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


Image from Wizards.com
 

Hell's Caretaker
Ninth Edition


Reviewed July 20, 2005

Constructed: 2.7
Casual: 3.7
Limited: 3.3

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


DeQuan
Watson

* Game Store Owner

Hell's Caretaker

This guy likes bringing creatures back into play. And man is he dangerous. This guy can lead to some crazy combo situations. He can keep big creatures coming back. Imagine reusing an Eternal Witness or a Gravedigger. And I'm not even going to elaborate of all the possibilities in Extended. You can definitely expect to see this guy in several decks and/or sideboard.

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
 

Paul Hagan

Hell's Caretaker

Much like yesterday's card, I'm not quite sure what to make of Hell's Caretaker. I couldn't really expect this card to cost any less, especially with how abusive this power could be. However, it is four mana for a 1/1 creature, and you can only use the ability during your upkeep, which could wind up limiting you more than you'd like. I'm having difficulty seeing the Caretaker make an impact on any format, so I'm going to give it a slightly low rating. However, if I'm proven wrong within the next couple of months, I wouldn't be surprised.

In limited play, I can see this card making the cut most of the time whenever you are playing black. Limited tends to lean towards "my creature vs. your creature", and if you can keep getting your biggest and best back into play, then you'll eventually win out.

Constructed Rating: 2.5
Casual Rating: 2.5
Limited Rating: 3.0
 
Tim Stoltzfus Hell’s Caretaker

Hell’s Caretaker is a fun, classic card. In limited, this is a great card if it stays on the board for any length of time. When Hell’s Caretaker is on the board, every creature you play can be the best creature you’ve played so far that game. If you have creatures with solid comes-into play effects, then it can just become silly. I don’t know if this will be playable in constructed tournament play, it is probably a bit too slow for the current tournament environment. In casual play, though, this card shines. In multiplayer games, use it to cycle creatures that have good comes into play effects over and over to help or hurt other players as you see fit. Cards like Chittering Rats, Duplicant, Eternal Witness, and Nekrataal are all excellent for recursion. The problem with Hell’s Caretaker is his one toughness keeps him exceedingly hard to keep out of the graveyard. You may want to consider cards that increase its toughness, or make it untargetable to keep Hell’s Caretaker on the board longer.
Constructed 2.5
Casual 4.5
Limited 4
 


Christine
Gerhardt

Hell's Caretaker

Well, I suppose this could be used as a type of Reanimate. If it works out, this could be a very interesting card, as it can possibly do it over and over. As a 1/1, it's a bit fragile, especially at 4 mana, but still may be workable.

I can see this being a casual card for the reanimate freaks out there. It's even playable in limited.

Constructed - 3
Casual - 3
Limited - 3.5
 

Secret Squirrel

Hell’s Caretaker

I hadn’t heard of this card until now, so I did a little research. The most outstanding combo was clearly Hell’s Caretake + Rukh Egg. (Use Caretaker’s ability to sacrifice the Egg, which puts the token into play. Then you can “sacrifice” another creature to bring back the Egg and repeat the cycle.) The fact that Caretaker isn’t a legend is useful as well because it means you can have two on the field to sacrifice each other. It does only have one toughness, however, if something tries to burn it, you can always respond with its ability one more time.

I’m not sure how well this will do in limited or constructed for that matter. It seems very situational, and with one toughness, it dies quickly. People will definitely try this in both formats, but I think this will probably meet the same fate that Royal Assassin did; cool card that will be high trade bait, but no one will use it.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 2
 
Copyright© 1998-2005 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.