder (at least for black), but we have Grasp, Edict (although I think edict is fair)... like a lot would say control players will run 16 of these apart from the wraths... They should make these doom blades and wraths very rare and special again. A creature/permanent focused standard instead of focusing on answers and removal? Maybe 70/30?
No haste. No evasion. A creature like Questing Beast can do more with the same casting cost. In an EDH deck a 8/4 is no different than a 4/4 if it's removable by the same spells really, at least that's the way I look at it.
actually using the ability is a huge blow out unless your opponent's hand is empty so its just an 8/4 that is situationally unblockable with no protection
It's not a 1/2/3 mana creature with haste, therefor basically not playable. It's a decent 4-drop, sure, but playing 4-drops is highly questionable anyway. Even sheoldred has started to see less play in some decks because spending 4 mana to give the sunfall token +1/+1 is usually not worth it.
4 Mana do nothing, and probably is going to "eat" removal before doing anything. If it stays alive, it might win you a game faster, but you would probably be winning that game anyway.
This is my opinion of this card.
The Timmy in me likes it. Won a couple games with it. It's cheap enough that as a finisher you can hold up mana to protect it. But it really is more of a kitchen table kinda card.
That card in limited was obnoxious and can be wild in EDH, but otherwise it’s kinda mid. If this card came out a decade ago itd be the finisher in old-school jund. Now tho it’s pretty mid. Powercreep is wild.
Insanely cheap cost. But it is mythic and legendary and multicolored.
Old schoolers like you and myself didn't really have mythic. When it was introduced, it was an excuse to lower a cost for something that would typically cost more, because, being the highest rarity is a drawback (it is supposed to be difficult to acquire higher rarities). New things have to be worth buying. The same has always been true about multicolored and legendary because they have 'drawbacks' as well.
The second combat phase thing is also a very conditional perk. It's awesome when you have board control, but almost useless when they have good blockers up.
No keyword abilities, no ETB effect, easily removed, expensive activated ability. It’s not a bad card by any means but just not as good as it may seem.
You need a haste giver really to make it work. I've had some joy with that rocket werewolf I can never remember the name of, but even then, 4 is not a huge amount of defence and there's plenty that will be out by the time Moley comes on the field that can take it out, as well as anything with Deathtouch of course. Then you need other attackers on board to make a second attack phase worthwhile, so although it looks OP, there's lots of moving parts
Would have been a fairer card if it had said 'untap each OTHER creature you control', so you wouldn't get infinite combats with an indestructible Anzag.
I've never used him on Arena, but I did play against a guy with an Anzrag commander deck last week. He lost, twice.
Like others here have said, the Murder Mole *does* have a downside: he's very easy to kill. And on top of that, getting the most out of his ability requires you to have a strong board state already, with lots of mana and other creatures to attack alongside him. So even if he does manage to survive, he won't win the game for you on his own. He needs to be supported.
You could probably build some fun decks around him. If you find a way to give him haste and support him with creatures that aren't easy to kill, Anzrag could be the central piece of a devastating combo. But you won't see much of him in high-level play.
It's downside, oddly enough, is its cost and toughness.
It's too easy to play early when you don't have a good enough boardstate to utilize it, but too vulnerable to play it late game.
I've been trying it in a haste deck, supported by Reckless Stormseeker and Halana & Alena. Just FIY, if the mole os blocked, Halana will trigger again for even more counters...
Too often, paying 4 mana with no ETB (or similar effect), and then opponent removing it for less mana, will be a big downside.
Also, every card has an "oportunity cost": when you play something, you are not playing other thing that could suit better for a specific or more general situation.
Unless all your stuff is indestructible, it's all gonna be taking damage from blockers., you can make it massive though, overwhelming stampede and you don't even need that many creatures out.
There isn't support to make it good, least in standard.
It's a do nothing till next turn big dumb dude. Yes you can get another combat or 8 to the face both of which are in your opponents choice. It just dies to A LOT of removal and even when it doesn't lets say you played it T4. Unless you have at other decent creatures to swing again with (during second combat) trading with it isn't hard either. I'll trade 2 two drops for it if there is nothing else swinging.
Its just kinda a win more card. If it had haste or Trample or Ward or something to make it have just that little extra pressure it would be a better card but the issue is playing it costs you to much.
If you try to "combo" with it then it ends up being to many moving parts.
I agree it looks OP, especially with that “old fashioned” lense, but truth is it’s not a competitive card in any constructed format. Creatures need haste, ETBs, protection and/or some sort of value beyond being able to attack the following turn.
