Fleet Swallower – Magic: The Gathering COTD

I seriously confused this card with Scourge of Fleets, from Journey into Nyx, when I first saw the name. I guess there are only so many names you can construct using certain words. On the plus side, Ixalan‘s pirate theme means there are a lot of new keywords to use in Urza’s Hot Tub chains – not just obvious ones like “fleet” or “pirate”, either.

This card occupies a strange place mechanically, in that a 6/6 creature will generally kill your opponent faster than a library depletion ability, even one as big as this. (It’s also a good thing for the card’s prospects that the ability rounds up – otherwise it could end up stuck in a never-ending line like Zeno’s tortoise.) Even so, there are some potentially interesting uses for Fleet Swallower, including the fact that the milling trigger says “target player” rather than “target opponent”. You can use it on yourself if you have some reason to, and you could make some sort of Two-Headed Giant or other team constructed strategy based around milling a friend. (Is Two-Headed Giant Constructed still a thing? It seems like it should be.)

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5