I'm a little disappointed that this thing isn't
a Giant-- my old Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Giant deck
can always use another member. I'm also a little
disappointed that, even though you're opponent
can't keep this thing off the board for good, he
can keep it locked down fairly easily. It has
two toughness and no trample or evasion, so if
you swing, your opponent will have no trouble
trading up one of his smaller creatures. You'll
get it back on your next turn, but it will still
be tapped-- you'll have to wait ANOTHER turn
before you get to swing again, and then it
starts all over again. Giving it evasion or
trample would help, but again, this thing is
easy to kill, and whatever you used to give it
evasion is unlikely to stick to it after it's
been to the 'yard and back. The only real upside
here is that with seven power, your opponent
pretty much has to block or otherwise answer it,
and it comes back after just about every answer.
It's not hard to deal with, but your opponent
HAS to deal with it, and he has to spend
resources to do it while you keep getting the
'Titan back. If I had a lot of repeatable
"fight" effects, then I'd want this, since I
could pretty reliably make it trade up and get
it back after the fight. Otherwise, green can do
better for 4GG.
Did anybody else get a Shards of Alara vibe from
this card? It may not be significant, but it's
pretty cool nonetheless. It also reminds me of
Vengevine, not just because it's an aggressive
plant creature but because it's so hard to kill.
Two toughness is extraordinarily low for a
six-mana creature, so it's going to go to your
graveyard pretty often; and the timing of its
return unfortunately means that opponents have a
chance to pre-empt its resurrection in some way.
Still, self-resurrection is an inherently
powerful enough ability that it's worth looking
at. And of course there's the obvious combo with
Life's Legacy.
Today's card of the day is Phytotitan which is
a six mana Green 7/2 that when it dies it
returns to the owner's battlefield tapped at the
beginning of their next upkeep. This is a decent
effect for an otherwise unimpressive creature
with a particularly low toughness of two. A 7/2
body for six with no combat effects is vastly
outclassed by many other Green creatures plus
returning to play tapped and without Haste slows
this down dramatically. Without multiple and
somewhat inefficient options for support this
isn't a consistent enough offensive threat to be
worth using when compared to the wide variety of
other choices available. However, in a build
where this can be sacrificed each turn for a
benefit it is very efficient and may actually
see some play in that role.
In Limited this is a serious threat as there
are only a few cards that can prevent it from
returning to play. The toughness is still a
drawback, but seven power to block or attack
with on a recurring basis is well worth the
first pick in Booster. For Sealed the double
Green and reasonable cost of six mana allows
this to be easily managed in a two color deck.
Phytotian is the next in the series of cards I'm
not quite sure about. Normally a creature with 2
toughness for 6 mana wouldn't ever have a
chance. But Phytotian is anything but normal.
His 7 power is something to be reckoned with,
and the fact that he never stays in the
graveyard makes for some interesting potential.
It should be noted that while it does come back
after getting killed, it does so slowly. It has
to sit in your graveyard until your next upkeep.
Then, when it comes back, it is tapped, so it
can't be used as a blocker. Also, if this is
exiled, it's gone forever.
The best use for something like that keeps
coming back is in a deck that wants to
repeatedly sacrifice creatures for a benefit.
But at 6 mana, that's a lot to invest for
something who's only job is to die. So, I'm not
sure if it works too well there. To use this as
an attacker that keeps coming back is pretty
slow, since you can only use it every other
turn.
My initial guess is that this one is probably
more likely to see the junk rare pile than see
much serious play, but the idea is unique, and I
still want to experiment with it more.
If you pull this in draft or sealed, however, it
becomes an all-star. Ways to permanently remove
this guy are going to be few and far between.
Having 7 power on the battlefield that will keep
coming back is a force that most people can't
survive.