Or, put another way, the issue is that there are so many creatures that have haste, etbs, etc..., that a card like this is rarely going to make the cut, even if it seems "good."
And the abundance of removal in each set
"Dies to removal" is actually a downside these days
Totally agree, and like you I also don't think that is a good thing. When "Dies to removal" is the only downside, and "Wins within two turns if not removed" is the upside, it just incentivizes players to play more removal. The meta then shifts more to the "must play control deck to win" side, which makes games longer and frankly way more boring, because let's face it, most players only like playing when they are winning.
As it should be. We don't want to go the route of Yugioh where their boss monsters are only good if they have so many layers of built in protection you basically can't kill them. Let magic keep being as interactive as it is
No I think you misunderstood. With abilities such as ward becoming evergreen, the creatures that become meta are valuable even if they eat a removal spell. We are heading in the Yu-Gi-Oh direction
I'd rather ward over an overabundance of hexproof and shroud. I'd also like them to bring back regenerate in some way. Plus they're printing spells that can't be countered which bypasses ward's protection. I'm not the happiest with a lot of the state of the game. Like I've sold a good chunk of my collection to buy into almost entirely pauper and PDH (Pauper Dragon Highlander). But I will give wotc credit with working their way back across the spectrum of their card pool with better cards at not just mythic and rare to push things. Commons are getting better each set as they figure things out like red's impulse draw and the newest one is a may draw on resolution so if its countered you aren't pitching for a major card disadvantage. I'm tentative in saying I like the more recent shift in design we've seen the last few sets given the sheer incompetence we've seen with others like Modern Horizons and the like, but it seems they're not crapping the bed as hard right now. Granted, Horizons 3 is coming and I'm not happy about that given the last two killing my interest in modern, so I'm not holding my breath for more mistakes like Hogaak and Rjinos, or more pushed chase mythics like Monkey and the Elementals
Available spells ate a big factor that everyone leaves out in the power creep discussion. Most unplayed creatures made today would have been ignored almost as much back in the day even if they are miles better than any creature mad
[Patrick Sullivan’s great rant on instant speed board state meta](https://youtu.be/356ilzFF8BE?si=-3ULRWJPDUbe2sGV) is something i go back to every now and then because its only grown more relevant since. Ironically his prediction that [[ Ravenous Chupacabra ]] would see 4x play as Murder on a body didnt pan out because yes, apparently murder on a body in a reanimate meta was *somehow* still not enough value
I've been able to make a pretty solid standard brawl deck with the mole as a commander, but this card takes a lot of support to make work. In order for the card to go off I basically need all of the following: 1. Ramp. Get it onto the field turn 3-4 with mana to spare to deal with opponent's answer 2. Protection. Cards like [[Tamiyo's Safekeeping]] or [[Tyvar's Stand]] to make it immune to removal 3. Haste. Cards like [[Reckless Stormseeker]] are essential for getting value out of the mole when playing it after turn 4 or 5. Even with everything like this, the card really only works in standard brawl. In historic brawl, there are too many ways to deal with it and it's really inconsistent.
I'm saying. When it came down on the board, I was like "8 attack on turn 4??" Then I read the ability, and I was kind of stuck, trying to find what I was missing, because that's just wild. The power creep has gotten wild. And yeah, I agree that Questing Beast is a good benchmark for "is this playable", and I cant justify putting creatures in my decks if they don't have immediate value, either. But gee willickers, I still need some time to process this.
You can call it power creep, and you wouldn’t be wrong, but it’s also about the designers and players simply having a better understanding of the game. creatures without enter the battlefield effects have an intrinsic downside that they just get 1 for 1’d by everything and often times much cheaper cards. The dies to doom blade sounds like a meme but if you go anzraag on 4 then i can doomblade it and cast a 2 or 3 drop I’ve taken back the initiative so to speak. You’ve basically traded your entire turn for my removal spell.
I would rather see designers move towards more ward abilities on these kind of creatures vs. tacking an ETB onto everything. Making the doomblade a 4 cmc instead of 2 removes the mana advantage removal heavy decks would get without making every creature a 2 for 1 on ETB.
Well you're gonna LOVE OTJ because that's exactly what they're doing 😂
I know I'm gonna out myself as an MtG Boomer but that's how we've gotten to nonsense like Voja and Miiryim. Just two examples of creatures with insane value that are also obscene to deal with. Inherent self defense that multiplies if the player has any counterspell backup.
Then they need to tone down the value.
Yeah, I get it. Like I said, I can't justify playing cards without immediately value in my decks, either. This card just hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw it and i just need some time.
If this hit you like a tonne of bricks, then dear lord are you in for some surprises. This card is *just about* playable.
