David Fanany
Player since
1995 |
Craterhoof Behemoth
I know there were one or two people who didn't
really pay this card much heed when it first
came out in Avacyn Restored - the high mana cost
and big green-ness have not always been
attractive to tournament players. In practice,
though, even if it's the only creature attacking
the turn it arrives because all your elves are
tapped from producing mana, it just wins out of
nowhere. And when you pair it with Dramatic
Entrance or Natural Order, you can easily take
multiple players from 40 to zero in one
turn. It's one of those cards that has a little
something for everyone - a very green version of
Fireball for midrange/combo players, a reward
for optimizing mana production, and a
game-within-a-game to see just how high a value
of X you can get on the earliest turn.
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 5/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5
|
|
James H. |
Craterhoof Behemoth (4/10)
When the Behemoth drops,
it’s never a good sign. Craterhoof Behemoth is
the top-end finisher in Legacy Elves, and the
deck’s aim is to ramp into Natural Order, which
enables the Behemoth to try and alpha strike
then and there. If you’re dropping this, you're
likely putting it out there with no fewer than 4
other creatures, which gives your entire board
+5/+5 and trample…and the Behemoth himself is a
10/10 with trample
and haste. This is an unsubtle
finisher, but it's a hugely effective one, and
it's one with little counterplay.
Of course, that counterplay
is in the form of “prevent all combat damage”
spells, like Darkness or Dawn Charm, and in the
form of tricks like Angel's Grace. And if you
whiff on your alpha strike, you're left with a
5/5 with no other relevant abilities…which isn't
the worst thing in the world, though it can be
slightly deflating. It's hard to stop a
Craterhoof Behemoth alpha strike, and it's been
terrorizing players in Legacy for years for that
reason.
It can see some play
outside of Legacy in Modern, usually with
generous mana ramp or with Eldritch Evolution,
but Natural Order is what makes this card so
good.
Constructed: 4.75
Casual: 5
Limited: 2.5
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander: 4
|
