This is an excellent example of why Equipment is
so universally loved and why it continues to
find its way onto banned lists. Rancor was, in
its heyday, the driving force behind Green
Stompy decks. For a trivial one green mana, you
can make almost any creature into a viable
beatdown agent-- +2/+0 is a pretty decent
aggressive boost, and trample means lack of
evasion is no issue. But the real value is that
a kill spell won't remove the threat-- you can
simple pay one more mana to put the same bonus
onto a different creature and start all over
again. Without a proper counterspell or
enchantment hate, the source of the beatdown
never truly goes away-- much like Equipment
today. In fact, I dare say Equipment is likely
the reason that Rancor was reprinted. Rancor's
legacy is that of an incredibly powerful card, a
card that defined a format with its power. I
don't doubt that WotC had to look long and hard
at the format, at the reasons Rancor performed
as well as it did in those halcyon days, and
into their own souls before they were able to
bring themselves to do this.
I was really surprised to find that we'd only
reviewed this card once before - and that one
time was in 2001. Yes, Rancor has really been
out of the tournament scene for 11 years. Now
that it's back, I'm sure we're all going to be
asking how we ever lived without it. There is
perhaps no card in all of Magic that is better
at turning small creatures into threats, making
big creatures unable to block, and making those
Swiss Army knife control decks feel
underprepared. If it were up to me, this card
would probably be in every core set, but the
people currently on the inside seem to like blue
instants and such. Still, this is Rancor's year
(again), and it's more than capable of taking
over entire scenes all by itself. It's done so
before, after all.
Welcome back readers boy it
sure has been a while since this card has been
reviewed about 11 years precisely, back when I
was a wee lad surfing through card of the days
on this very site and exploring Magic, enough
with the reminiscing lets dive in and see how
this card stacks up since it was last printed.
Auras are at a disadvantage if your creature is
killed in response to your enchantment or while
its enchanted your out of luck, Rancor solves
half of that equation if your creature dies you
get Rancor back for another go making the +2/+0
boost and trample quite frightening as it can
force your opponents to deal with huge threats
over and over. In standard this card lives up to
the hype combined with Dungrove Elder it’s a
huge beating and combined with other hexproof or
utility creatures as Thragtusk it can become
quite obscene giving it value in mono green
decks as well as any aggressive deck running
green including infect. In modern this card may
see the same amount of play providing a powerful
offense boost from one of the most powerful
enchantments ever printed.
In legacy and vintage this card is kind of slow and simply not
used to good effect in most modern archetypes.
In casual and multiplayer this card is still
classic providing a must deal with threat that
can recur giving you reach against multiple
opponents making this a go to enchantment for
any decks looking to buff up creatures. In
limited this is a beating providing a must deal
with situation for your opponent that doesn’t
ever end well for them and if you have more then
one things can get crazy. Overall a powerful
card that has stood the test of time and is
still as relevant and powerful today as when it
was printed a classic card im glad I get to
review.
Today's card of the day is Rancor which is a
one mana Green aura that returns to hand when
sent to the graveyard and gives the creature it
is enchanting +2/+0 and Trample. This is
one of and possibly the best aura ever printed
in Magic as it is low cost, doesn't promote a
two for one loss in card advantage and is quite
aggressive. Whether the deck is aura based
with Enchantress or Wombat style effects or just
an aggressive build that can use Trample this
offers something for nearly any deck with Green
in it. In even one turn this can effectively
deal more damage than a Lightning Bolt,
depending on the creature it is attached to, and
it will be a very regular sight in the current
formats.
For Limited this is an uncommon that can often
be better than a Rare and may be drafted in the
first few picks of any pack. Splashing
Green for this is possible in Sealed or Booster,
but when running Green there is no reason not to
use this when available. One mana for
reusable increased damage and Trample that is
also very difficult to get rid of is a huge
advantage in the format and should add up to a
great deal of damage over the course of a game.
Even if just attached to a blocker to fend off
an attacker it still comes back if the blocker
is destroyed.
Not being an instant or adding toughness like
Giant Growth does reduce the usefulness
defensively, so keeping to an offensive mindset
is definitely recommended.