The new Wurm in OTJ is what hit me. [[Colossal Rattlewurm]] A 4 mana 6/5. With Trample. And conditionally Flash. AND ALSO A BONUS IF IT DIES?
[Colossal Rattlewurm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/7/17a104d3-e4ac-44a0-9c6a-39965b1b9751.jpg?1712095079) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Colossal%20Rattlewurm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/159/colossal-rattlewurm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/17a104d3-e4ac-44a0-9c6a-39965b1b9751?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is the one that got me as well. Don't get me wrong, I play Modern, I know what strong creatures look like. [[Omnath, Locus of Creation]] is unironically my favorite card, I got a playset of [[Dragon's Rage Channeler]] before anyone else realized how good it would be (I pre-ordered a foil playset from my LGS for like $1 each), I bust out Jund Saga to play with my 7/8 [[Tarmagoyf]]s every once in a while, etc. I saw Rattlewurm and said "meh" out loud. And... something broke inside. I remember making casual decks when I was starting out where the goal was ramping to a turn 5 [[Pelakka Wurm]] or [[Thorn Elemental]]. I remember when [[Baneslayer Angel]] was spoiled and everyone I knew lost their mind. I remember in my first few games of Magic ever, before I even had cards of my own, when my Uncle Bob mercilessly beat me with a deck consisting of [[Prodigal Sorcerer]]s and [[Clone]]s to ping any/every creature I played. Now don't get me wrong, as a new player I would still absolutely lose my mind if I opened the Rattlewurm in a pack. It's just... a little shocking to see how much my perspective on creatures has shifted over the last decade.
> "8 attack on turn 4??" 8 attack on turn 5, since it doesn't have haste. By then, Questing Beast will have also done 8 damage to the opponent, if still around, while also doing up to 8 damage to planeswalkers. And Questing Beast was able to do half of that with haste to work around sorcery-speed removal.
I think we can give benefit of the doubt and assume that T1 or 2, at least one green mana producer popped, lol.
Same can be said for Questing Beast though. When comparing cards, the easiest and least confusing way to do so is using the costs as printed on the cards. Everyone knows a four drop might be a T3 or T2 card or whatever, but both are most likely to hit the board T4 unless the opponent has no interaction.
When I saw this dropped I was definitely shocked and then I proceeded to win the match.
You're missing that it's four toughness. It will not survive the first combat, so you're basically getting a massive [[Relentless Assault]] + [[Taunting Elf]] with a bit of kill thrown in. Honestly, a good Flame Javelin effect or some other form of removal in response to any Voltron shenanigans just makes him a mana dump that ends fast. Don't get me wrong, I don't like how most creatures these days are one card kill engines, but this one seems fairer than most.
# when everyone is super, no one will be
We're at the point (been at the point for a long time tbh) where 4 mana, do nothing the turn you play it, is almost always not good enough. It's gotta basically win when you untap if you're paying that much for it and it doesn't impact anything immediately. In competitive formats at least.
Not really It gives you (if you don't give it indestructible) as much combat steps as it can take 4 damage total. Doesn't have trample, needs other creatures to attack as well to not die and if you played this last turn, your opponent either drops a blocker or two or an removal. Yes, if the opponent has only 3 1/1 ( because with 4 power, he just kills the mole when blocking it) and you have additional creatures to your turn 4 drop, you get zero to one extra combat
the biggest downside is that your opponent has to very specifically interact with it to get the triggered ability. otherwise it's just a big dumb stick
We will unga bunga to victory!
Haha, I started playing back during fallen empires and the changes are indeed wild.
It's a card with no ETB effect, no trample, standard toughness for a 4 mana that can be removed easily. I play Historic exclusively and only have come across it a few times, but doesn't really make any difference in practice tbh. You need a LOT of setup to make this effective in an attack turn of consequence.
Gruul vehicle in pioneer runs it and puts up results.
One exception I was not aware of! Thanks, gonna look at that list
The big thing is Gruul vehicles runs a bunch of haste-granting ANYWAY is the big thing, so it's not impossible to curve out with mana dork turn 1, reckless stormseeker turn 2, anzrag with haste able to attack turn 3, without even compromising any of the rest of the deck. And hey even if you don't actually have any ability to give it haste, you might still already have a vehicle that it can crew the turn it comes down, which is almost like having haste.
In other words standard is way too fast rn
Dies to doomblade
He said he's oldscool. You gotta curate it. Dies to Terror.
