Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



This Space
For Rent

Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!


Image from Wizards.com

Top 10 New MTG Cards of 2015

#8 - Brutal Hordechief
- Fate Reforged

Reviewed December 17, 2015

Constructed: 3.88
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 4.00
Multiplayer: 3.88
Commander [EDH]: 3.50

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 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Brutal Hordechief
 
2014 and 2015 were good years for orcs. And not just because World of Warcraft is still going strong - Shadow of Mordor reintroduced them to the video gaming world as the intimidating threat they were intended to be (with a curiously meritocratic society, to boot), and the Tarkir block reintroduced them to Magic as much the same thing. For aggressive decks, we tend to look mainly at the one and two cost creatures to start with, and occasionally forget that your top end defines your chances almost as much. Brutal Hordechief is an endgame all by himself - even just one or two teammates can make a difficult and vexing life swing each attack step. And his activated ability, despite looking more limited than Master Warcraft, is actually just as devastating: you can make all the opponent's creatures block your smallest creature while your Gurmag Angler swims through unhindered.
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

The number eight card of the year is Brutal Hordechief which is a four mana Black 3/3 that has the defending player lose one life and you gain one life whenever a creature you control attacks and for three and two White or Red mana any opposing creature able to block must do so and you choose how they block.  This is a very impressive and dangerous card that can immediately halve the clock when it hits play or outright win the game depending on the number of creatures in play.  The life gain is a nice bonus and the potential to choose blocking when running Red or White is an amazing combination with Deathtouch, particularly if supported with First Strike or other effects.  Overall this is a very strong card that will see play in current formats and across different decks that use Black, particularly Black/White tokens or very aggressive Rakdos builds.
 
In Limited this is an easy first pick in Booster that may not have the swarm support of a Constructed build, but should still impact the game with a noticeable swing in life points.  It is even stronger if the effect can be used with White or Red to manage an alpha strike and even as a four mana 3/3 it wouldn't be unplayable. The life drain aspect with just one Black mana in the base cost gives it a strong position in Sealed as well and it should be played whenever possible.
 
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.5


Armuun
Brutal Hordechief
 
It's nice. Evasion/control of combat's a nice ability to have, the hybrid cost of the ability is nice for people who're running mardu colors, not so much for R/B or B/W. It's a lot higher on the list than I'd have it, but whatever. Cool card, bro.
 
Constructed: 3
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 2.5
Multiplayer: 4
EDH: 3

Copyright© 1998-2015 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.