Pretty much every Masticore ever printed has
been hugely popular and powerful, if you're
willing to discard cards. This one's no
exception-- it eats your hand pretty quick, and
will selfdestruct if you can't keep cards in
hand to pitch to it. So keeping Molten-Tail
alive better be a preferable alternative to
casting whatever cards you were going to pitch
to it. Furthermore, Molten-Tail doesn't even
make good a discard outlet for reanimator
decks-- sure, it can discard your big creatures,
but to use its Flame Javelin ability it needs to
exile a creature card out of your graveyard in
addition to the 4-mana cost. Worth it in a blue
deck, that can draw cards like a champ and lacks
hard removal, but elsewhere? I'm not so sure.
Like with Mox and Lotus, every Magic player
knows exactly what you mean when you say the
word "Masticore." The original was dominant in
its own day - shooting down creatures for fun,
going over the top to finish players, and
tangling with nearly anything and living to tell
the tale. Its latest descendant . . . well, its
latest descendant is capable of pretty much the
exact same thing. Play it early, play it often.
Today's card of the day is Molten-Tail
Masticore which is a four mana
4/4 with a four mana option to deal four damage
to a creature or player at the cost of exiling a
creature from your graveyard and a two mana
option to regenerate. The primary drawback
is the need to discard a card from your hand
during your upkeep or sacrifice the Masticore
which can help feed the burn effect a bit, but
as it happens before the draw phase can cause
some issues without support. Overall this
can be a very powerful card, but it benefits
most from a deck where multiple creature cards
are moving through your hand and into the
graveyard quickly.
Likely a dedicated variation of the Blue/Black
control deck with this as the major damage
dealing threat though Blue/White has the option
of playing Squadron Hawk for three extra
creatures added to your hand. The mana
cost isn't negligible either, so any kind of
support in that area is beneficial as well.
These negatives keep it from being a mainstay in
every deck, but the potential is impressive
enough to warrant attention.
In Limited the support may not be there to feed
Masticore's ravenous hunger for long, but even a
turn or two of discarding for four damage is
well worth the exchange. This is a very
powerful card in the format as repeatable
removal and can deal damage itself after
clearing the field or in addition to burning the
opponent. A top pick in Booster than can
be played in any deck and easy to run for any
Sealed pool with extra creatures.
