Remember Loxodon Hierarch? I don't think anybody
does any more, including Wizards of the Coast.
Or, if they do, they specifically asked what
would happen if they changed one of the mana in
his cost to a third color (assuming that was
somehow a drawback or something). Frankly, I
don't know what I find scariest about this guy:
the way he dominates smaller creature decks on
both offense and defense, the size of the life
swings he can cause in large multiplayer formats
where you can pair him with Cloudshift, or the
way he allows this color combination to kill
somebody who's on 3 life and controls six
high-toughness walls more reliably than any red
deck can.
Today's card of the day is Siege Rhino which is
a four mana White, Black, and Green 4/5 with
Trample and when it enters play each opponent
loses three life and you gain three life.
The life loss and gain is a six point swing
which is not insignificant, so when combined
with a 4/5 Trample body it is very efficient at
four mana. It will see some play in Commander
and possibly some Casual or Multiplayer to
increase the life loss benefit. Overall
this is a solid aggressive creature for the mana
cost, though the color requirements severely
limit the number of decks that would consider
running it.
In Limited this is not much easier to cast, but
the efficiency makes it a top pick in Booster
that can be built around with a primarily two
color deck. In Sealed as with any three
color card it depends on the pool, though with
Black and White typically being strong colors
alongside Green for acceleration and color
fixing it shouldn't be difficult to design
around.
There have been comparisons between this guy and
both Obzedat and Thragtusk. He surely has
elements of each, but is really his own beast. A
6 point life swing when he enters the
battlefield gives you pretty decent value even
if he bites a Hero's Downfall as soon as he
enters. 4/5 Trample for 4 mana is very good and
demands an answer very quickly.
I'm not sure how viable the strategy is, but it
would be fun to find a way to quickly bounce
this guy in and out of play - especially in a
multiplayer game! I suppose that would put a
target on your head, though, to do it with 3 or
more opponents as you gain 9+ life a turn while
whittling the others away.