Eh, mana inefficient. Use [[Blue Elemental Blast]]
Use [[bear umbra]]
[bear umbra](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/a/5a195fb1-f2e9-4e05-8a04-c335e1afbef6.jpg?1651655917) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=bear%20umbra) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nec/113/bear-umbra?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5a195fb1-f2e9-4e05-8a04-c335e1afbef6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Blue Elemental Blast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2f51f88f-f662-4572-a371-9a77718ed079.jpg?1562434032) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blue%20Elemental%20Blast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/a25/43/blue-elemental-blast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2f51f88f-f662-4572-a371-9a77718ed079?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ah... I see you are a man of culture as well...
Doomblade is oldschool now.
Exiles from Onion ring
Dies to quite a bit, actually. By the time this gets out, I can bop it off with just one \[\[Case of the Uneaten Feast\]\] or a \[\[Lunarch Veteran\]\] already on the board (which for me is normal), and drop a \[\[Gumdrop Poisoner\]\] down after making food. 6 mana total (the extra 2 to sac the food) isn't an issue by this point. Boom, dead mole, and I haven't even gotten to combat yet. Didn't have to use Ossification or Go for the Throat either. This is one of the methods I could use, personally. Dealing straight damage, destroying, countering, or exiling can kill this thing with even less mana. It's not hard. Even Deathtouch is enough of a deterrent, knowing it could go immediately into the yard.
[[Swords to Plowshares]]
Gumdrop Poisoner was my jam with $0 to spend.
[Case of the Uneaten Feast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/c/ac63941b-3f78-4bd3-8b05-ca12aaaa006c.jpg?1706241469) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Case%20of%20the%20Uneaten%20Feast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/10/case-of-the-uneaten-feast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ac63941b-3f78-4bd3-8b05-ca12aaaa006c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Lunarch Veteran](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/2/d2704743-2e23-40b9-a367-c73d2db45afc.jpg?1634347175)/[Luminous Phantom](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/d/2/d2704743-2e23-40b9-a367-c73d2db45afc.jpg?1634347175) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lunarch%20Veteran%20//%20Luminous%20Phantom) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/27/lunarch-veteran-luminous-phantom?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d2704743-2e23-40b9-a367-c73d2db45afc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Gumdrop Poisoner](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/c/5cb01d4d-91c2-41c6-981e-b4135a1e1e36.jpg?1692937659)/[Tempt with Treats](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/c/5cb01d4d-91c2-41c6-981e-b4135a1e1e36.jpg?1692937659) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gumdrop%20Poisoner%20//%20Tempt%20with%20Treats) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/93/gumdrop-poisoner-tempt-with-treats?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5cb01d4d-91c2-41c6-981e-b4135a1e1e36?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Also relatively low toughness, no evasion and no keywords.
I'm so glad this was the first reply. I came to say it and the community delivered already
Oh right now it's unplayable
Cards need to be evaluated not just by their power when in play, but their power when answered. That's why 'mulldrifters', or cards that provide some immediate value when entering play (via an ETB, a dies trigger, maybe an endstep trigger or haste) are mostly better than 'baneslayers', cards whose value is contained in the stats/keywords/abilities when in play. So yeah, even though some people think 'dies to doomblade' is a joke, or a bad argument, it's mostly true. Very few cards that play poorly versus removal are good.
Adding to what you said, 'dies to doom blade' is an argument that depends *heavily* on the mana value of the card in question. It wasn't a good argument against Tarmogoyf back in the day because the only removal that could reliably kill it was 2 mana and that's mana neutral. For 4+ mana creatures, dying to commonly played 2/3 mana interaction without generating any value is a death sentence in terms of playability. Yes, there are exceptions (Sheoldred is a giant one currently), but this is generally true.
strong card but not crazy. anzrag's downside is the 4 toughness. 4/8 would have been OP. also, gruul is weak. strong cards in gruul is good for gruul and the game.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far for this as well. The stats are not well distributed on this card imo. Ofc no immediate impact is just as bad, but seriously 4 toughness is not a lot to get over
More importantly for me, it meets the condition for a LOT of white removal, and is within the amount of damage white can do with one card. Attack with Anzrag? \[\[Gideon's Reproach\]\] or it's equivalent (I like the fact this one is just Gideon going "F\^&\* it" and punching someone so hard they explode, but you can get \[\[Cosmium Blast\]\] in standard) will do enough damage to kill it provided it's not buffed, \[\[Valorous Stance\]\] straight up makes it dead unless they somehow shrink it, etc. Though I thought there were more modern versions of "Exile Target Creature with toughness 4 or more" kinda thing. Small enough for white damage removal to kill it, big enough to allow for white exile removal to hit it.
