As he's the Sultai dragon, I'm not really
surprised to see that Silumgar is a little more
subtle. He's not as spectacular as his brethren,
but even as the lone dragon on a given table
state, he offers enough of an effect to turn the
tide of some combats. Superficially, he also
seems to offer blue and black a more
proactive answer to the Vast Saproling Horde
casual archetype. I'd be careful of relying on
him for that, unless there are other interesting
dragons in his colors in the next set or two.
Today's card of the day is Silumgar, the
Drifting Death which is a six mana Blue and
Black 3/7 Legendary with Flying, Hexproof, and
whenever a dragon you control attacks creatures
the defending player controls get
-1/-1 until end of turn. This is decent as
very difficult to remove creature with Hexproof,
high defense, and evasion though it really
benefits from additional dragons to be a mass
removal engine that can end the game unless
disrupted. A Blue/Black or Grixis build to
add Red for more dragons can be a viable
Commander or Casual build, but the high mana
cost with low power and need for unusual support
will make this unlikely to see much Competitive
play.
In Limited this is somewhat weak offensively,
but devastating both on defense and for the
potential removal it can enable. A strong
first pick in Booster that can be splashed into
Blue or Black and worth designing around in
Sealed if either color is strong.
Silumgar is probably the dragon in this series
that will see the most play. His six cost is
high, but certainly reasonable for his
abilities. Why do I think he's the best?
- -1/-1 to opposing creatures when it attacks.
Goodbye horde of tokens. Want to block Silumgar?
You'll have to have at least a 5 toughness
flying blocker to survive combat. Any other
attackers you have also have a better chance of
surviving combat.
- Seven toughness. Not much is going to kill
that in combat, especially when opposing
creatures have -1/-1.
- Hexproof. Not only are you hard pressed to
kill it in combat, you can't target it with a
Hero's Downfall.
While the three power may seem a bit low,
Silumgar is custom-made to go into blue-black
control decks, and those decks are more about
controlling or locking out an opponent than
winning in any kind of hurry. Three damage a
turn will knock your opponent down to zero soon
enough.
