Indestrucible, and not always a creature. That
alone makes it hard to deal with. But being hard
to kill doesn't make a card good-- doing big
things while it's alive does. The God of the
Forge is a free source of extra damage whenever
you play a creature (that'll add up, don't kid
yourself) and it can pump your team. And as a
creature, it's a 6/5-- just small enough to be
succeptible to Executioner's Swing and not much
else. It hits hard and makes your team hit
harder... and rewards you for filling out your
team. Purphoros makes the ultimate headliner in
a red aggro deck, even more so than Chandra ever
has. poor Chandra. :-(
The thing about Hephaestus - sorry, Purphoros
- and his fellow gods is that they're really
multiple cards in one. You know by now how much
I like cards like that. There are decks that
want Pandemonium-style hard-to-prevent damage,
and decks that want massive global power boosts
and/or a way to turn a single creature into a
must-answer threat. With Purphoros around, any
given red deck has the option of doing either or
both. And he's even harder to remove permanently
than the average planeswalker!
Today's card of the day is Purphoros, God of
the Forge which is a four mana Red 6/5 Legendary
that is Indestructible, requires five or more
Red mana symbols in the casting costs of
permanents you control to be a creature, and has
two effects. The burn whenever a creature enters
play is excellent in a token theme and can
potentially win games without ever attacking.
The Firebreathing effect costs one or two mana
more than most in that family, but raising all
of your creatures instead of one further
supports a token theme and many available combat
effects. One of the most playable Legendary
creatures printed and will see aggressive play
across formats and in competitive settings.
In Limited this is an extremely powerful card
that is difficult to deal with aside from
keeping devotion and the number of creatures
alongside it to a minimum. Even without devotion
the two effects are strong in the format as
repeatable burn and an effective usage of excess
mana or combat power up. If even two creatures
enter play after casting this it justifies the
four mana casting cost, while everything else it
offers increases the advantage. The single Red
in the cost and for one activation of the
Firebreathing effect allows this to be splashed
into other colors, with the only loss being the
6/5 creature aspect. An absolute first pick in
Booster, even if out of color as it can be
included, and is worth it as both a potential
Hate draft and value. In Sealed it is well worth
forcing Red into the deck, preferably at a high
enough percentage to try for devotion, and
should not be sideboarded if at all possible.
Ample support is available, with token creation
present in and out of color, and can help decide
the remainder of the deck.
Purphoros, God of the Forge is a Legendary
Enchantment Creature. Of the 5 gods released in
Theros, Purphoros appears to be the most
popular. That might have something to do with
doing 2 Damage to each opponent whenever another
creature enters the battlefield under your
control. This ability is amazing in multiplayer
format. The ability is not too shabby in
Standard or Limited either. In Casual play
Purphoros, God of the Forge is just ridiculous!
We all should know by now that the Gods are
indestructible. How many of you out there know
how hard it is to use the Gods as creatures?
Getting and maintaining the required devotion is
much harder than it looks. Purphorus has another
ability that can be quite useful. For (2)R:
creatures you control get +1 +0 until end of
turn. I know that the price $$ of Purphoros is
dropping but that is misleading. This God is one
BAMF and it will only get better!