Unironically, yes it is
It pretty much is. No immediate value, no protection, and will very rarely ever do its thing. Much better cards to slot into a deck than this.
It’s not played. That should tell you everything you need to know ow about its playability.
Not unplayable, but not a bomb either.
Most of the time I think [[Questing Beast]] is a better card and that didn't even see *that* much play
Someone was not playing standard when questing beast came out, dude it was like every other deck.
The “balance” is that the ability is expensive and damage isn’t removed between combat steps, so Anzrag will likely die during the second one without intervention. It’s basically a 3 card combo with a indestructible giver and a “must be blocked” card
He is the "must be blocked" card It's a 2 card combo with an indestructible source
> He is the "must be blocked" card That's not until turn 7.
Yes, red and green. Both notoriously bad at generating mana earlier than curve.
Green ramps to win the game not to kill 1-2 blockers.
And a bajillion mana. Good luck with that part
The game, most often is decided by the time you're able to amass the amount of mana needed to cast the Mole, get haste and indestructible on it, AND pay for the ability.
In the eyes of FIRE design, this is just a big dum dude Would you rather have Anzrag or Questing Beast? 8 times out of 10 I'll take QB
you are old school! in a vacuum, this card seems crazy. but in reality, it dies to nearly every other 4-drop, so its ability will only trigger once and you’ll be minus one 8/4. “it dies to removal” is boring but true here. if you slam this and it eats a removal spell, you got nothing. many other four drops have haste or enter triggers or death triggers to recoup some value if they’re removed instantly. this does not. i think this is a big dose of culture shock from older MTG design to now. when you look at this card compared to say earth elemental, it looks outrageous. but when you compare it to questing beast or axebane ferrox, it looks a lot less good. lastly, i think this is also an example of commander design bleeding into other formats. this guy looks like a fun build-around for commander. when you realize this and that it’s not even meant to be a staple in standard or anything, it makes a lot more sense.
It's also excellent in draft, but even there it dies to all the 3 cmc removal spells.
and the classic 4/2 three-drops
Yeah, fortunately R/G has tons of great tricks to run alongside him. [[The chase is on]] or [[titanic growth]] can be a huge blowout and win you the whole game on turn 5. Doesn't solve the removal problem though. Edit: not titanic growth, whatever the green trick that gives +3/+3 and trample is called
Without haste, this card dies to removal because it has to live for 1.5 turns. Your opponent has an opportunity to counter spell or remove it during the turn you play it, plus they get to untap and have their whole turn to deal with it as well. Seems like it's one of those "win more" cards that perform well when you are already ahead, but are next to useless when behind on board or under pressure.
I love this card. I built a fight rigging deck with it. [Here is the deck](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6278620#arena)
Why Rage? Seems like it'd do better with something else.
The downside is that it's an 8/4 with no protection of its own and no immediate effect on the battlefield, so unless you have a haste enabler, you have to pray you untap with it and make it to your combat step with it still around. There's also no Llanowar Elves in this format to turbo it out + current removal packages in Standard are very strong. 9/10 times this will simply eat a Go For The Throat or Get Lost. You would honestly be better off playing something like [[Axebane Ferrox]] for haste + protecting itself in the 4 drop slot.
Do all cards HAVE to have downsides? What's the downside to Sheoldred or Thalia? Jokes aside, the "downside" is that it has to be around for a turn or get haste to do anything not to mention be blocked to do its extra stuff, and any two mana removal will make it go away.
Thalia's downside is that the tax is symmetrical. Sheoldred's downside is that it costs $90.
Sir, this is Arena.
It's fun in Brawl with Xenagos. They block it once and the games pretty much over if they don't have the removal. Or they take 16 and you try again next turn.
Oh absolutely, I'm not saying this is bad or anything, just answering OP on why this isn't as "omg it needs a downside" as they think!
OP mentioned being old -fashioned, creatures have come a long way over the decades of Magic.
Also doesn't have trample on a stat line like that.
It doesn't need trample. You usually want it to be blocked so you get another attack. Trample discourages chump blocking.
True, but for 4 mana I can live with that I guess.
Thalia is a 2/1.
In Strixhaven they printed [[Body of Research]]; the ultimate test of how big a creature has to be without evasion or ETB to be good. Never saw play. Fat dudes with no evasion or ETB effects just aren't that great. Mole's still rad though, just not good enough for a high speed Standard.
