A 2//2 Soldier for WW with pro:red is
respectable, in an environment where we have
Veteran Armorsmith and Veteran Swordsmith to
work with him. The life gain ability means that
he probably won't see play outside of
sideboards, or possibly in red/white decks, but
in both of those roles he's solid.
Warmth was the bane of red decks for years,
putting severe restrictions on their ability to
do much of anything at all. Kor Firewalker does
what Warmth does, and blocks too. Superficially,
you'd expect him to drive down the numbers of
red decks in Standard constructed. On the other
hand, considering how much damage Lightning
Bolt, Comet Storm, and Blightning can do, maybe
you wouldn't.
Magic The Gathering Card of the Day: Kor
Firewalker
Welcome back readers today we have an
interesting Kor creature from Worldwake, Kor
Firewalker. Kor Firewalker has typical white
weenie stats a 2/2 for 2, being able to have a
creature gain protection from 1/5th of the magic
spectrum is a powerful ability, mono red decks
have been a notorious force in almost every
format through the years and creatures with
protection from red tend to see a fair amount of
play, add to that the fact this card is Dragons
Claw on a beater you have a powerful card, most
likely sideboard material but that doesn’t make
it any less impressive. In standard some
powerful white decks are flourishing right now
this card will see heavy play be it maindeck or
be it sideboard. In extended and eternal there
are some powerful red decks but with the
resurgence of powerful combo decks most
sideboard space will be dedicated to
multipurpose answers which this is definitely
not. In casual and multiplayer a solid body and
if your playgroup plays a lot of red an auto
include, otherwise having it in your deck is a
good addition as there may be at least one
player playing red. In limited it can’t be
killed with most red removal and provides an
extra life buffer against red if you’re in white
pick it.
Today's card of the day is Kor Firewalker which
is a 2/2 Repentant Blacksmith with a built in
Dragon's Claw for the same converted mana cost
of either card. Protection against Red is
quite devastating as Red primarily deals in
damage in some form and is not known for
non-targeted effects that can deal with a card
like this. In addition one of the biggest
annoyances for Red burn can be life gain, making
Kor Firewalker among the last things they would
want to see on the field. If the opponent
is not primarily playing Red this card is pretty
much worthless compared to many other two mana
White creatures available. Strictly a
sidedeck card unless combined with Painter's
Servant, but an effective one.
In Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer this
should be relegated to the sideboard unless
playing in an extremely Red dominated metagame.
Other color hosing cards may make more of a
direct impact, but a creature like this can be
easily swapped in and cause prolonged
difficulties for any Red player.
For Limited the bigger issue is the double White
mana cost making splashing it quite difficult.
Protection and life gain are both nice and while
chances are high you will play against decks
with Red they will generally be multicolor in
this format reducing the impact of the
Firewalker. If playing primarily White
this can be maindecked at least as a 2/2 for
two, but otherwise leave it in the sideboard
until needed badly enough. For Booster
drafting purposes this should probably be passed
in favor of other more reliable options, but if
playing Red it can be worthwhile to hate draft
if nothing in the pack will directly benefit
you.
