Seven mana is a lot unless it wins you the game
outright. This is eight power MINIMUM of flying
creatures... most likely more. And though a
well-timed removal spell will kill the Demon, it
leaves tokens behind it to carry on its legacy
(unless the removal spell was Cyclonic Rift or
Supreme Verdict or the like. So most often, this
WILL win you the game outright... if you haven't
already lost it. This can really only work in a
slow format or a ramp deck, or perhaps a deck
with a lot of stalling tactics (Extort.dec?) but
it certainly promises a glorious experience for
those who can cast it.
It's funny how strongly R&D controls and
centralizes counterspells in blue (as well as
card drawing to a certain extent), while every
color has a creature that can make a huge herd
of tokens. It's not like one of those affects
game balance in every format and the other
doesn't . . . oh, wait. My complaint is not
about the second ability: every color has a way
to make use of a vast herd of tokens, especially
black with its Grave Pact and Altar's Reap. I'm
not sure when R&D will realize which one of
those abilities actually affects game balance in
every format, but I am sure that everyone will
have fun playing with Abhorrent Overlord.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Abhorrent Overlord one of my absolute favorite
cards from the set and I will eagerly explain
why. At seven mana this is more of a finisher
card and provides an evasive 6/6 creature with a
downside inherent in all good demons, the upside
is that it brings along its own sacrificial
fodder in the form of evasive harpy tokens and
scales with your devotion to the dark side. In
standard I could foresee this card seeing play
in black devotion based decks as it acts as a
sort of flying grave titan but definitely is a
niche card. In modern and eternal formats it’s
just too expensive and doesn’t provide enough
incentive for deck inclusion in general. In
casual and multiplayer it provides numerous
flying chump blockers and a solid demon as well
as scaling well with how many black permanents
you control and can be abused with come into
play effects for maximum profit. In limited it’s
clearly a bomb but make sure it you have enough
creatures to feed to it and a deck dipping
heavily into black. Overall a powerful creature
that has some uses in a multitude of locations
perhaps competitive most certainly casual.
Today's card of the day is Abhorrent Overlord
which is a seven mana Black 6/6 with Flying that
puts 1/1 Flying tokens into play equal to your
devotion to Black and requires you to sacrifice
a creature at the beginning of your upkeep each
turn. Seven mana for at least seven evasive
damage available to attack on the next turn with
no other cards involved is quite strong and that
number only increases with other permanents in
play before Overlord arrives. This is a powerful
card, but the high cost and relying on other
permanents for maximum benefit will likely keep
it from being seen in competitive formats.
For Limited this is an amazing bomb that
outright wins games with minimal support and
dominates when combined with other Devotion
effects. Getting six or more tokens is
relatively easy and the evasive force put into
play by this is very difficult for most
opponents to handle. An easy first pick in
Booster and barring an atrocious Black pool
should be a top consideration for the
centerpiece of the build in Sealed.
This is a different style of Demon than we
Magic players have become used to. Abhorrent
Overlord comes into play and gives the player
Harpies of all creatures. 1/1 flying Harpies to
boot! It is really hard to knock a 6/6 flyer
that gives you X creatures for only 7 mana, but
I will knock it anyway. The fact that you have
to sacrifice a creature at the beginning of your
upkeep will turn most players away from this
card. Maybe the mana cost of 7 will turn you
off, but look at it like this. Paying 7 mana for
3, 4, 5 or even 6 flying creatures is actually
very strong. Abhorrent Overlord has the power to
change a game quickly, no matter what format it
is being played in. I still can’t believe that
this card was in a Theros Pre-Release deck!
