(HOOF)MARK OF THE BEAST

 

Consider the matter, if you will, of the Marauding Maulhorn:

 

Marauding Maulhorn: 2RR (common)

Creature - Beast (5/3)

Marauding Maulhorn attacks each combat if able unless you control a creature named Advocate of the Beast.

 

Having considered it, you’ve probably come up with “it’s an impatient slab of beef with anger management issues.” Fair enough. But what about the Advocate?

 

Advocate of the Beast: 2G (common)

Creature - Elf Shaman (2/3)

At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on target Beast creature you control.

 

Three things immediately spring to mind:

1) Big Killer Angry Cow settles down quickly when the Advocate is in town.

2) Wizards need to hire an ombudsman to double check card names. “Advocate of the Beast” sounds like something that should be sacrificing small kittens and virgins at a death metal concert, not a Magic card. (Interesting in its’ own right, if more disturbing.) And…

3) +1/+1 for my Beasts, you say? Very, very interesting! So then, let’s see what we can do with that.

 

Tasmanian Devil’s Advocate

(Peasant Magic deck, Standard format. Uncommons marked with an asterisk.)

 

20 GREEN CREATURES

4 Advocate of the Beast

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Kalonian Tusker*

4 Rumbling Baloth

4 Slaughterhorn

 

3 RED CREATURES

2 Marauding Maulhorn

1 Tenement Crasher

 

8 RED SPELLS

4 Fall of the Hammer

4 Shock

 

5 GOLD CREATURES

1 Ghor-Clan Rampager*

4 Zhur-Taa Druid

 

24 LANDS

11 Forest

4 Gruul Guildgate

9 Mountain

 

SIDEBOARD

4 Aspect of Hydra

3 Batterhorn

4 Naturalize

4 Towering Indrik

 

This red/green deck’s game plan is very simple; when in doubt, go for the beatdown! Out of 28 creatures in the deck, 16 of them are beasts, making them perfect playmates for the Advocate of the Beast. You can pair pretty much any of the deck’s beasts with an Advocate or two and have yourself an unanswerable threat in a hurry. The Kalonian Tuskers and Rumbling Baloths are your best bet for this, but I prefer using Marauding Maulhorn (Mooooo!)

 

Slaughterhorn (and to a lesser extent, Ghor-Clan Rampager) are included solely to take advantage of their “either/or” factor. In a pinch you can play ‘em as another beast to combo up with an Advocate, but the best use is to activate the bloodrush power-up on the attack.

 

Eight of our creatures –the Elvish Mystics and Zhur-Taa Druids- are included to help ramp up the mana in order to cast as many Advocates and beasts as quickly as possible. The Druids’ “ping your opponent for a point every time it taps for mana” ability makes a great secondary win condition.

The deck’s red burn spells are there for defense, of course, and should be self-explanatory. However, for the benefit of those still in the slow class, some simple math: Fall of the Hammer + any beast you control = BAM!

 

On the matter of the sideboard, Naturalize seems like a must in the heavily enchantment slanted environment of today’s Standard. Aspect of Hydra is included in case we need more punch in dealing with enemy creatures. And finally, in addition to being beasts, Batterhorn and Towering Indrik give us the answers for dealing with artifacts and flyers.

 

Until next time, I remain…

 

B. Siems

 

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