Turn a land into a 4/2 beater for three mana?
Well, if you want to attack with your land that
turn, you have to leave that land up, so really
it's four mana, plus you have to "pay one mana"
each turn to keep attacking with it. Still, you
can play it off of three lands and attack next
turn, so it's better than Lightning Elemental.
And you get the land back in hand when it dies
(which it will), so it's decent in landfall
decks. I wonder if Boros Bushwhacker would want
it for their Steppe Lynxes and Geopedes?
I quite like all the Zendikon creatures that
we've seen so far. Even if he requires some
fancy play to attack on turn three, the Crusher
compares very well to "real" creatures. Unlike
the Genjus of old, you get the land back but not
the enchantment, but I think sometimes it can
actually be more important to have the land.
Today's preview card is Crusher Zendikon which
is Red's component of a cycle which included
previously reviewed Wind Zendikon. Looking at
the two Blue clearly got the better deal as a
2/2 with Flying for one mana is far more useful
in most situations than a 4/2 with Trample. The
low defense is a major issue as it does not take
much to derail the Crusher's attacks and without
any form of evasion it is unlikely this card
will get more than one hit in. The three mana
cost is a bit high as well when compared to
Wind's bargain of one, but Crusher can add a bit
of a threat as a defensive wall. The main use is
to force an opponent to block, so you will
probably get a one for one exchange from this
which is Red's style in a nutshell.
For Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer Red
has many options of trample on a high offense
with low defense creature, but those tend to
leave play at the end of turn and probably won't
be blocked by a creature that will be destroyed
by the effort. Crusher has to be dealt with
eventually and four damage will usually send a
defender to the graveyard. Good to force a
trade, but be sure to target a land that wasn't
played in the same turn to avoid summoning
sickness.
With Limited this is worth running if going
for a Red removal style of play as it should eat
removal or take out a defending creature. An
easy choice to include for a Sealed build
especially with any Landfall present, but after
direct removal for choices in Booster. A 4/2
that basically has Haste is quite playable, but
if you run several of these commons be sure to
have enough burn or stable creatures to maintain
an offense beyond the first few turns. When
balancing your deck for creature to spell ratio
this should not be counted as a full creature as
it will rarely survive long on the battlefield
during the midgame.
