The curve of Drover of the Mighty into Ripjaw Raptor means that, with an untapped fourth land, you have a 12/12 trampler on the fourth turn of the game! The big thing to note here is Ghalta is castable on Turn 4 pretty easily. Remember a moment ago, when I was saying that Temur was simply outsizing the Dinosaur deck? I’d imagine this card is pretty hard to Harnessed Lightning or Confiscation Coup for almost any deck, regardless of how much energy they make. Ghalta, Primal Hunger is a huge addition to the deck beyond what it might seem at face value. So what has Dinosaurs gained to make me want to take a second look? When I tried fighting the nightmare of a card that is Settle the Wreckage with the idea of splashing for blue mana to incorporate some Negates into the deck, I found myself with simply a worse version of Temur Energy at almost every point along the curve. Longtusk Cub, unfortunately, is just bigger than the Dinosaurs by itself, and it only costs two mana! When I found my Carnage Tyrant being held in check by my opponent’s Turn 2 creatures, I lost all faith. What you’re looking to do in any Dinosaur deck is to have the biggest creature on the battlefield and leverage the size of that creature to win fights and deal lots of damage very quickly. The biggest stumbling blocks the Dinosaur strategy are Longtusk Cub and Settle the Wreckage. However, despite my best efforts and a ton of Magic Online event tickets, I couldn’t for the life of me get the deck to function. Dinosaurs have been a beloved idea since we were first told Magic was visiting a plane filled with them. These two are certainly powerful cards with a great stat-line-to-cost ratio. The last tribe I want to touch on today is the one I felt was just shy of leaving its footprint on the Standard format. The question of whether or nor Pirates is up to the challenge or not hinges on whether what they’re doing isn’t just worse than casting The Scarab God, which I suppose Pirates could just play as a curve-topper themselves! I have high hopes, and with the addition of just a single additional one-drop creature they want to be casting, both Pirates and Merfolk could be making waves on more than just the seven seas of Ixalan. I do recognize that typically life for cards is an exchange we’d want to make eight days of the week, but for three mana in this metagame, that might be asking a bit much. I do like the idea of casting Ruin Raider, but I see it as more of a sideboard card with how aggressive the red decks are and how it can be difficult at times to attack into a Temur deck and not just kill yourself with its ability. Outside of Silvergill Adept, the best two-drops from Rivals of Ixalan are going straight into the aggro Pirate shell. I’m still not completely sold on Fell Flagship, but I do believe it’s a powerful enough card that we should be giving it some attention, since having an Anthem that’s also doubling as a resilient threat is no joke. This card does it all! They have one large creature preventing you from wanting to chump attack in for damage? Flash in this Pirate! They’re beating you down with a Bristling Hydra or Longtusk Cub? Flash in the Poisoner and block! Deathtouch is a highly sought-after ability these days, since dealing with problematic attackers seldom has been more difficult, but having a flexible creature that can play both offense and defense and gives the deck a bit more play at instant speed is exactly what the doctor ordered for Pirates. Of course we can’t run 23 Unclaimed Territory, and even if we could, would we want to play a deck like this entirely filled with creatures? What about Lookout’s Dispersal? What about any random removal spell to deal with Hazoret the Fervent? While Pirates seem to have more in the way of spell-like abilities strapped on them, such as with Hostage Taker, few decks can truly get away with going that light on interaction because of how amazing the threats are in Standard at the moment.Ī few cards I mentioned before that I’d like to highlight give me real hope for the archetype, starting with Dire Fleet Poisoner.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |