It's a 1/1 with Undying. For two mana. That's
it. What do you do with it? Well, you chump
block with it once, and get a 2/2 back. Then
you... have a Walking Corpse. This is decent in
Limited, where incremental advantages are how
you win games, but outside of Limited, it's only
worth playing if you've built your deck around
River Kelpie or something equally quirky and
impractical. Even in a Zombie deck you'd never
run it, because there are enough better Zombies
that you don't have to resort to this one.
I've got to be honest: this card sounds like it
should have a lot more abilities than it does.
You read the name and you expect something like
the Executioner from Resident Evil 5 - this guy
has the chains and random stuff stuck in his
back down, but not even a weapon? (And don't get
me started on the fact that a ghoul isn't really
the same as a zombie; I presume you guys don't
have all day for that discussion!) That aside,
though, there's still a use or two for it: black
has no shortage of abilities and spells that
require a sacrifice and which this makes almost
free, and a creature that can act as a speed
bump twice and even trade with a lot of more
"impressive" cards the second time around is far
from terrible. Butcher Ghoul's nothing
spectacular, but it's perfectly fine at what it
does.
Today's card of the day is Butcher Ghoul which
is a two mana Black 1/1 zombie with Undying.
This isn't a bad card for two mana as it can
attack or block the first time with impunity and
just come back as a 2/2 making it fairly
effective over time. A simple 2/2 for two
or something with an effect is probably going to
be better in many situations, but for a
mono-Black sacrifice theme this can be one of
the better options available. Overall a
fairly average card for the cost and may see
play in some decks where it can fit a lower end
role.
In Limited this is a bit better as even a two
mana 1/1 is playable and being able to trade off
with an opponent to get a 2/2 is a definite
advantage. Not as good in the later stages
of the game, aside from stalling, it still works
well enough early on to warrant inclusion in a
Black build in Sealed. For Booster this is
a good in color pick after bombs and removal and
can even be drawn early in weaker packs.
Welcome to
the Pojo.com card of the day section. Today we
are looking at Butcher Ghoul from Avacyn
Restored. Butcher Ghoul is a common black
creature zombie that costs one generic and one
black mana for a 1/1. Butcher Ghoul has undying.
Not that much to be said about the Butcher
Ghoul really. He is what he is, a 1/1 that costs
two, and when he eventually dies, he comes back
as a 2/2, but should he die again, he stays. The
best thing about the Zombies with Undying is
combining them with some fun things. For
instance, you can get a whole lotta use out of a
few zombies with Undying using them with
Havenghoul Lich. Since you can recast them once
they have stayed dead.
But other than using Undying creatures that
way or with Birthing Pod, there really isn’t
that much to go on. Butcher Ghoul is a solid
drop, but unlikely the game changer on its own.
