Impervious Greatwurm – MTG Guilds of Ravnica Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Well, technically it’s not quite the biggest, baddest, nastiest, scariest creature you’ll ever see, but Impervious Greatwurm is still impressive. Combat stats that even outstrip Emrakul (!) and built-in protection from many classes of removal spells are very tempting, whether you go the convoke path, the Nykthos path, or the reanimation path. Demanding an answer, and a specific class of answer no less, is exactly what you hope for in a big green creature, and while the likes of Path to Exile are a little too prevalent in competitive formats for the Greatwurm to take over, there are plenty of casual metagames where he is an almost unmatched threat.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

Note: Impervious Greatwurm is the Buy-A-Box promo for Guilds of Ravnica, and so I am omitting a Limited score as you will literally never be able to play it in Limited.

Mister Biggles demands tribute.

Impervious Greatwurm tries to live up to the name: a 10-mana investment that you can spread out across your board (thanks to convoke!), with the payoff being an indestructible 16/16. This is the largest natural body ever printed on a black-bordered Magic card, and indestructible helps a lot towards ensuring Mister Biggles will eat a Path to Exile instead of a Doom Blade.

It’s jaw-dropping in terms of both its length and girth, but a dearth of evasion does mean Impervious Greatwurm will have more trouble penetrating defenses without additional help. Being in green gives it the option of gaining trample, and making this fly seems like a great place to be…but, on its own, Impervious Greatwurm will likely be killing one blocker a turn and be satisfied with it. It’s certainly bereft of subtlety, and it is powerful, but 10 mana is still a lot to ask for when a lowly 1/1 will usually keep it from being sufficiently devastating.

Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4.75
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander: 3.75