Turn two Generator Servant. Turn three five-mana
creature with haste. Good game? This is going to
enable some absolutely sickeningly explosive
starts, and if your opponent doesn't have the
kill spell in hand to deal with whatever this
thing produces, it'll be game over frighteningly
fast. The fact that it's a creature is a
handicap in that you have to untap with it in
play, but it's also an advantage in that if
you've got nothing to spend the mana on, you can
still get use out of it as a 2/1.
Although my favorite individual card is Kird
Ape, some of my best memories of red and green
decks from years gone by involve Fires of
Yavimaya. It was an archetype that showed the
world what those colors are capable of, crushing
tournaments and winning Worlds in an era full of
Counterspell, Fact or Fiction, and Terminate.
Generator Servant embodies two of the pillars
that made Fires a dominant powerhouse: mana
acceleration and reducing the time available for
the opponent to respond. A one-time or
one-creature boost is not quite as destructive
as Fires' namesake and its continuous benefits
and late-game trickery, but you will win plenty
of games by going "I accidentally Spawn of
Thraxes" or some such.
Today's card of the day is Generator Servant which
is a two mana Red 2/1 that can be tapped and
sacrificed to add two mana to your mana pool
which is used to cast a creature will give it
Haste until end of turn.
This is a very nice support creature that can
attack early for some damage if needed then be
used as acceleration to not only get larger
threats into play, but to add Haste to creatures
that wouldn't normally have it. A
potential five mana Hasted creature on turn
three is not to be underestimated and in a
Red/Green deck it can have cards like Ruric Thar
or Kalonian Hydra attacking on the third turn
for extremely aggressive openings. This is
a card that will likely see a huge amount of
play going forward and will make an impact
across many formats.
In Limited this is a solid early attacker that
can be beneficial at nearly any point in the
game by offering an acceleration option and
Haste for bigger threats. For Booster this
can be picked after the bomb creatures and
removal as support or even an on color low mana
filler.
In Sealed it should always be included when
running Red as it works well in multiple roles
and at worst is a two mana 2/1 which is still
quite playable in the format.
Is it worth your sacrificing your two drop and
powering out your six drop 2 turns early and
giving him haste? A lot of times, yes. If you
get this guy on the field, expect your opponent
to know you have tricks up your sleeve and take
out the Servant before you can use him. At 1
toughness, he doesn't survive combat very often,
so against an aggressive deck, you might be
happier with something that slows down an
opponent or gives you a reasonable blocker.
While the jury is still out, I think there's a
reasonable chance this guy could play a role in
some powerful decks.
Ramping out big guys is popular in casual, so
the Servant might see some play there. In
limited, if you have a big, expensive bomb, this
is a great way to get him out.
