I'm not sure how to feel about the new Eldrazi
turning other things into Eldrazi. I always
figured that was the Phyrexians' thing, but
perhaps there's space for both - the multiverse
is infinite, after all. This particular card's
type line may say "Boar", but really it's an
Eldrazi version of Craterhoof Behemoth. It's not
like they've historically needed help to be
gigantic, but it does work well with the vast
herds of Spawn and Scion tokens that come with
them, and the number of green decks in general
that don't like Overrun effects can be counted
on one hand.
The first card this ugly boar calls to mind is
the infamous Craterhoof Behemoth from Avacyn
Restored, used as a finisher in Elf decks across
every format. This guy isn’t quite there, but
he’s still a beating.
First, Decimator is an Eldrazi, which means its
effect is a cast trigger. It makes it less
useful to cheat in with the likes of Natural
Order or Eldritch Evolution (or reanimator
spells), but it also means that your opponents
probably aren’t going to have an easy time
stopping it. Giving your entire team +2/+2 and
trample should be enough to end the game on the
spot; any kind of Overrun effect is usually
back-breaking, especially in Limited, and any
kind of board presence will make the boar a
beating. This is before factoring in his own
body, a 7/7 with trample and haste.
You could argue that the effect is worth 10 mana
(Overrun itself is 5 mana), but three green mana
is a far better rate of return; Emerge allows
you to severely underpay on this effect by
giving up a creature that wasn’t doing a lot. On
curve, this lets you cast the boar on turn 5 by
sacrificing a 4-drop, and I can see a case where
this boar can end the game on turn 5.
Decimator is powerful, and I’ve no doubt it’ll
find homes in Standard (and maybe fringe Modern
play, but that’s less likely). Don’t count this
boar out.
