Shay Cormac – Assassin’s Creed
Date Reviewed: July 17, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.37
Casual: 4.00
Limited: N/A
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:
I must admit to being less familiar with Assassin’s Creed: Rogue than with the other games of that era, and thus not really having Shay on my mind when the set first came out. Now that I’ve seen his card, though, I’ve been thinking about him quite a bit, given how he can actively dismantle some decks with very little effort. One mana to open the way for every targeted removal spell that exists is a bargain, to put it mildly – such a low cost means that with enough mana, you can effectively counter any protection spell up to Heroic Intervention and do it multiple times a turn. The wrinkle is that being so aggressive on that front is balanced by little in the way of more proactive abilities; but even so, Shay is yet another Assassin’s Creed card that metaphorically grabs you and makes you think about whether you should find a deck for him.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: N/A
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
The main character of Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, Shay Cormac is a character who actually isn’t an assassin all of the way through, swapping to join the Templars. I suppose that explains a fair bit, like his anti-Assassin capabilities of sorts, so let’s talk about it.
Shay’s a pretty interesting body as a consequence of being able to disable just about every means of protection, including ones that have since fallen out of favor (like protection and shroud). That alone makes him a fascinating character, able to enable a destruction ability for just one generic mana at a time. It also pairs well with his second ability: things of your opponents that get targeted get marked, and those things dying makes Shay bigger as a result. In all, it’s a synergistic suite of abilities that can get you out of a bind in a pinch, and that counts for a lot.
The “cost”, as it were, is Shay’s body starting unimpressively. Most formats are extremely hostile to creatures with only 1 toughness, Shay included, and he could easily get popped before he has a chance to work his magic. He’s potent, but narrow, and I feel like he’ll make for a solid sideboard option to handle hard-to-out cards.
Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4
Limited: N/A
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
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