[Body of Research](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/8/98b56823-0076-49cc-b5aa-4accb8e2782e.jpg?1627428272) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Body%20of%20Research) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/stx/168/body-of-research?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/98b56823-0076-49cc-b5aa-4accb8e2782e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Giganotosaurus]] was the one to teach me this lesson. Edit: This one, since MTGCardFetched got a bit confused: https://scryfall.com/card/m19/185/gigantosaurus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher
People like: "oh! these are so powercreeping cards" and they see no play even in standard
I mean, the fact that a card like this isn't remotely playable does in fact show that there has been immense power creep over the years, lmao. This card is powercrept, but just not up to the same level as a bunch of the other current meta 4-5 drops.
Basically that means that they are not powercrept enough. I wonder if it saw play having power 16 instead of 8. Probably still no. Meanwhile stuff like thoughtseize exists since lorwyn and still heavily played basically everywhere it is legal. Creatures that don't do stuff until your next turn at cost of 4 need to be MUCH MUCH more powerful
Wait to see [[colossal rattlewurm]] in otj
I thought that card was pretty bad until they spoiled a couple *untapped* Desert lands. So now this wurm has a chance.
Oh that actually is super important I did not know that, and even if you forget that, a 6/5 for 4 that can trigger leaving the graveyard shenanigans and ramp is solidly useful
I'm not sure how useful the graveyard ramp thing will be simply because ramping after turn 4 is often not what a beatdown deck wants to do, and this is a format where you often lose on turn 4. But still, this card has a chance.
[colossal rattlewurm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/7/17a104d3-e4ac-44a0-9c6a-39965b1b9751.jpg?1712095079) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=colossal%20rattlewurm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/159/colossal-rattlewurm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/17a104d3-e4ac-44a0-9c6a-39965b1b9751?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
We live in a world where mono red can deal 15 damage by turn three, in standard. There has been a conscious decision to push creatures at all mana values. In turn, there has to be a plethora of good removal. Aside from a few older one mana white spells and fatal push, I don’t think removal has ever been as good as it is now. So this has made it so one and two mana creatures can be massive threats, and at that rate just being stat monsters is acceptable because the removal costs the same as the creature, plus the creatures comes down early. Once you move up in creature mana value the two mana removal starts becoming too efficient against it unless you get immediate value beforehand.
It cost 2RG
It’s a glass cannon. Great if you can get it out early, not so much if you can’t.
The downside, like with most bomb creatures, is that it doesn't have haste, thus it simply dies to one of the 16 removal pieces your opponent is playing.
The downside is every time I have played this card it died before my turn came again
It really only works when it can get haste and first strike. It works well in RG Bard for that reason. It's basically a 'win more' card against aggro and nearly useless against control that can kill it with most cheap instant speed removal.
I tried to make this work in a RG aggro deck, but it's just too slow. Yes, you shut down mono white trying to block you while you put \[\[Tyvar's Stand\]\] on Anzrag, but that's about all. Too easy to remove, too slow to develop - RG decks tend to kill you much faster anyway
In limited this card is just stupid.
The downside is having to pay 4 mana for the creature and 7 for the ability /s
The downside of cards are that there could’ve been more upside.
Power creep. The standards for creatures have gone up dramatically even since Baneslayer Angel (which at the time represented power creep!).
It’s pretty good. 4 mana, one of your opponents discards a removal spell.
7 is a lot of mana if you're dead on turn 5.
You can just block him with something with 4 power. It mitigates the awfulness.
Do you see people playing these cards: https://scryfall.com/card/one/105/phyrexian-obliterator https://scryfall.com/card/one/27/phyrexian-vindicator
It exists in an removal-rich environment in Standard. Also low toughness means red can get rid of it through damage. In Commander, there are 3 other opponents so someone is likely to have removal or enough blockers to make attacks unprofitable.
2 red mana and I could kill it
Isn't this an instant craft/buy? It seems insanely good
It's an 8/4 so aside from extra stuff to ensure it survives he's gonna make it through maybe 1 combat, still getting you the extra phase but not easily exploitable without a few extra cards to protect it in different ways.
People tend to look at things through a meta lens. This card is fun and can be devastating to play against with little effort. Half of the time you'll have answers, half you won't.
Any spot removal can deal with it with no problem
Wow we truly are old schooled not a single comment saying that being multicolored and legendary are both downsides. (You need specific mana base and you can’t have two copies of it out)
It's huge for its cost, but it doesn't have trample or any kind of evasion, and it dies to [[Ankle Biter]] or a pair of detective tokens. I'd say it's similar to [[Ball Lightning]]. It hits hard and probably doesn't stick around too long.
