I have heard that people are already designing
entire Commander decks - and entire Commander
archetypes - around this card, and
understandably so. There are a surprising number
of cards that ask you to sacrifice creatures or
other permanents for some effect, and this turns
any such card in an opponent's hands into pure
advantage for you. I mention Commander
specifically because it's harder for someone to
use their devour deck to make Kothophed either
drain all your life or mill you to death, but
the times they do, it'll be a Magic story for
the ages.
Today's card of the day is Kothophed, Soul
Hoarder which is a six mana Black 6/6 Legendary
with Flying that has you draw a card and lose a
life whenever an opposing permanent is put into
the graveyard from play.
This is easily supported with typical Black
removal options and preferably some life drain
or Lifelink as a backup against the opponent
wiping their own board. The mana cost is a
bit high for Constructed formats with an effect
that doesn't do enough to end the game at that
stage, so this is likely only going to see play
in Casual, Commander, and Multiplayer.
In Limited this is a slightly risky card that in
general should dominate any game it hits the
board in if you're not already very low on life.
The 6/6 with evasion is a top threat and easy
first pick in Booster that shouldn't be passed
even if running another color. For Sealed
this strongly encourages Black as a bit more
than a splash and is very ably supported by any
copies of Unholy Hunger that might be available.
In a deck built around it, it's not bad. The
downside is something to be kept in check,
especially if you're running a grave pact
sac-all-the-things deck. It has its uses, but at
a 6-drop, it's not going to be something that'll
set standard on fire. or any other format for
that matter.
