“Take two, they’re small!” This is what I used
to tell my opponents when they CONTINUALLY
forgot to draw an extra card when I had Howling
Mine in play. My favorite Howling Mine deck is
the red/white artifact control/burn deck played
by Mark Justice in Magic’s first Pro Tour in New
York in February 1996. In fact, when I built my
version of that deck six months later, I named
the deck “Take Two, They’re Small”. The best
thing about Howling Mine, in limited or
constructed, is also the worst thing, your
opponent gets an extra card before you do. For
this reason, Howling Mine is considered bad for
limited decks. For constructed, Howling Mine is
a great card when your whole deck is built
around stealing the one thing so precious to
your opponent that he never even thinks about,
the number of turns he has left before he runs
out of cards.
The old standby, the multiplayer hero, Howling
Mine. Debate over this card has raged on since
its original print-- is it worth playing if
you're the last person to get an extra card?
Every Mine player shudders in fear of dropping
this only to see the opponent smile, pick up his
extra card, and Naturalize it. But how often
does that happen? It's a mise to be sure, but a
real possibiltiy nonetheless. However, in some
decks, especially Deadguy Red builds with a low
mana curve, an aggressive strategy, and a
shortage of ways to draw extra cards after
playing out its hand, this is simply the best
option.
Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 4.5
Limited- 3.5
KC MetroGnome
Howling Mine
This card has an amazing effect on the game.
Sure it draws cards for all players, but that's
not what it does best. Howling Mine makes
friends. That's what it's best at. Sure, you're
average Spike can see through that and will
blast it. But in a casual game, and in some
constructed matches, this card makes everyone
love you. Nobody wants to take out the guy who
is letting you draw an extra card. That is,
until you start destroying their lands, dealing
damage based on cards in hand, or play your Owl.
A fantastic card in any environment.
