Its Inspired ability is basically a repeatable
Gild-- kill a creature deader-than-dead, and get
a coupon for one free colorless mana, redeemable
upon demand. The trouble is, to trigger an
Inspired ability, you must UNTAP the creature
it's on, which means you must first TAP it. King
Macar has no tap ability, and in combat he's a
vanilla 2/3 for four mana. The only way to
actually get his ability to fire, therefore, is
to either grant him the combat prowess he needs
to reliably swing without dying, or grant him a
tap ability. Either way, he's a combo piece, and
therefore unsuitable for Limited play--
especially where the cards you'd combo with him
there (Witches' Eye, Claim of Erebos) are mostly
terrible on their own as well and seeing either
combo piece without its partner is as good as a
dead draw. In Constructed, you can at least
maximize your chances of assembling the combo
(and use stronger combo pieces like Phenax) but
that's still a lot of resources invested just to
kill one opposing creature per turn. A two-card
combo in Standard needs a bit more punch to it
than that if it's going to be competitive.
But of course, we can no longer discuss any
legendary creature fairly without examining its
use as a Commander. King Macar's dependence on
his "subjects" is less of a concern here, as you
can nearly always count on being able to cast
the King when you're ready and not before--
neither piece will ever be dead in your hand.
But the fact that Macar is monoblack hurts,
because the cards you'd most like to combo him
with (Freed from the Real, Ocular Halo, Intruder
Alarm, etc.) are not black and are therefore
illegal in a Macar deck. There are options, of
course-- Springleaf Drum, Paradise Mantle, and
several other artifacts that offer a relatively
benign tap ability. Still, all the awesome stuff
would need you to put Macar in somebody else's
Commander deck, which means we're back to the
Combo Piece Problem.
Midas, who inspired this card, should not be
confused with Minos, the king of Crete who was
said to have built the labyrinth and owned the
suspiciously robotic guardian Talos. Minos was
probably inspired by a historical figure or
figures, while Midas makes for a pretty good
Magic card. Even killing one creature regularly
each turn can be tough for some decks to keep up
with, and extra mana is absolutely one of the
best things you can do in all of Magic. It might
have been nice if they could have made some
in-game reference to the fact that Midas came to
regret his impulsive wish, but that doesn't make
this card any less cool.
Today's card of the day is King Macar, the
Gold-Cursed which is a four mana Black 2/3 with
Legendary and Inspired that may exile target
creature to put an artifact token into play that
you can sacrificed to add one mana of any color
to your pool. The effect of Gild being
repeatable and attached to a 2/3 at the same
mana cost is a bargain even with the
vulnerability of a creature included. With
support to grant evasion or effects to tap it,
likely from Blue aside from Black having access
to Intimidate, this is a major threat in most
formats. It will see some play, though not as
much in competitive settings due the reliance on
support and slightly late arrival to the field.
In Limited this is a first pick in Booster
that will control games if enchanted to improve
survival. Any effect that can boost it, give it
evasion, or tap it gains value for drafting in
either setting and with even one this can be the
best removal source in the block. In Sealed it
depends on the pool as half the mana in the cost
is Black, but in a moderately strong pool it can
at least be a secondary color as repeatable
removal should be enough to carry the color.
Clearly derived from King Midas in Greek
mythology, King Macar is a a great flavorful fit
for the set. As a 2/3 for 4 mana, he's not going
to be a powerful offensive threat, of course,
but if he can untap even once, you're starting
to get some real value. A chance to exile
creatures repeatedly can help you take over the
game if your opponent can't get him out of the
way. The gold token you get from exiling a
creature is really just a fun bonus, but is not
usually a big deal.
The problem, of course, is how do you get him
to untap? By the time he comes out, it's
questionable whether he's going to be able to
attack safely, so you have to combo something
with him. I'm trying him out in a deck using
Triton Tactics. Declare you attack, then cast
Triton Tactics to untap the King and exile a
blocker and give him +0/+3 to help survive
combat with any remaining blockers. There are
other ways to use him, but are any of these
tricks better than simply running a removal
spell and a bigger creature? Perhaps not, but
it's nowhere near as fun!
In limited, anything that has the potential
to get rid of multiple creatures is excellent.
He's more likely to be able to survive combat
with the smaller selection of creatures, but
you're also less likely to have any tricks to
help you out. Either way, though, he's worth a
high pick.
I've yet to try him out in a multiplayer
game, but I can imagine finding ways of
untagging him multiple times. There's also
probably someone who's left themselves open so
he can attack safely. But once he starts doing
his thing, that puts a huge target on his (and
your) back!
The story of King Midas - who turned
everything he touched into gold, thus the Midas
touch - was supposed to be a sad and tragic
tale, as he soon realized that turning
everything he touched into gold was not really a
blessing, it was actually a curse. When you
can't touch food, or even your own daughter (as
he found out the hard way), you know you've got
a problem.
King Macar, the Gold-Cursed suffers from a
similar problem, but a problem that you can
greatly benefit from. At 4 mana for a 2/3 body,
he's not something you're really playing for his
combat potential, but fortunately that 3
toughness will come in handy for the real reason
you want to play him: his inspired ability.
If removal is good, than repeatable removal
is almost always better. Depending on how
difficult it is to get the effect to go off, of
course. Inspired is a very slow-paced mechanic,
so if you're going to work at making it happen
it really has to be worth it. Is it worth it
here? Absolutely. Exile target creature, AND you
get paid in gold/mana for your troubles? You
could potentially clear your opponent's entire
board just with this one card! But you have to
play it right, of course.
As I said, inspired is a very slow way to do
things. Assuming you play this guy on turn 4,
that means you attack with it on turn 5, and IF
it survives, then on turn 6 the ability will
trigger and get rid of something. That's a lot
of time for your opponent to find an answer. So
in order to combat this and use Macar a little
more efficiently, you'd ideally want to include
something in your deck to make him tap on his
own without attacking. Claim of Erebos could
work, as would Oracle's Insight or Springleaf
Drum perhaps. I've heard it suggested that King
Macar is just crying out to have Freed from the
Real cast upon him, and that just seems too fun
and powerful NOT to try out at some point.
Also note that King Macar seems to have
learned to control his powers a bit better than
King Midas, and you can see that in the sentence
"you MAY exile target creature." His ability is
not actually mandatory once it triggers, and
that's to prevent you from exiling your own guys
(or even himself!) if the opponent has nothing
and you still want to attack with him.
Overall King Macar, the Gold-Cursed is a very
good card, and with a little bit of support to
help him out even becomes a great card. Pick him
in limited when you can, try him out in casual
for fun combos with tap/untap effects, and enjoy
all the gold he makes for you. I've always felt
the inspired mechanic was just too slow to see a
lot of play in constructed, although if any
ability would be worth it to wait for, "exile
target creature" would be it.
Still not as good as the Rosewater touch,
though. That's the one where everything you
touch turns into Magic cards.