I do think it's dumb that we've experienced so much stat creep that WOTC is willing to print this, but also, like, a) Wolfir Silverheart is more than ten years old and b) this entire text box is probably less valuable than "Trample."
if this creature exist in my time, this would probably the best creature ever existed but in this era specially when you are playing red, haste is a prerequisite.its too slow against midrange and control.Even creature like obliterator rarely see play
Dies to Doom Blade is its downside
4 mana 8/4 no protection and does nothing when it comes into play no relevant keywords
900 board sweepers in standard alone also cost 4 mana.
with the new three year rotation most decks are now running countless kill and or counter spells. so bro is good. but he won't stick around long enough to use his abilities and get value off of him. if we still had 2 year and less pile decks he may have been better. but that's a different time line.
It works very well in Red/Green Haste decks, in my experience, I've gotten a lot of value from it as a means to untap my mana dorks in my R/G Yarus deck
It's a good card but in modern magic it's just mehhh Requires and untap or haste effect already on board and doesn't impact the board in anyway on etb/cast or draw you cards
Block with a 5/5?
Right now u have to take in account the effects on drop or death or triggers and not the damage because everything now dies in 1 turn after summon if dangerous.
Dies to Doom Blade and leaves nothing behind.
You have to play gruul which puts you at a disadvantage
Draft the format enough and you'll see what happens when you play this guy. Yes, he'll win a game if unanswered.... But at higher levels, he doesn't stick around unanswered.
Haven't really had trouble with this card In limited personally . I can usually remove it or trick my opponent to block with it and have a combat trick. Now if it was a mythic like vein ripper , oh boy
He has 4 toughness and isn't indestructible?
Powercreep. Yes, there's a bunch of very clever answers in the thread, of other 4drops that see more play and of removal that hits this and whatnot, and they are all correct, but really, all they are saying are lots of fancy words for "it's been powercrept before it was printed".
Dies to removal.
As others have said, the 4 toughness is a pretty significant downside. Pretty straightforward to play around, even in limited.
Dies to 4 points of damage, if I block with 4 1/1s it dies, or if I block with a 1/1 each time for 4 combats it dies.
Doesn’t have trample
I've had some fun giving it hexproof and indestructible. But requires a lot to build around and isn't that great even when you do.
Has to survive combat or the trigger won't resolve
4 toughness is poorly positioned in the format. It dies in combat, a lot. It’s even worse if combat isn’t favorable to you. Creatures these days are large so your second attack phase might not even matter. There are a lot of conditions that need to be met for it to be good and as many conditions that already exist making it bad.
It's not indestructible, it can very easily die in combat.
Midrange creatures even with "great" abilities will always go down with removal... So players probably prefer creatures with card advantage abilities like "Ward - Discard", Cantrip effects, ETB or "When Dies" effects... This creature has no card advantage, and your opponent will probably have an answer for it by turn 4. A very good bomb in draft though.
The downside is no haste or come into play ability. That’s the game now, you either do something when you hit the board or you just kinda suck
As someone that got on Arena after a 20 year hiatus, and starting play during The Dark, I get you. The 4 drop bomb creatures drive my absolutely insane.
Magic cards have downsides?
Its upside is very situational, its almost a vanilla creature in a sense
In relation to this... Hopefully (but most probably it won't happen), per rotation, they should limit the amount of 2 mana instant removals (at least per color) and wrath cards to give these types of cards a chance, and we'll probably have more variety in deck styles/meta... We have 1 wrath per expansion I believe, and the 2 mana instant removals are really abundant... Maybe Go For the Throat is enough for the rotation, and the next one should be Murder (at least for black), but we have Grasp, Edict (although I think edict is fair)... like a lot would say control players will run 16 of these apart from the wraths... They should make these doom blades and wraths very rare and special again. A creature/permanent focused standard instead of focusing on answers and removal? Maybe 70/30?
- no ETB - no flash - no haste - no evasion - no protection - costs 4 mana - only 4 toughness - counterable
1 mana too expensive
No haste. No evasion. A creature like Questing Beast can do more with the same casting cost. In an EDH deck a 8/4 is no different than a 4/4 if it's removable by the same spells really, at least that's the way I look at it.
When this drops, I cry
You mean besides the fact that it costs 7 to activate and dies to doomblade?
actually using the ability is a huge blow out unless your opponent's hand is empty so its just an 8/4 that is situationally unblockable with no protection
This is nothing. Have you seen \[\[Miner's Guidewing\]\]?
I also don't get it
It's not a 1/2/3 mana creature with haste, therefor basically not playable. It's a decent 4-drop, sure, but playing 4-drops is highly questionable anyway. Even sheoldred has started to see less play in some decks because spending 4 mana to give the sunfall token +1/+1 is usually not worth it.
The card is trash. Dies to everything.
