Nope. Can't play this. In the world of Ravnica
booster draft, you simply cannot pin your hopes
on a card that will produce a 2/5 wall as often
as it creates a 5/2 hastey monster. In
constructed, the only chance this card would
have is in a very aggressive mono red deck, the
kind of deck that would rather splash double
black spells than to play a four casting cost
card that creates a non-attacking creature half
the time. Many times, with coin flip cards, guys
like me MISS THE POINT by accentuating the
problems of the negative prospect, in this case,
when you get TAILS and a 2/5 Defender.
Frenetic Efreet was great BACK IN THE DAY
because fifty percent of the time, he DIDN'T die
to the creature he was blocking in combat. With
coin flip cards, you want to make sure you have
considered how good the card CAN be when the
flip goes your way. In the case of Molten
Sentry, the upside just isn't that amazing.
Sure, you would love a 5/2 man with haste, but
it's not a gamebreaker, possibly more of a Lava
Axe-type card with a considerable drawback. This
card would have been very nice if the 2/5
creature was at least NOT a wall and/or if the
5/2 hasty man had TRAMPLE.
This card isn't completely terrible. The problem
though, is that you have no idea what he's going
to be. You can't plan on attacking with him, but
at the same time, he may not be that big beefy
blocker that you need him to be a key moment.
He's got a mana cost that's easy to pay and deal
with, but his unpredictability is an issue.
Whenever I saw coin in this card's text, I was
relatively certain that this card was going to
get a two or lower. Sure enough, upon finishing
reading the card, I'm absolutely certain. The
best case scenario is that you are getting a 5/2
haste creature for four mana -- acceptable, but
nothing special. However, you could also wind up
with a 2/5 defender for four mana, which is, um,
horrid. I hate giving up consistency, but I
really hate giving it up whenever there isn't
much of a chance of anything great happening.
Um...the number of times I have seen Molten
Sentry played in a limited deck = 0. The number
of times I have seen Molten Sentry played in ANY
deck = 0.
Constructed - 1
Casual - 1
Limited - 1
Phoenix Tamer
Molten Sentry
Well... i'm not really sure about this card to
tell you the truth. It's not my favorite, and i
don't think it'll see (if any) Casual play. It
probably proves its worth in Limited where it is
alright, it might prove its worth in
Constructed, but i doubt it. Overall, not a very
good card, it's not valuable in really anyway,
more in likely just another "card in the binder"
Ratings:
Constructed~2.7
Casual~1.5
Limited~3.2
Jordan
Kronick
Molten Sentry -
The first thing to notice here is that this is a
rare coinflip card. That puts it into the
category of "goofy red rares", in almost every
case. I'm not sure that's entirely true here.
This may be the closest thing to an effective
coinfliping creature since Mijae Djinn. That
doesn't really save it though. Mijae Djinn was
something that you knew would attack eventually.
Molten Sentry might end up being an expensive
wall. Still, I think even a 2/5 has merits in
some formats. The Sentry is a solid pick in RRR
drafting, where red's creatures are often quite
fragile. It can either be the attacker you want
it to be or the blocker you might need. The
degree of uncertainty moves it down the pick
ladder, but don't ignore it completely.
