When you're paying BBB for something, you know
you better get something good for it. And
Geralf's Messenger is like the philosophical
opposite of Kitchen Finks, a card that was much
beloved by all back when it was legal. This card
hits an opponent for 2 just by entering play,
and will do so again when it returns through
Undying. The fact that it enters tapped just
means that it can't block on the turn it enters
play, which is fair considering lots of Zombies
come into play tapped, and lots of black
creatures explicitly say they can't block. The
fact that Geralf's Messenger can block once it
untaps, and hits for 3 (and 4 the second time it
comes out) for only three mana, makes it a solid
addition to any mostly-black deck, especially
Zombie decks.
They say you shouldn't shoot the messenger,
but I'm not sure it would help here anyway.
Comes-into-play abilities are such a natural fit
for the undying keyword that I assume the only
reason there aren't more of them in Dark
Ascension is because the designers didn't want
to make it too easy for us. Just as well,
perhaps, as the best things in gaming are those
that pose a challenge, and Geralf's Messenger
indeed won't be put in just any random deck. The
heavy black casting cost may limit the
possibilities there, and its prospects in
competitive Magic, but it's still a solid
creature with good abilities. Any deck that
doesn't mind being mono-black, or has a way to
repeatedly bounce creatures (Skull Collector),
could do a lot worse.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
the reverse Kitchen Finks causing your opponents
to lose life and having undying instead of
persist but enters the battlefield tapped
unfortunately. In standard mono black had a real
brief resurgence and now is seen mostly in mono
black infect varieties, I foresee this card
seeing play in emerging zombie decks as well as
decks featuring a heavy black component
obviously mono black decks. In extended and
modern this card is slow but has potential in
some builds I personally like it in the rock
style decks the life loss accumulates fast and
this is just a good value card. In legacy and
vintage this card is overshadowed and even if
you’re going mono black there are probably
faster options for players interested in the
power of mono black. In casual and multiplayer
this is a powerful early drop and prevent people
from attacking into it as they might lose a
creature and lose some life making it a
rattlesnake of sorts, also it is a zombie so
that opens up precisely 1 billion deck ideas and
types and powerful support for the zombie tribe
exists and continues to be getting better. In
limited its severe mono black requirement
hampers what decks it can go in but it is not a
bomb but a solid all around card if you have a
heavy black emphasis this could be a contender.
Overall a card with constructed applications and
quite a powerful zombified version of Kitchen
Finks.
Today's card of the day is Geralf's Messenger
which costs three Black mana for a 3/2 zombie
with Undying that comes into play tapped and has
target opponent lose two life. This is yet
another strong addition to mono-Black sacrifice
or zombie themes as a 3/2 then 4/3 threat that
will most often cost an opponent four life
without even attacking. Entering into play
tapped is not a major issue when it
automatically causes a loss of life and overall
it is a card that will see play in competitive
formats.
For Limited the triple Black is a major problem
and will keep this out of any Sealed build that
isn't able to produce a nearly mono-Black deck.
Booster can potentially pick this first and
stick to one color draft choices, which the
Undying and loss of life effects make a viable
option, but anyone else at the table drafting
Black will seriously impact the value of that
decision. Messenger is a very nice card
that can be difficult to play in the format, so
keeping it sidedecked or hate drafting may be
the best play if your pool isn't exactly right
for it.
Welcome to the card of the day
section here at Pojo.com. To close out this
week, we continue our look at Dark Ascension
with Geralf’s Messenger. Geralf’s Messenger is a
rare black creature zombie that costs three
black mana for a 3/2. Geralf’s Messenger enters
the battlefield tapped, has Undying, and says
whenever Geralf’s Messenger enters the
battlefield, target opponent loses two life.
Geralf’s Messenger is an amazing rare from
Dark Ascension, just like so many others. The
Undying with an enters the battlefield ability
is just so much fun to exploit for ones own
reasons. The loss of life is nice, but what
makes it even more fun is he has a decent power
and toughness for only three mana. The main
drawback that RnD gave the zombies is the enters
the battlefield tapped part, in effect, showing
that zombies are “slow” after being reanimated.
But when combined with Amulet of Vigor in
Extended or older formats, this effect is null
and void. And there were plenty of cards printed
that allow removal of counters, so even the
Undying effect can be overcapitalized, again,
and again.
