Double strike inevitably becomes the most
interesting thing on any creature that has it.
Dragon-Style Twins is in some respects a 6/3 for
five, in others three power of first strike
damage, and in all respects a fearsome target
for Titan's Strength. You remember the magic of
playing that on a Two-Headed Cerberus, don't
you? The Prowess ability makes DST here an even
better recipient of power-pumping combat tricks,
or even just a nice card to have when you play
them. I like that you can use your burn spells
or Panic effects to clear out blockers, and the
Twins will hit harder as a result.
Was I unreasonable to expect that a card
referring to a "Dragon style" of martial arts
would have more abilities? Perhaps. But this
card is not disappointing per se - it hits as
hard as a dragon, and makes for interesting and
dynamic game states because it encourages you to
play instants and sorceries. It itself only
really interacts with the combat step, but
that's not entirely surprising for a red card,
especially in the context of the Prowess ability
word.
If only one of the twins had a hat - we could
have nicknamed them Liu Kang and Kung Lao.
Today's card of the day is Dragon-Style Twins
which is a five mana Red
3/3 with Double Strike and Prowess that gives it
+1/+1 until end of turn whenever you cast a
non-creature spell. This isn't a bad
creature as it can deal six damage on the attack
for five mana and is enhanced by combat tricks
or other spells. The mana cost of six and
lack of evasion will likely keep it from
replacing actual dragons from the top slots in
any Red builds and this probably won't see much
play outside of some very specialized Casual
builds.
In Limited this is a very solid threat and
strong first pick in Booster that can be easily
supported with any power enhancing effects.
In Sealed the double Red isn't a major concern
out of six mana if Red is one of the primary
colors, so it is usually worth including and has
even more value with support effects in the
pool.
Double Strike is a scary ability, as I found out
back in Theros pre-release when I was lucky
enough to pull TWO Fabled Heroes. Targeting the
Hero with an aura or a pump spell could quickly
turn a seemingly small creature into a real
powerhouse. The Dragon-Style Twins are very
similar to the Hero, as Prowess has some
similarities to Heroic. True, the +1/+1 only
lasts one turn, but it triggers off any
non-creature spell - not just one that targets
the creature. Try using a removal spell to knock
out blockers and suddenly attacking with the
Twins for 8. Add on a Become Immense to turn
this into a one-turn kill creature. I had this
in my hand on pre-release, but had my Twins
killed in response. Boo. But that's the risk you
take when spending 5 mana on the creature and a
bunch of mana on things to pump it up.
I don't see this making a huge splash in
constructed play as what you get for your 5 mana
isn't probably good enough on its own, and
investing more mana to pump it up is probably
too fragile. Casual decks and limited decks
should have a great time getting value out of
these Dragon-Stylers.
