Rottenmouth Viper – Bloomburrow
Date Reviewed: August 27, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.13
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 5.00
Multiplayer: 4.50
Commander [EDH]: 4.37
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
With all that’s going on in Bloomburrow, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of a simple truth of Magic: triggered abilities on creatures are strong. During preview season, Rottenmouth Viper’s variant of it didn’t read as being as powerful as the concept’s peak (Titans and such), but if you pause and think it through, it’s one of the scariest abilities in Standard right now. While it takes a little time to ramp up, it quickly reaches levels that will cripple opponents no matter what they do, and it has the least strenuous cost-reduction mechanic in black since Hogaak. (It even comes in a Standard season with not one, but two sets focused on Food tokens!) Think of the Viper less as a Titan variant and more as a really, really buffed Hypnotic Specter variant. It’ll win games like that.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
It might be a viper, but Rottenmouth Viper is more a constrictor than anything else. On entry, it forces a discard, sacrifice, or life loss, and it continues to do so to escalating effect. 4 life for this effect is a lot more aggressive than it tends to be, and because it procs for each counter, this will chew up a board quickly and run away with a game if it doesn’t get answered…on top of being an adequately statted creature. It can even make itself cheaper with some well-timed fodder, and Bloomburrow does have a surfeit of tokens. However you cut it, though, this snake is good at squeezing advantage out, even if immediately answered, and that’s always a good place to be.
Constructed: 4.25 (needs a bit to set up, but getting this out on turn 3 or 4 can really be backbreaking)
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
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