Drivnod, Carnage Dominus – Phyrexia: All Will Be One
Date Reviewed: March 27, 2023
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.00
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 4.00
Multiplayer: 4.00
Commander [EDH]: 4.13
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Five mana and only eight power? Wizards just forgot that Yargle exists? . . . jokes aside, Drivnod really reads like an updated version of the build-around cards that once populated databases like Magic Deck Vortex. His effect reads like some enchantments’, but he gets all the benefits of reanimation, or Elvish Piper in response to Day of Judgment. His activated ability is easy to pull off in black, and makes his one-card-combo nature more resilient. And yes, eight power is more than enough for you to have a viable Plan B when the triggers don’t quite fall right. He doesn’t break much in the way of new design ground – death triggers have been supported, to put it mildly, for a very long time – but he’s undoubtedly good at what he does.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
The black member of the Dominus cycle, Drivnod’s ability is one that plays well into the favored black playbook: killing things and profiting. If you have it, it doesn’t care who lost creatures…just that they lost them, and while the simplest approach is using creatures like Blood Artist to intensify how quickly life swings, there are plenty of other ways to abuse Drivnod’s abilities. And that’s before you get into him being a conditionally indestructible 8/3 for 5 mana with a manageable enough trigger; it’s not indomitable, but an 8 power creature can certainly create carnage if left alone, and you can even trigger it on-curve without issue. He’s not the most straightforward Dominus, but he’ll have plenty of fun in decks built around his talents.
Constructed: 3 (five mana for a sort of soft combo piece is not an easy sell, especially in formats able to prey on his low-ish toughness)
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
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