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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Hornet Queen
Image from Wizards.com

 Hornet Queen
- M15

Reviewed Dec. xx, 2014

Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 4.13
Limited: 4.50
Multiplayer: 3.88

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Deck Garage

Hornet Queen

Yesterday I said that Hordeling Outburst wasn't very good because 1/1's individually aren't very impressive. Today I'm telling you that Hornet Queen is a very good card indeed. Why? First, Hornet Queen's 1/1's have flying. That means they can attack and are much more likely to actually get through for damage. They also are able to block a wider variety of creatures. Second, Hornet Queen's 1/1's have deathtouch. That means that if and when you use them to block a creature, you will kill the creature you block, while Hordeling Outburst's 1/1's can't trade with anything bigger than a Squire without help. If each of Hordeling Outburst's tokens die chump blocking something they can't kill, you'll just bought yourself some time, but your opponent still has the creature trying to kill you and you have nothing left to show for your Hordeling Outburst. Hornet Queen's tokens always trade with something. Third, Hornet Queen is six power's worth of flying creatures in GREEN, a color known for being all-but-bereft of flyers. While the rest of your army holds the ground, Hornet Queen's swarm can sneak in for lethal, possibly aided by a fistful of Giant Growth and the like.

Constructed- 4
Casual- 4.5
Limited- 5
Multiplayer- 4.9 

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Hornet Queen
 
Hornet Queen is, in many ways, the ideal card for the elusive but always slightly plausible green control deck. If you see it as a swarm of evasive tokens, it's a good finisher. If you see it as a way to kill huge numbers of much larger attackers, that's something every control deck needs. And since you're in green, its high and specific mana cost shouldn't be a problem (even before you factor in dual lands and such).
 
It's also good to see Hornet Queen in a core set - regardless of where they settle regarding the color pie arguments about the card, at least it'll always have a place in the record books as a significant card from the second-to-last core set ever printed. My own position on said arguments is very simple: there's a little set that popularized this game, and kickstarted not only Magic the phenomenon but the trading card game as a concept, without having a rigid, mechanically-defined color pie. It was called Alpha, and there's a reason why stores advertise its singles as "the most elite cards".
 
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Hornet Queen which is a seven mana Green 2/2 with Flying, Deathtouch, and when it comes into play you get four 1/1 tokens with Flying and Deathtouch.  The mana cost is a little high even with acceleration, so this is very unlikely to see any competitive play.  Five creatures with six power and toughness, evasion, and Deathtouch is a solid offensive or defensive play in Casual or Multiplayer and may even see a slot in Commander decks.
 
In Limited this is high cost, requires half the deck to be Green, and only produces low power and toughness creatures.  However, with minimal mass removal available this is a major threat that can easily win games and is an amazing topdeck that can stall for a very long time.  A great first pick in Booster even if it solidly locks you into Green and if the pool can support enough Green cards in Sealed this is an easy inclusion there as well.
 
Constructed: 3.0
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.5

Mattedesa

Deck Garage
Hornet Queen
 
This was another card that caught me off guard a little bit. I initially wrote it off as another fancy, overpriced piece of junk, but after seeing it played a few times, I realized it has a lot of things going for it. Having five flying deathtouchers is something that a lot of decks can't deal with. You can either keep them up as very intimidating and effective blockers, or fly over for some incremental damage. If the opponent doesn't have something that deals with lots of little creatures like Bile Blight or Anger of the Gods, it's probably going to turn into a big swing in your favor, whether it be in damage or cards it causes them to use to get rid of your hornets one at a time.
 
Of course, none of this happens until you get to seven mana. Fortunately, it's in the right color to get to 7 mana fairly reliably. And right now, green decks like the triple green casting cost for devotion, allowing Nykthos to cast even bigger things, or a god to come online. 
 
It's not for every deck, but if you can cast it, it can be the splashy, game-changing effect you expect from a seven mana spell.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.0

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