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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Utvara Hellkite
Image from Wizards.com

Utvara Hellkite
- Return to Ravnica

Reviewed November 2, 2012

Constructed: 2.67
Casual: 3.67
Limited: 3.75
Multiplayer: 2.60

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Utvara Hellkite
 
Utvara Hellkite asks a very simple question: can you ever have too many dragons? Honestly, those who have counted the actual number of Standard-legal dragons (try it some time), or had a Skyrim character who was ever overencumbered with dragon scales, the answer is probably yes. If your answer is no, however, Utvara Hellkite is definitely the go-to card. Note that it doesn't include a single important word: nontoken. This lets you go infinite even in the absence of something like Doubling Season. Now, to solve the mystery of why dragon tokens are rarer than actual dragons . . .
 
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5
Multiplayer: 3/5

Paul

Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Utvara Hellkite
 
Welcome back readers todays card is a powerful flying dragon with a great effect but that will be relegated to casual and multiplayer. In standard too expensive and too slow for the effect. In modern also too expensive and slow for it to make a difference and relies on having more dragons for maximum effect. In legacy and vintage its not up to the power levels presented. In casual and multiplayer dragon is a tribe and this can guy can even make some more tokens by simply attacking once and it’s all down hill from there as it basically populates some powerful tokens and can easily overwhelm the board making it a powerful choice for dragon decks that scales well in multiplayer. In limited it’s a big bomb and if it attacks once things become near impossible for your opponents a powerful card. Overall a card I think will make an impact on casual and multiplayer due to its scaling power and a definite pick in limited.
 
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 3.0
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3.5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Utvara Hellkite which is an eight mana Red
6/6 with Flying that has a Red 6/6 Flying dragon token put into play whenever a dragon you control attacks.  This effect is often better than Vigilance and can quickly threaten an opponent with a difficult to respond to and evasive flight of dragons.  The concept is supported well with any lower cost dragons or creatures that can count as one, though some means of casting this without paying the full eight mana is really the only viable way to use it.  Overall the high cost and having only two dragons below four mana available in Modern will keep this from being competitive, but it may see some Casual play.
 
For Limited a 6/6 with evasion that produces more 6/6 creatures with evasion is a top pick and the eight mana with only two Red is not a major drawback in the format.  Any Red guild should be using this in Sealed and splashing is possible if about a quarter of the spells in the deck are Red.  Even with blockers an opponent will be overwhelmed and almost definitely lose the game if the Hellkite isn't removed before a token is produced.  After that it becomes a two for one loss in cards for the opponent outside of mass removal and likely damage if not prevented.
 
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.0

John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming

     Welcome to the card of the day section here at Pojo.com. We close out our week by looking at the Utvara Hellkite from Return to Ravnica. Utvara Hellkite is a mythic rare red creature dragon. Utvara Hellkite costs six generic and two red mana, and is a 6/6. Utvara Hellkite has flying and says that whenever a Dragon you control attacks, put a 6/6 red Dragon creature token with flying onto the battlefield.

     What can I say about the Utvara Hellkite that it doesn’t scream itself! Sure, eight mana, wow. But if you are paying attention to what it does, than you’ll understand why it costs eight mana. But honestly, a mana cost is just a number. When you make the decision to run something like the Utvara Hellkite, you certainly aren’t expecting to hard cast it at eight mana, are you? Most of you probably answered no. The reason is, things such as Quicksilver Amulet, Geosurge, and so many other ways of getting things out quickly exists. Not many people would want to pay the eight mana. Another thing that people do to get the Utvara Hellkite out fast is Reanimate it, and Defy Death and Unburial Rites are two cards that exist in Standard play to help you speed out the Utvara Hellkite.

     Once you get it out, that is only half the battle. What do you want to do with it once it is there? I mean, it’s not like there are dragons everywhere in Standard that make it so that you can go about producing insane amounts of tokens. But, the thing is, Standard has some solid dragons to use, and of course, Parallel Lives so that one token becomes two, and then it just gets out of hand from there.

    Perhaps though, my favorite combo I have with the Utvara Hellkite still does involve possibly using Parallel Lives, but in concert with another card, Dragon Broodmother. When combined, they make an insane amount of dragons, especially in multiplayer. Drop Broodmother with Parallel Lives. As the game goes around the table, you get two tokens per player. When it gets back to you, you have a bunch of tokens. Drop the Utvara Hellkite, and swing. The little 1/1 dragons will likely die, but they leave a swarm of 6/6’s in their wake. Now take it a step further by adding in Warstorm Surge.
     Just an amazing card, I love it.
 
Limited: 2/5
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Multiplayer: 2/5


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