Anyone remember Rage Forger? That got nuts in a
deck with enough +1/+1 counters, especially if
some of your creatures had abilities triggering
off of damage to players. Hellrider doesn't even
need +1/+1 counters to work-- whenever you
attack, each creature you swing with does an
extra 1 damage automatically.
Okay, the attacking creature isn't the source of
the damage. Which makes it harder to combo it
with things like Cold-Eyed Selkie. But I can see
throwing an Ophidian Eye on this thing and
wreaking havoc. Or getting two in play and
dealing double the damage before you even deal
combat damage. I'd run these as the top of my
curve in a red aggro deck. Especially since
they're a 3/3 with haste for four mana-- usually
you pay through the nose for haste, especially
on a creature with an ability that triggers on
attacking.
This is exactly the kind of creature that a lot
of decks, most notably the descendants of the
old-school white-blue control decks, fear most.
Hitting hard after Wrath of God, turning the
goblins everyone thinks are silly into nearly
unpreventable damage, winning combat with many
of the early blockers new-style control decks
have adopted - anywhere fast red decks are an
option, Hellrider will be an option in them. A
taste of hell - unless it's on your side!
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Hellrider an interesting aggressive red
creature. A 3/3 Haste body is solid for four
mana and the fact your opponents take damage
every time you attack making this a very
aggressive card. In standard this competes with
cards such as Hero of Oxid Ridge for a card at
the higher end of your mana curve and both are
extremely aggressive, in a token dominated
metagame the Hero takes the cake but both cards
certainly are constructed and standard playable
and I expect this card to see a fair amount of
play. In extended and modern this card is just
as powerful allowing you to drop a player from
20 to 0 in short order, there is stiffer
competition in this format however making it not
as powerful by comparison and its hitting high
on the mana curve. In legacy and vintage this
card is card pretty expensive mana cost wise and
I don’t see it making much of an impact. In
casual and multiplayer this is a nice aggressive
creature that gets along with a mass of
attackers such as goblins or token decks
allowing you to drop player quite quickly and
preserve an aggressive stance, whether an
aggressive deck is the right choice for
multiplayer formats is debatable. In limited
it’s not a flying angel bomb but it is a solid
card that will help you preserve an aggressive
stance and force opponents to react to it,
obviously good in decks running red and removal
such as Brimstone Volley allows this to possibly
beat through blockers and get at players.
Overall a card with solid constructed
credentials and casual playability.
Today's card of the day is Hellrider which is a
four mana Red 3/3 with Haste that deals one
damage to the defending player whenever one of
your creatures attacks. A four mana 3/3 is
decent enough for aggro-Red, but dealing damage
before blocking is an excellent bonus that can
make tokens or other swarm tactics far more
effective. It would take the right build,
so whether Hellrider makes an impact on the
tournament scene is unknown currently, though
the potential is certainly there.
For Limited the Haste and effect make this a
solid threat in the middle stages of the game
and the damage ability can easily win the game
in a stalemate situation. The double Red
isn't that bad of a drawback out of four mana
and with no other real drawback it is a strong
first pick in Booster and good start to a Sealed
pool with enough Red to go alongside it.
Welcome to the
Pojo.com card of the day section. We close out
the week by taking a look at Hellrider from Dark
Ascension. Hellrider is a rare red creature
devil that costs two red mana and two generic
mana for a 3/3. Hellrider has haste and says
that whenever a creature you control attacks,
Hellrider deals 1 damage to defending player.
Hellrider is definitely one of my favorite cards
for use outside of the Standard format. This guy
combos so very well with a decent Vintage style
Goblin deck that the Hellrider really should
have been a Goblin, if only there were Goblins
on Innistrad ;). But that doesn’t mean that this
guy does not suit this kind of deck. And that is
just the beginning. When combined in an Eldrazi
deck, using a card like Raid Bombardment could
cause some serious damage! That means that 5
tokens would be responsible for 10 damage! And
we all know how easily it can be to make tokens!
