On the one hand, it kills all 1-toughness
creatures your opponent controls, but not the
ones you do. On the other hand, it forces them
to attack, and the ones that survive the
Aggravate are likely the big, beefy ones. The
good news is that they don't have to attack
YOU-- if you're in multiplayer and can make
yourself look like a less viable target than
someone else, you can use Aggravate to make your
opponents soften each other up for you! The
other good news is that if you can survive the
onslaught, they'll be all out of creatures to
block with, letting you alpha strike with
impunity. And don't forget-- all those attackers
have 1 damage dealt to them! You can block a 4/4
with a 3/3 and kill it!
Still not sure that's worth leaving five mana up
for.
I'm a little surprised to see this as a card
name, to be honest - you usually think of this
verb as something small, multiples of which may
add up over time to a larger psychological
injury, not so much something that incites war.
However, in Magic terms, the effect is, I
suppose, not the most impactful when compared to
some other cards; still, there are certainly
circumstances where forcing an opponent to make
a disadvantageous attack can get you back into
the game. (Fun fact: the deck that won the first
ever Magic World Championship played a copy of a
similar card, Siren's Call. Look it up.) And you
have to give credit for a well-executed piece of
dark humor in flavor text.
Today's card of the day is Aggravate which is a
Red five mana instant that deals one damage to a
target player's creatures and forces those dealt
damage by it to attack if able. This is
not a particularly powerful card in most
situations as it is best used when multiple one
toughness creatures are across the battlefield
that are also supported by creatures that will
then be destroyed by creatures you have to block
the attack. This requires too many
components to be in play and allowing it to
intentionally build up is not an effective
strategy for winning. Overall this is a
costly and niche effect that probably won't see
any competitive or even much casual play.
For Limited mass non-targeted burn that doesn't
damage your own creatures that comes attached
with a stalemate ending forced attack clause is
a solid choice for any deck. The double
Red is not an issue out of five mana when the
deck is running about half of the mana sources
as Red. While Aggravate isn't worth a
first pick it is strong enough for an early
draft in Booster as part of a primarily Red deck
and is well supported by First Strike creatures.
Sealed can also benefit from running this when
Red is already chosen as a primary or secondary
color, though it is not going to be the main
reason for running the color.
Welcome to the
Pojo.com card of the day section. We are closing
out our week looking at Aggravate from Avacyn
Restored. Aggravate is an uncommon red instant
that costs three generic and two red mana.
Aggravate deals one damage to each creature
target player controls. Each creature dealt
damage this way attacks this turn if able.
Really love red, but in this instance, I’ll pass.
Not a great card. Sure, if your opponent has a
massive field of one toughness creatures, this
card is terrific because it will wipe most of
them out, but the forced attack leaves you
needing to be prepared. Of course if you are
only looking for an opening and can survive an
all out attack and then finish off your
opponent, then by all means, have at it. IN the
event you just need to wipe out some creatures
though, you should consider casting only on your
turn. Ultimately a very situational card. The
kind of deck you build this into and the
particular circumstances when you decide to cast
it are all going to depend on how good this card
really is.
