In a Werewolf deck, this is the one-drop. Not a
bad one-drop, as like Delver of Secrets, it's a
one-mana creature that can transform into a 3/2
and thus potentially attack for 3 on turn two.
That said, it's not nearly as good as Delver of
Secrets. Insectile Aberration has flying and no
inherent means of transforming back into Delver
of Secrets, save a stray Moonmist. Merciless
Predator has no evasion, and can be transformed
back into Reckless Waif by your opponent. Moreso,
it shares the weakness of all Werewolves-- it
discourages you from casting more than one spell
per turn, something you may need to do. When
Innistrad was first released and people were
still excited about all the ghoulish horror
themes it offered, most people tried to build
Werewolf decks, and most of those decks
contained Reckless Waif because there just
weren't many Werewolves at the time to fill the
ranks. Reckless Waif was on the cusp of
playability. We now have plenty of other
Werewolves, and Wolves, who are strong enough to
include without having to resort to one whose
"scary side" is a 3/2 with no evasion or other
combat-relevant abilities.
If Mark Rosewater hadn't pointed out that
Scorned Villager was a reference to Little Red
Riding Hood, I would have guessed this was the
card. After all, the concept of the werewolf is
about what happens if inner desires go
unchecked; Reckless Waif perfectly transfers it
to Magic. I can't even bring myself to give the
card a cutesy nickname, as there's nothing cute
about the curse that falls on young lovers,
hunting with bloodied feet across the hallowed
ground, chump blocking, life reduction, and game
loss. Effective, yes; worthy of playing in
casual and competitive Magic, definitely. Cute?
Not in this block.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Reckless Waif a powerful one drop werewolf. In
standard werewolves haven’t gotten much love but
this is a powerful option for a one drop in
werewolf decks and red decks alike. The ability
to punish a player for not having early plays
can allow you to get in 6 or more damage easily
allowing you to win the damage race this is a
solid early drop for werewolf decks as well but
falls off in the later game obviously when
opponents can cast multiple spells to make it a
1/1. In extended and modern it is a plausible
one drop however there exists more powerful
cards for the format making this an odd or niche
choice as I don’t know how competitive
werewolves can truly be in this format. In
casual this is an early beater who benefits from
werewolf tribal cards or is just a powerful
early game threat for aggressive decks. In
multiplayer this can lay down the beats but
quickly becomes obsolete and having to attack
multiple players is definitely a downside. In
limited it’s a solid one drop for werewolf decks
letting you have an aggressive body in play.
Overall a powerful and aggressive one drop for
decks werewolf or not.
Today's card of the day is Reckless Waif which
is a one mana Red 1/1 that transforms if no
spells were cast the previous turn into a 3/2
that transforms back if two or more spells were
cast the previous turn. For one mana this
is a very good choice in werewolf decks and the
chance to attack on your second turn for three
is a noticeable threat. Outside of regular
wolf types this is also the only one mana
creature currently available in a dedicated
theme deck, so it will see quite a bit of play
in that role and possibly reach into the
tournament level if werewolves are competitive
in a given area.
For Limited a one mana 1/1 is good, but the
likelihood of an opponent not having any spell
to cast early on makes this a deadly turn one
play. Every Red deck in Sealed should
include this and in Booster this is worth a
second or third pick as it has no real drawbacks
or requirement for support. The format
should keep most builds from producing two
spells in a turn without intentionally
stockpiling cards and the Waif should readily
transform or stay as the Predator during most
stages of the game. The low cost and solid
transformation make this one of the better
werewolves and a likely target for removal,
which can protect creatures with a higher
investment in later turns.
Welcome to the
card of the day section here at Pojo.com. Today
we are looking at Reckless Waif from Innistrad.
Reckless Waif is an uncommon red creature human
werewolf that costs just one red mana to drop,
and is a 1/1. Reckless Waif transforms during
the upkeep if no spells were cast during the
previous turn. Reckless Waif then becomes
Merciless Predator, a vanilla 3/2.
Hands down one of the best first turn drops perhaps
next to Delver of Secrets. First turn, Mountain,
drop the Reckless Wiaf. If no one casts a spell
on their turn, boom, you have a 3/2 ready to go!
What makes this even better is if indeed your
opponent was unable to play anything first turn,
then since it is transformed, you drop Full
Moons Rise, pumping it to a 4/2 with trample!
Then, providing that on your opponents next
turn, they couldn’t cast two spells to have it
bounce back, you drop Immerwolf. Now you have a
5/3 trample that you can regenerate if
necessary, and so long as Immerwolf is out, it
will not transform, no matter how many spells
your opponent casts! Now that is an effective
progress to winning the game!
