Hooded Blightfang – Core Set 2021 MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

The concept of “keyword tribal” is still largely unexplored in official Magic designs, though Ikoria may well have opened the floodgates. I’m sure there is more than one area where people might argue it did that. That’s kind of a different problem, though, so for now I’ll point out that Hooded Blightfang’s life-draining ability is small but adds up fast, particularly when you have a way to grant things deathtouch, and that making the ability work on planeswalkers is surprisingly helpful. I don’t know if it’s a great tribal deck for tournaments, but it might be enough to help some people’s decks against kitchen table Superfriends and the like. Plus his art is pretty cool, and terrifying!

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5

A bit of keyword tribal that works nicely with what we had in Ikoria, Hooded Blightfang enables deathtouchers in several exotic ways. A 1/4 is a nice blocker (and you’ll want this alive, usually), but being able to dispose of planeswalkers with a single hit and also bleeding out opponents with each swing is a nice bit of upside to all deathtouch creatures. I doubt Hooded Blightfang is an all-star, but it’s worth noting that he doesn’t need to attack to get things done, and creatures like Archetype of Finality in casual decks can make this a fairly chaotic blowout.

Constructed: 3 (probably tech, but planeswalkers are annoying, and the ability to threaten them is nice)
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.75 (good body; though the planeswalker text is rarely relevant, it can matter occasionally)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander: 3.5