He starts out of the gate as a 5/5 for four
mana, so it's hard to complain about that. His
monstrous ability is a strong one indeed, since
it's an X ability and gets stronger with more
mana AND can be used to kill creatures--
possibly several creatures at once. The downside
is that those creatures deal their power in
damage back to Polukranos, so going monstrous
may grant you an enormous Hydra on a
suddenly-empty field, or it may "just" be a way
to sacrifice Polukranos to get a few more
annoyances out of the way. In addition,
Polukranos isn't dealing his full power in
damage, only X damage-- the amount by which his
power is increasing. That means he has an
additional 5 toughness to absorb the incoming
damage, but also that he isn't taking out as
many creatures as you might think.
Then there's the psychological downside-- the
constant concern of X spells. Do you use it now,
or do you wait until you have more mana for an
even better payoff? A creature can only become
monstrous once, after all! And with a cost of
XXG, the payoff might be underwhelming no matter
how long you wait, since you're getting a value
for X of only half of the mana you put in. But
reliable creature kill in green outside of
combat, with a body to go with it, plus a way to
directly turn mana into fat on the board, will
always get played. It just always will.
Polukranos was the centerpiece of the
monster-themed deck in the most recent Duel
Decks, and for good reason. With enough mana,
you can take out entire armies of hoplites or
knights as easily as a huge dragon; and since
you're in green, you probably have more than
enough mana. He's also an ideal creature to
interact with something like Corpsejack Menace
or Doubling Season, and can be followed with
good effect by something like Crowned Ceratok or
Volt Charge. There's very little not to like
about this guy.
Today's card of the day is Polukranos, World
eater which is a four mana Green 5/5 with
Monstrosity for two X and one Green that allows
you to divide X damage as you choose between any
number of target creatures your opponents
control and each of them deals damage equal to
the power to the World Eater. A four mana 5/5 is
ahead of the curve and with one more mana than
the casting cost it can destroy four toughness
of creatures on the next turn then attack with
seven power and three toughness to spare.
Combined with Deathtouch, Trample, or evasive
effects this is a very effective threat and
source of removal which is a key benefit to a
Green deck. Overall this is a solid and
aggressively costed card that is easily
supported by the cards already popular in
acceleration and big creature themes which
should make it a noticeable presence in many
formats.
In Limited this is a game winning bomb that
is a threat just as a 5/5 and a battlefield
shattering force when Monstrosity is used. A
very easy first pick in Booster and in almost no
scenario should this be passed as it will win
games and does not have high enough color
dedication to prevent a late pack switch to play
it. In Sealed the Green pool would have to be
quite poor to not want to include this and aside
from the double Green in the initial casting
cost, a factor not present in the easy to manage
Monstrosity, it is only weakened by the lack of
other effects.
Polukranos, World Eater sounds like something
out of a comic book, not a green creature from
the Magic World. That is the only knock that I
have against this Hydra. Polukranos is a
creature that be a simple 5/5 face beater or a
board wiping beast! Don’t let the Legendary tag
turn you away. Polukranos, World Eater is meant
to take one for the team and come back for more.
This is a fantastic green creature that can be
useful in any format. All of you mono green
players out there have a new removal card at
your disposal. Just be careful what you eat with
Polukronos. Deathtouch can give him some wicked
indigestion!
