On his own, he's not much. You really need an
ample supply of creature tokens to pull this
off, and a decent supply of mana. At his worst,
he lets you fling creatures at your opponent for
2 damage each. This can be good if your
creatures are going to die in combat or are
getting Sip of Hemlock or Pharika's Cure aimed
at them a lot-- sacking in response cancels out
the additional effect on those cards, and lets
you sneak in extra damage where you can. If you
had a token-making engine, and lots of red mana,
it could double as a win condition where your
tokens can't punch through, but I feel like
usually it'd be easier to just swing.
The fact that he can return from the graveyard
by taking someone else down with him is nice
insurance, but it still raises the question of
what you do when you run out of creatures. If
you can't keep the board well stocked, Tymaret
is just a 2/2. What are you willing to sacrifice
to get a 2/2 back?
If you can go infinite with this somehow, or if
you want something to do with all your
Reassembling Skeletons and Grixis Unearth
creatures, then give Tymaret a shot. But I'd be
happier about running the Murder King if it
wasn't MY creatures he was so keen on murdering.
The title "Murder King" is easily one of the
best I've ever seen on a Magic card. Frankly,
I'd just about play this card only for that. The
fact that Tymaret reminds me very much of Pyre
Zombie from Invasion and simply won't stay dead
and wipes out creatures and wipes out opponents
and combos with like every card in black and red
is just a bonus. A large bonus, mind you.
Today's card of the day is Tymaret, the Murder
King which is a two mana Black and Red 2/2
Legendary with a one and Red effect to sacrifice
another creature to deal two damage to target
player or one and a Black to sacrifice a
creature to return Tymaret from the graveyard to
your hand. The first effect is a possible
finisher, particularly when combined with
creatures that benefit from being sacrificed,
but only working as burn and not removal is very
restrictive. The situations where
sacrificing creatures is the best way to deal
damage and the mana is available to do so aren't
likely to be very frequent barring a very
specific deck design. The second effect
effectively exchanges a creature in play for
Tymaret at a cost of four mana, which again is
quite decent if combined with the right target
and thematically supports a self sacrifice
build. Overall this is a card that works best in
a very dedicated build whether it is sacrificial
in nature or a combo centered around the two
damage being dealt by Tymaret itself, which will
likely keep it from appearing often
competitively.
In Limited this works well as a response to
removal while in play or in the graveyard and as
a two mana 2/2 is at least a bear in the worst
case scenario, though a multicolor one.
The two colors, particularly at two mana, can
prevent it from entering play early which is
less of a drawback as mana is also needed to
make use of the effects. As a potential
finisher and response to other cards it is worth
including in Sealed if running Black and Red or
splashing, though it is too situational to
justify that combination alone. For
Booster it is a weaker first pick as both
multicolor and less likely to provide an
advantage, though if running both colors anyway
there is no real reason not to draft it when
available.
Who doesn’t like a dude with the word Murder in
his name? This King will gladly sacrifice his
peeps to kill your opponents. The coolness
aside, Tymaret the Murder King has some value.
His power & toughness 2/2 match the mana
cost. ($) He can be a threat on the board or in
the graveyard. ($) Tyramet, the Murder King
works well with creatures that like to die,
including your opponents’ creatures. ($) Enough
about the value! Let’s talk about this King’s
place in the MTG world. Tymaret, the Murder King
is poor, out of work and living at a homeless
shelter. All that he wants is to find a home
where he can murder and be joyous! Could
it be your deck?
