It's a solid-sized beatstick that also kills
everything else on the board. When you go
monstrous, and the only creature left is your
7/9, you're going to win. Your opponent knows
this, and will do everything in his power to
eliminate Hythonia before you can activate her
ability. The biggest weakness of Monstrosity is
that the costs are all so high, it's nearly
impossible to cast a Monster and upgrade it in
the same turn-- you have to wait, and give your
opponent time to draw a kill spell.
But even un-monstrous, Hythonia isn't bad. Big
enough to make a name for herself on the
battlefield, plus deathtouch and the threat of
what's to come to shake an opponent up? You need
a fairly slow deck to take full advantage, but
it's powerful, no doubt.
Some might look at this card and see an
expensive monstrosity ability, and deathtouch on
a creature that can kill lots of things anyway.
I look at this card and see an instant-speed
Damnation and a creature that can almost never
be killed in combat. You rarely get the latter
and never get the former. And she even
encourages you to build around a theme!
Today's card of the day is Hythonia the Cruel
which is a six mana Black
4/6 Legendary with Deathtouch and Monstrosity 3
for eight mana that also destroys all non-Gorgon
creatures when activated. The initial mana cost
is a bit too high for most Constructed formats
and the eight for Monstrosity goes even further
for an effect that is fairly restrictive in its
benefits. There aren't many gorgons and even
just having this in play is not quite enough to
justify the expense involved. Overall this just
isn't likely to see much play and the few decks
including it will likely be Commander instead of
Standard or other formats.
In Limited a six mana 4/6 with Deathtouch is
difficult for an opponent to deal with and the
mana cost is quite manageable in the format. The
Monstrosity can be a serious threat and if
stalling for one turn with it is possible it is
an excellent two turn topdeck in the later
stages of the game. The potential makes this a
worthwhile first pick in Booster and an easy
choice to include when running Black in Sealed.
Hythonia the Cruel has some very cool artwork,
but that might be the only cool thing about this
card. The ability to keep creatures while
destroying all of your opponents is usually
amazing! Not this time though. I’m sorry, but 14
mana to destroy all non-gorgon creatures is too
expensive for me. Throw in the fact that the
opponent gets a chance to see the monstrous
ability coming and you no longer have the
advantage. Yes, I understand that you can get a
4/6 creature with death touch and then a 7/9
afterwards. I feel like there are better options
out there for destroying creatures. Hythonia the
Cruel might be a big game winner in Limited play
because of the “limited” options. Maybe this
card is a hidden bomb. Anything is possible when
you have Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
