Old Gnawbone
– D&D: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Date Reviewed: August 6, 2021
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.00
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 5.00
Multiplayer: 3.88
Commander [EDH]: 4.13
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
There are plenty of cards in Magic that ask “What would you do with more mana than most decks would need over their whole lifespan?” But there are few that do so with as much style as Old Gnawbone. If the only goal you have is to get infinite mana, there are probably faster ways to do so. Even so, I like Old Gnawbone firstly because treasure tokens are just fun, touching some kind of primordial Magic-player instinct that likes filling up the table with tokens (there’s a reason we played with cards like Breeding Pit and Tetravus so much in the 1990s). In addition, she brings a unique take on the saboteur concept, since we haven’t had a good way to apply it to mana until relatively recently. It plays notably well with evasive creatures and green’s usual strength of just, well, being huge. And I can’t help but feel she would go great in a deck with Modern Horizons 2‘s “token tribal” cards. For example, given a few turns to work with, Glimmer Bairn goes off – perhaps not infinite, but easily geometric!
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 4/5
Speaking of majestic and swoopy dragons with great, big, long wings, Old Gnawbone is quite a way to start spiraling things out of control. Successful hits with any of your creatures bring on the treasure beyond measure, and green does a good job of making sure you hit hard. On top of that, Old Gnawbone is a 7/7 with evasion, and while she probably dislikes kill spells, having a bunch of treasure if they don’t have an immediate kill spell for her is a fair exchange if she doesn’t live to see the next turn. She’s definitely a delightful addition to the green deck, and while she’s probably a step too slow to see substantial Constructed play, she’ll swoop early and often at many Commander tables.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander: 4.25
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