Welcome back readers starting things fresh anew
is Awaken The Ancient an interesting aura for
red decks and since land destruction is outside
of corner cases non-viable this card is free to
rule the roost.. or is it? In standard this card
creates a powerful turn 5 attacker a 7/7 is
nothing to sneeze at but is it fast enough and
reliable enough to see play in dedicated red
decks? I am leaning towards no, this card is
easily blocked and grants opponents the ability
to tack Stone Rain onto their creature
destruction spells doesn’t make it the most
appealing. However it undeniably puts pressure
on opponents and can be lethal if not dealt with
in short order. In modern and other eternal
formats I think this card is too slow and narrow
in what decks can utilize it that wont a
contender. In casual and multiplayer land
destruction may be an issue as well as falling
behind so many players when your creature land
dies, however 7/7 is enormous and haste allows
it the element of surprise, dedicated red decks
looking to scale well into the longer game could
make use of this card or decks utilizing lands
becoming creatures theme. In limited it’s a big
solid fatty that opponents may be unable to deal
with, that being said it plans you deeply into
red so there is considerable dedication to
playing this card. Overall a card that may see a
moderate amount of constructed and casual play
but that will never be oppressive.
Today's card of the day is Awaken the Ancient
which is a four mana aura that turns a Mountain
into a 7/7 Red creature with Haste while still
counting as a land. The Haste is mostly
negligible outside of a few situations, but a
7/7 for four with the only real drawbacks of
putting a land at risk and a two for one is
fairly solid. Risks aside the threat of a
7/7 around the fifth turn in a mono-Red deck is
notable and may see competitive play alongside a
Red deck wins theme. Pairing it with Green
for acceleration is an option, but with three
Red in the casting cost it may not be reliable
enough without a very dedicated build.
In Limited this is an excellent threat in
Booster where a mono-Red deck is possible as
putting 7/7 into play is often a game-changing
move. The risks and color dedication hold
it back a bit, but it is still worth a first
pick in many Booster packs. It is
difficult to splash in as a second color in
later packs, though a hate draft isn't out of
line. In Sealed running it in a two color
deck is less effective, yet can still be viable
and should be considered if Red is half or more
of your mana sources.
