Cards like this are why counterspells are not
and never will be "exactly equivalent" to
removal (or however people are expressing that
sentiment these days). Heck, against a card like
this, removal is barely equivalent to removal.
Broodmate Dragon was one of the most powerful
creatures of its day, and this card gives you
25% more attack stat for the exact same
converted cost (!). Some days I can't help but
feel that we're rushing towards the trading card
game equivalent of the engine-exploiting Skyrim
weapons that take down dragons in a single hit
and that some people think it's a good idea to
make for their character.
Welcome back to the card of the day section here at
Pojo.com! We are looking at Armada Wurm from
Return to Ravnica today. Armada Wurm is a Mythic
rare white and green creature wurm that costs
two generic, two green and two white mana and is
a 5/5. Armada Wurm has trample and when it
enters the battlefield, you put a 5/5 green wurm
creature token with trample onto the
battlefield.
Anything these days that is cheap and has amazing effects
are simply some of the best cards in the game.
Armada Wurm simply continues this new 'get what
you pay for plus' Magic style. For just six
mana, you get not one, but two 5/5's with
trample. Now that is a deal. And while you sink
that thought into your brains, just look at the
colors, green/white is Selesnyan, and that means
populating the living daylights out of that 5/5
trampling token.
But populating the token is not the only means of ensuring
that this creature is properly utilized.
Cloudshift not only boosts this card, it
outright breaks it! Attacking with the Armada
Wurm, probably gets some damage through. Your
opponent may counterattack, Cloudshift, now you
have two 5/5 blockers. OUCH!!!
Today's card of the day Armada Wurm is a six mana Green and White 5/5
with Trample that enters play with a 5/5 Green token with Trample. This
is a very efficient, if somewhat expensive, card that adds a great deal
of threat for a single card. This could almost be a finisher in a
Green/White build and is particularly effective if brought into play
without requiring the full mana cost. Resisting removal, by being a two
for one and higher than average toughness on both, plus having Trample
will have this seeing at least some play in a variety of formats.
For Limited this is a huge bomb for Selesnya that will win most games by
being very difficult to fully deal with either through removal or
stalling the attacks of 5/5 tramplers. An absolute first pick in
Booster and automatic inclusion for Sealed using Green/White, though the
double Green and White in the cost keeps it from being easily splashed.
Getting two 5/5 tramplers for one card is pretty good, and at a mere six mana
even better. The color requirements are steep though, so you can't really play
Armada Wurm unless you're committed to Selesnya. If you are, though, then you're
probably also committed to Propagate, and that means Armada Wurm isn't "just"
two 5/5's-- it could end up as a lot more. So, Armada Wurm is excellent in a
Propagate deck, solid in other G/W decks, and pretty much unplayable in any
other. That makes it a pretty narrow card, and as such its real rating is only
as strong as the deck it works in.
I don't know how powerful Propagate decks will be in Standard for the next two
years or so. I don't know if they'll be control decks that cheat out advantages
by getting an extra token with every card, or if they'll be weenie rush decks
that dump tokens into play and overwhelm an opponent before Armada Wurm ever
hits the board. I suspect they'll be control decks... and if they are, they may
be W/U with a splash of green, using blue's control suite with white's best
propagators. If that's the case, Armada Wurm will see no play at all. We'll just
have to see if this Wurm sits at the head of an archetype, or serves only as the
junk mythic that people draft for their Limited Selesnya decks and then never
look at again.
