There have been a few cards now that seem like
they want to go with a block that's only
slightly too far away to be part of Standard at
the same time as the card. I guess this is a
not-so-subtle way of reminding us that it's fun
to play with cards other than the most recent
ones? As it happens, it actually is fun to play
with old cards, and Hellkite Tyrant is in an
interesting position, as he provides both
incentive to play with one or both Mirrodin
blocks and a powerful weapon against people who
do so. There are several ways to use him as an
alternate win condition, ranging from the
obvious mana-producing artifacts to Nuisance
Engine, and although he's slower than most
Affinity-themed decks, a single attack destroys
their game plan in particularly hilarious
fashion.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
a purely casual card. In standard a 6/5
six mana with trample isn’t bad just not good
enough to compete with what some other decks are
doing. The artifact clause is highly irrelevant
because even having half of the required amount
on the board almost never happens relegating
this card to a niche attacker that doesn’t
compete with most other available options. In
modern, legacy, and vintage this card is
outclassed by almost anything and while the
artifact clause may be more relevant this
doesn’t fit into any decks. In casual and
multiplayer this card could become pretty insane
providing a solid and aggressive attacker as
well as an alternate win condition more easily
achieved. The fact multiplayer games often have
more artifacts allows you to horde some really
powerful artifacts and disrupt opponents. In
limited it’s a bomb a powerful flying trample
body that can end games quickly if not dealt
with. The ability to steal artifacts can
randomly be relevant as well. Overall a card
with powerful casual and multiplayer
applications.
Today's card of the day is Hellkite Tyrant
which is a six mana Red 6/5 with Flying,
Trample, that grants you control over all of a
player's artifacts whenever it deals combat
damage to them and you win the game if you
control twenty or more artifacts. The
artifact win condition is really unlikely
outside of a very specialized deck, but a six
mana 6/5 with evasion and Trample is certainly
impressive with the added bonus of stealing
artifacts making it one of the better non-Hasted
dragons.
In Limited this is a major bomb, particularly as
the multicolor nature of guilds encourages the
use of almost any available artifact. The
double Red keeps this from just being splashed
in non-Red guilds, though any deck with access
to a few sources of Red mana should definitely
be running this for the Flying and Trample
alone. A very easy first pick in Booster
and clear choice for Sealed whenever possible.
Oooohhhhh....fattie dragon! There's no
reason to not play in sealed - he's a 6/5 flying
trample for 6. His first ability might be
neat, his second irrelevant. In draft,
heck, why not. He might get some fun
things done. In constructed he's a
sideboard card against some weird deck that
might appear. As I stated earlier this
week, there are plenty of other things I'd like
to play at the 6 slot. The only exception
would be if you're trying to build a deck that
utilizes the second ability to win the game.
I think it's more Timmy or Spike than Johnny,
but fun.
