Do you know the real reason there's a card in
Dragons of Tarkir named "Dragon Whisperer"?
Because this name, and Kargan Dragonlord, were
already taken by the Zendikar block. Zendikar
had its issues, but it will always have a
special place in my heart because of those two
cards, especially this one. I'm not sure there's
another purely threatening one-cost creature in
all of Magic. Figure of Destiny and Student of
Warfare are better at attacking by themselves,
but they can be dealt with by as little as one
card even when they're fully online. Noble
Hierarch can be involved in broken plays, but
it's an enabler and it doesn't function so well
without the right cards to accelerate into. But
this card's effect is extremely difficult to
stop in itself, and if it lives to put even one
dragon on the table, it demands specific answers
that may not be on hand. And it even has good
art.
Today's card of the day is Dragonmaster Outcast
which is a one mana Red
1/1 that puts a 5/5 token with Flying into play
at the beginning of your upkeep if you control
six or more lands. This is a great card
for slower formats like Commander or Multiplayer
where the game can progress for a while after
six lands are in play or major land acceleration
is a typical design element. For other
Constructed formats it is a late in offering
much, but in any setting the one mana 1/1 is at
least playable from the beginning which means it
is unlikely to be a dead card in hand.
For Limited this is an easy first pick in
Booster that can be played at any stage of the
game and while not an ideal topdeck is certainly
one that can end stalemates or be a late game
changing threat. In Sealed it should
always be used when playing Red and by itself is
almost enough to force splashing the color
Rarely does a 1/1 have such a big target on its
back! A 5/5 dragon-making factory is something
that must be reckoned with. This is one of the
rare cases where the fact that it’s a creature
is a liability. There are so many ways to kill a
1/1 that almost every deck is going to have some
way of doing it. But, if you’re able to protect
him for a few turns, it can put your opponent on
a very short clock.
Sometimes the best part of a card is not the
most obvious part. Clearly, everyone sees the
potential to ramp up to 6 lands and churn out
dragons each turn. But even if that doesn’t
happen and this bites a piece of removal, you’ve
spent 1 mana and they’ve likely spent more,
putting you ahead on the curve, and letting you
get through with lesser threats.
In limited, the removal is harder to come by, so
you’ve a better chance of making this guy start
birthing dragons. Easy first pick. Multiplayer
is the opposite. More people = more chances to
have your 1/1 knocked out by something.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: It makes dragons. 5.0
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.0
