I really like the idea of a demon that possesses
another creature and grants it all of its own
power plus all of the host's at the cost of
slowly draining away the host's life force, and
when that creature dies, the demon comes loose
and continues to wreak havoc. A solid P/T boost
and an evasive ability is a great combo to
Bestow onto just about anything that doesn't
have defender, and the 1 life per turn is a
small price to pay for the 3+ damage you'll be
swinging for. I especially like the idea of
putting this onto a creature with lifelink.
I like this card inordinately much, if only for
the fact that it's one of the few creatures in
recent sets that isn't all-upside. Doesn't
anyone else ever feel embarrassed casting a
creature with power higher than its mana cost,
plus a comes-into-play ability? Anyone? In
fantasy settings, dealing with demons is always
portrayed as a high-risk high-reward venture,
and this particular demon is quite tempting.
While he's unlikely to be quite as dominating in
any setting where acceleration can give you an
early Hypnotic Specter or Phyrexian Negator,
he's still an early high-power creature, and his
bestow ability opens other possibilities. I'm
also thinking about Bad Moon, which got some new
exposure from Time Spiral - decks that make use
of that card may sometimes prefer high power and
speed over numerous abilities.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
a powerful and cheap black creature. In standard
I am going to say it straight up, I don’t think
this card sees much play until a rotation or a
drastic shift in the metagame. Mono black decks
already have all the tools they need and this
card does not fit as well as the other cards but
the two black symbols and insane early body are
powerful it just needs to find a home. In modern
and eternal formats not enough bang for your
buck and doesn’t play nicely with existing
cards. In casual and multiplayer it’s a demon
and has a decent bestow ability making it quite
powerful, the life loss is much more relevant
when you have multiple enemies gunning for you
making it not the best choice in multiplayer
without some life gain to offset its ability. In
limited it’s a flying aggressive body that can
hit early or turn one of your creatures into a
flying threat, a powerful card. Overall a card
on the fringe of constructed play.
Today's card of the day is Herald of Torment
which is a three mana Black
3/3 with Flying, Bestow for five mana, and at
the beginning of your upkeep you lose one life.
The loss of life is a minor drawback if played
earlier in the game or if used to give Flying to
a bigger threat later in the game. The low
cost for the damage is well worth the trade and
the double Black is a benefit for Devotion
builds. This will be popular for more aggressive
mono-Black designs and may even see competitive
play, particularly after Nighveil Specter
rotates out of Standard.
In Limited this is a very powerful card if used
early, but is a terrible topdeck and dead weight
in hand when behind. The potential damage
it can deal outweighs the risk of being killed
by the loss of life, but it is decidedly better
in a strong aggressive pool as by itself it has
less flexibility. A first pick in Booster
or with a decent Sealed pool as it needs support
and unlike some other rares can't carry a
mediocre deck.
Herald of Torment is a 3/3 flyer for 3 mana and
that by itself makes this Demon worth playing.
Like most of the powerful demons on the market,
Herald of Torment has its own drawback. Paying 1
life at the beginning of your upkeep is not that
bad. At least you don’t have to sacrifice a
creature! The bestow ability can make this card
worth playing in the late stages of the game.
Herald of Torment can handle almost all of the
early flyers in Standard right now. Nightveil
Specter is looking at its future replacement in
mono-black. Herald of Torment can put your
opponent in a tough spot if you are also running
Desecration Demon. In a Draft, I could see
Herald of Torment being used for the bestow cost
and flying towards a beat down!
