In the past, I've usually been a little wary
of cards with battlefield-affecting abilities
that trigger when they enter, as opposed to ones
you can activate at will. I didn't like the idea
of possibly having to hold them in my hand for a
long time until there was a suitable target. On
the other hand, if you played during Planeshift
or with last year's Commander theme decks, you
know how powerful Flametongue Kavu is, and a
miniature version of him is pretty solid. I even
like that he's not a goblin - don't get me
wrong, goblins are very cool, but it's nice to
get a change once in a while.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Forge Devil an interesting one drop that can
murder other one drops. In standard being able
to kill 1/1 creatures such as Grim Lavamancer
and Birds of Paradise is always nice, being able
to hit a player directly if the situation arises
is relevant. I can foresee this card seeing play
as a main deck or a sideboard card to board
against small creature heavy decks. In extended
and modern there is too many more relevant and
powerful cards available making this what I
would consider a suboptimal choice. In legacy
and vintage this card doesn’t do enough to
justify inclusion in a deck. In casual this card
is still powerful against small utility
creatures making it a fine choice; in
multiplayer I don’t feel this card does enough
to warrant its inclusion in decks. In limited
it’s a fine solid card not particularly exciting
but is a small form of removal making it
powerful. Overall a nice niche creature capable
of sniping smaller creatures meaning it could
see a small amount of constructed play perhaps
sporadically.
Today's card of the day is Forge Devil which is
a one mana Red 1/1 that deals one damage to a
target creature and one damage to you when it
comes into play. This has serious potential as
card advantage in response to one toughness
support creatures that are present in many
different deck types or a low cost source of a
sacrifice to trigger other effects. One mana and
one life point to gain a creature and cost your
opponent one is a good deal, but the concerns of
either nothing else to target or no creatures it
can directly destroy often outweigh that.
Overall this is a viable sidedeck card, but
probably not maindeck worthy for most builds as
it can too often be a dead draw.
For Limited this is one of the few 1/1
choices that might be useless in the early game
as your opponent may not have a creature for the
effect to target. Not being able to take
advantage of an opening when drawn early or as a
topdeck may make this seem a bit risky to
include in your deck, but other removal is less
useful when there isn't a viable target as well.
If an opponent has a one toughness in play this
is an excellent card to have and for that
scenario it should be included in Sealed builds
when Red is played. Forge Devil should also be
drafted as removal in Booster at a reduced
priority compared to stronger sources which puts
it roughly alongside mid-range creatures.
Welcome to the Pojo.com Card of the Day! Hope
you all enjoyed your weekend and are as equally
psyched I as am for the weekend, as this Friday
the Koth Vs Venser Decks come out! Any ways,
today’s card of the day is Forge Devil from Dark
Ascension. Forge Devil is a common red creature
Devil that costs one red mana for a 1/1. When
Forge Devil enters the battlefield, it deals one
damage to target creature and one damage to you.
Personally, I love this little guy. So what he
pings me, he can kill something that is annoying
me! And he then becomes rather nasty in that he
can block and attack, circumstances dictating.
So I’m ok with the one damage.
Outside of that, I still love this guy. He has
found ways of becoming a favorite snack of the
creatures I play with Devour. Drop, kill
something, eat one damage, and then eat the
Devil!
And it is amazing how useful this guy can be in
packs! Drop two or three of these guys at once,
sure that’s a Shock or Lightning Bolt to the
face, but that is a definite dead creature!
Now thinking outside the box for a minute, since
I love doing so. Let’s imagine really building
around these guys. Put out the Death Pits of
Rath first, and then go to town dropping these
little devils, and watch as they kill everything
in their way!
I used to be of the opinion that one damage was
fairly inconsequential and thus cards like
Prodigal Pyromancer weren't really worth
playing. Someone, I wish I remembered who,
actually took the time to search all of the
Gatherer database by toughness and determined
that roughly a quarter of all printed creatures
have one toughness. Having one toughness doesn't
necessarily mean Forge Devil can kill it (Auriok
Champion, Order of the Stars, or Sacred Wolf for
example) but it does argue pretty strongly in
Forge Devil's favor. Especially given how many
strong one-toughness creatures are being played
these days. Mayor of Avabruck, Delver of
Secrets, and many of the creatures with Infect
are all likely candidates for seeing on the
other guy's side of the table, and Forge Devil
can easily take them out. And don't forget, you
also get a 1/1 for your trouble. True, it's been
a long time since a vanilla 1/1 has been
relevant in any serious capacity, Memnite
notwithstanding, but in an aggressive red deck,
any warm body willing and able to swing is worth
having. And in a slower control deck, each
additional creature on the board favors the
blocker. A 1/1 can be used to chump block if
need be, or it can be included in a gang block.
And Equipment is still popular, so Forge Devil
can always take up a Demonmail Hauberk... or be
the creature you sacrifice to Equip it.
