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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
Wild
Mongrel
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1G, Creature —
Hound 2/2, Odyssey Common
Discard a card from your hand: Wild Mongrel gets
+1/+1 and becomes the color of your choice until
end of turn.
Pojo's Average
Rating -
Constructed: 4.43
Limited: 5.00
Reviewed Nov. 30, 2001
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating.
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DeQuan
Watson |
Wild Mongrel
definitely gets a 5. Just this past weekend
I was mingling with my guests (a.k.a. customers)
and we were trying to figure out what the best
common creatures of all time were. I think
after a group consensus, we decided that the order
was Kird Ape, River Boa, Wild Mongrel, Blastoderm
(even though the derm was up for debate in his
slot). When the Mongrel can rate in amny
people's eyes as one of the best cards of all time
and it is only a couple of months old, it has to
be good. It's ability to color change is
almost as good as it's ability to grow. I
would expect to see Wild Mongrel in tournament
play until Odyssey block rotates out. |
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Fletcher
Peatross |
Wild Mongrel has
been hyped as one of the best 2/2 for 2
creatures ever created in Magic. I do
not disagree. In every format (except
maybe type I), this is a 5. In a
sealed tournament I had 3 of these in my
deck.
People looked
through my deck and would say '3 mongrels?'
and then give me an incredulous look.
They did not expect me to lose. The
games I drew one I did not.
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Aaron
Teare
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Rating: *****
Easy to use bear as
it only requires one color to cast... plus it
hands down beats 4 of the 5 Invasion Gold bears
due to it's "free" pump ability.
Color change makes Mongrel immune to
"terror" effects not to mention the
pump ability makes it immune to most cheap burn.
Mongrel is a stick, period!
Aaron
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John B
Turpish |
The original
Grizzly Bears are actually not that bad.
The only reason people don't play it is
because there are too many other, strictly
superior, cards. This is one of those.
It's basically Grizzly Bears with an ability
that's actually quite helpful at times.
It's rarely a game-winner, but it's a very
appropriate choice for that two mana slot if
you're playing with a significant amount of
green mana in your deck. - 4
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Scott
Gerhardt
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Wild Mongrel has
single-handedly put Stompy back on the Type 2
map. This card
is absolutely amazing in whatever environment is
shows in. I actually believe
it to be better in extended than type 2, but
that should not diminish it's Standard
Constructed strength. Able to dodge black
removal, most
any burn spell, and still be a "bear"
make it amazing. On top of that, remember
that it can always be a threat to "blow
up" for 6 or 7 at a finish, making it very
dangerous in both early and late stages of the
game. In limited, it's still extremely good, and
probably a pick 3-5 in draft, but not as good as
constructed. A definite player in Sealed
if you were going those
colors already, but not worth splashing.
Old Constructed
Rating - 5.0
New Constructed
Rating - 4.5
Constructed
Potential Rating - 4.5
Limited Rating - 4.0
Overall Rating - 4.5
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Jason
Chapman |
Wild Mongrel
- Rating 3
Okay, this
kid just barely missed the 4 rating and
maybe got a 3 since the art work is a
little disappointing (okay, that's not
really a consideration). At 2 mana for a 2/2
most colors would want him although he is a
little weak for Green. Pumpability makes him
better although it will empty your hand.
Since he fits best in Stompy/Stampy style
decks this can lead to a quick lead but
will often be useless in the mid/end game.
The best part of his ability, from the
Stompy standpoint, is the fact that he is a
color changer. This helps Green deal with
CoP's and Pro. Green blockers that normally
give the deck trouble. He also has synergy
with graveyard recursion, Flashback, and
Threshold cards (although not all to the
same degree and not all in the same deck).
Overall he is one of the more solid and
versatile critters running around and should
be welcomed in many decks in todays T2 and
beyond.
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John
Hornberg |
Wild Mongrel (Rating
- 5 out of 5)
This card has a big
question attached to it: What were
designers at Wizards smoking when they created
this card!?!
This card replaces
Blastoderm as the common-to-get. The fact
that it’s a 2/2 for 1G, and has the potential
to get bigger by discarding cards, especially
when you couple it with cards like Roar of the
Wurm and Beast Attack. You get the benefit
of the flashback, and Mongrel deals more damage.
You also getting the
benefit of avoiding cards like Wash Out and
Hibernation because he also changes color when
you discard cards. This also means that
cards like Agonizing Demise and Dark Banishing
don’t work.
This card ranks up
there in excellence with Rage, Undermine,
Absorb, and Shadowmage Infiltrator. That
is why I give this card a 5 (kind of a stretch,
but I loved this card!)
There’s nothing
more I can say. If there is a drawback to
this card, I have yet to find it.
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Wesley
Allison |
I LOVE THIS CARD!
A definite 4. My very first booster
draft ever was at the Odyssey Prerelease and I
built a deck with two Mongrels in it and they
kicked butt. I also managed to draw a
Terravore. I pumped up the mongrels by
discarding extra lands in my hand, and then
played Terravore, which was by then a 6/6.
Since then I've built a standard deck around
the same combo with some Thaumatogs thrown in
for good measure. I don't know how it
will hold up in a tourney, but God is it a fun
deck to play! Wild Mongrel also works
well in any Threshold deck. Definitely
one of the best commons in Odyssey.
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