It's a big, hard-to-kill beast that swings and
is also hard to block. That's good enough right
there, but the fact that you can have it
swinging as a 6/6 a turn earlier than you might
think thanks to Morph helps too-- if you're
willing to risk the fact that as a 2/2, it CAN
be targeted by kill spells.
Then again, if you can unmorph it in response to
a targeted kill spell, you can "counter" one of
their removal spells. That's probably the best
thing about Morph as a mechanic-- you can bait
your opponent into using kill spells on
creatures they can't actually kill.
I suppose this will be the Tarkir block's
version of Exalted Angel: the card that
everybody assumes every morph creature is, so
that they kill every morph creature they can
whenever they can. (Aside: I think it totally
sucks that giving Exalted Angel lifelink would
be considered "functional errata" such that
there's no chance of getting a new version of
her this season.) Sagu Mauler has a more
color-specific cost, meaning it's easier to tell
when it's likely to be him and when it's not,
but he has the same
lose-the-game-when-this-card-flips threat.
Interestingly, his cost and abilities mean that
it's more than tempting to just wait and cast
him for his normal cost, when he'll be harder to
deal with, and his color-specific cost is not
extremely intensive (especially by modern
standards). Nonetheless, morph does add an extra
layer of versatility, and makes this a stronger
card.
Today's card of the day is Sagu Mauler which is
a six mana Green and Blue 6/6 with the
combination of Trample plus Hexproof and it also
has Morph for five mana. This is a very
solid creature for the mana cost as it resists
removal and it is a serious offensive threat.
The Morph is potentially useful for getting it
into play earlier then revealing it to enjoy the
benefits of Hexproof, but having other Morph
creatures in deck is useful as an opponent may
target the vulnerable 2/2 in later games.
Overall this is a solid if somewhat mana
intensive creature that could see regular play
in Commander, Casual, and Multiplayer though it
likely won't reach the competitive levels.
In Limited this is an excellent first pick in
Booster that is very difficult for an opponent
to handle, as long as it isn't played with
Morph, and can turn the tide of a game by itself
by being a powerful topdeck. In Sealed it
is usually easy to work around Green, so
splashing or playing Blue to include this is
worthwhile as little compares to a Hexproof and
Trampling 6/6 for six.
There's not much your opponent is going to hate
seeing more than this guy sitting on your
battlefield. Hexproof is one of the most
difficult things to deal with. Crackling Doom is
going to be commonly seen as people try to deal
with the likes of the Mauler.
With some ramp, you can play this guy as a morph
creature on turn 2 and flip him over on turn 4
ready to attack. Not many creatures can
profitably block him, and not many spells can
deal with him.
There's not much fancy going on here, just good,
old fashioned power. The only real question is
if there is a green/blue deck that has a place
for him.
