Valgavoth, Terror Eater – Duskmourn
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 5.0
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.13
Commander [EDH]: 4.37
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
In the context of Duskmourn, Valgavoth is not just the ruler of the house – he is bound so strongly to the house that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. His abilities are all about conveying this, as well as his ability to overtake and control anything that exists in the house, given enough time. He’s incredibly effective at that, not least because his abilities leave your opponents with few good choices and make him very hard to kill. The downside is that he’s also hard to cast, and in the bigger formats with the faster reanimator cards, his benefits will have to be weighed against the current reanimator targets. He’s likely at his best when facing off against creature-heavy decks, which don’t always present the biggest threats in formats like Legacy. In other contexts, though, he could feel quite ridiculous. The usual cost for unconditional reanimator effects in recent sets is around five mana, and if there’s a Standard deck that can get him into play on turn 5, that might be a conundrum that other decks simply can’t deal with.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Valgavoth, Terror Eater is certainly the kind of head-turner mythic rare bomb that looks more and more…well, terrifying as you look at it more. It’s tricky to remove, it punishes opponents who actually try to remove it (remember: Valgavoth’s ability to exile triggers if they pay for ward), and it turns those things against them. Black is good at removing things and forcing things off the board, and Valgavoth is certainly good at making your opponents’ nightmares come to life. On top of that, it’s also a 9/9 that helps refuel your life total as you pay into Valgavoth’s ability.
The main knock is that Valgavoth is a bit expensive. Nine mana is a lot, so trying to skimp on Valgavoth’s mana cost will usually be the key to making it work. That said, a hard-to-remove threat that doubles as both a clock and a means to enacting chaos will do plenty of damage. I don’t know if Valgavoth is good enough to make the cut in reanimator…but I do think that an implacable creature will be good at closing games out in a hurry, and the fact that Valgavoth’s ward cost is so high will give it a niche.
Constructed: 3.5 (I think Valgavoth is more of a reanimator target, because nine mana is quite an investment)
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5 (if you cast this, then things will spiral out of control)
Multiplayer: 4.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.75
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