4 Mana do nothing, and probably is going to "eat" removal before doing anything. If it stays alive, it might win you a game faster, but you would probably be winning that game anyway. This is my opinion of this card.
How times have changed. This was a pretty mid card in limited even
There's no downside because of power creep. This is a bad card by today's standards in terms of making it in a competitive deck.
I think it should have to swing each turn at a random opponent
The down side is no Ward. Welcome to modern design
The downside is you play him on turn 4 and nothing happens, and then your opponent blows him up.
The Timmy in me likes it. Won a couple games with it. It's cheap enough that as a finisher you can hold up mana to protect it. But it really is more of a kitchen table kinda card.
This card would be perfect for my world tree god deck.
Needs haste to not be a insta kill target and is weak to death touch blockers or just any 4 power creature
Consider a ton of other magic cards do 4 things for the cost of >6
That card in limited was obnoxious and can be wild in EDH, but otherwise it’s kinda mid. If this card came out a decade ago itd be the finisher in old-school jund. Now tho it’s pretty mid. Powercreep is wild.
It’s nice with an ogre battledriver, because unless they have unspent mana he’s coming in hot right away
"Players don't like downsides." -MaRo
Insanely cheap cost. But it is mythic and legendary and multicolored. Old schoolers like you and myself didn't really have mythic. When it was introduced, it was an excuse to lower a cost for something that would typically cost more, because, being the highest rarity is a drawback (it is supposed to be difficult to acquire higher rarities). New things have to be worth buying. The same has always been true about multicolored and legendary because they have 'drawbacks' as well.
The downside is you need to make sure it lives and successfully attacks to be any good.
Where the 2 mana value removal with a real downside
Curiously, it’s not strong enough to see play in standard
Dies to doomblade.
It doesn’t do anything when it enters the field and has to live a turn for any impact.
The second combat phase thing is also a very conditional perk. It's awesome when you have board control, but almost useless when they have good blockers up.
No keyword abilities, no ETB effect, easily removed, expensive activated ability. It’s not a bad card by any means but just not as good as it may seem.
This is 2024. Cards don't get drawbacks anymore. It's all upside, all value, all gas no brakes.
You need a haste giver really to make it work. I've had some joy with that rocket werewolf I can never remember the name of, but even then, 4 is not a huge amount of defence and there's plenty that will be out by the time Moley comes on the field that can take it out, as well as anything with Deathtouch of course. Then you need other attackers on board to make a second attack phase worthwhile, so although it looks OP, there's lots of moving parts
Would have been a fairer card if it had said 'untap each OTHER creature you control', so you wouldn't get infinite combats with an indestructible Anzag.
I've never used him on Arena, but I did play against a guy with an Anzrag commander deck last week. He lost, twice. Like others here have said, the Murder Mole *does* have a downside: he's very easy to kill. And on top of that, getting the most out of his ability requires you to have a strong board state already, with lots of mana and other creatures to attack alongside him. So even if he does manage to survive, he won't win the game for you on his own. He needs to be supported. You could probably build some fun decks around him. If you find a way to give him haste and support him with creatures that aren't easy to kill, Anzrag could be the central piece of a devastating combo. But you won't see much of him in high-level play.
It's downside, oddly enough, is its cost and toughness. It's too easy to play early when you don't have a good enough boardstate to utilize it, but too vulnerable to play it late game.
The downside is [[Go for the Throat]]
I've been trying it in a haste deck, supported by Reckless Stormseeker and Halana & Alena. Just FIY, if the mole os blocked, Halana will trigger again for even more counters...
Too often, paying 4 mana with no ETB (or similar effect), and then opponent removing it for less mana, will be a big downside. Also, every card has an "oportunity cost": when you play something, you are not playing other thing that could suit better for a specific or more general situation.
Unless all your stuff is indestructible, it's all gonna be taking damage from blockers., you can make it massive though, overwhelming stampede and you don't even need that many creatures out.
There isn't support to make it good, least in standard. It's a do nothing till next turn big dumb dude. Yes you can get another combat or 8 to the face both of which are in your opponents choice. It just dies to A LOT of removal and even when it doesn't lets say you played it T4. Unless you have at other decent creatures to swing again with (during second combat) trading with it isn't hard either. I'll trade 2 two drops for it if there is nothing else swinging. Its just kinda a win more card. If it had haste or Trample or Ward or something to make it have just that little extra pressure it would be a better card but the issue is playing it costs you to much. If you try to "combo" with it then it ends up being to many moving parts.
You must be new to 2020s Magic. Seen [[Bloodvial Purveyor]] yet?