I agree that deathtouch and lifelink are kind of
a cute pair to put on the same creature, but
after Basilisk Collar, this feels like overkill.
Wurms aren't known for having either ability,
and neither ability is spread across enough
colors to really explain why a colorless
artifact creature can be a 6/6 for 6 and get
both abilities. Hell, blue and white barely ever
get 6/6's for 6, and blue never gets deathtouch
or lifelink. I also question what good it does
to give deathtouch to a creature with 6 power--
what creatures are going to be in Scars of
Mirrodin that will die to deathtouch, but not 6
damage?
That said, this is undoubtedly a phenomenal card
for exactly those reasons. It doesn't care what
color you run, it's very powerful for its cost,
it's very hard to stave off even without having
evasion, it represents a 12-point life swing on
each attack (compare Pro Tour darling Baneslayer
Angel's 5-power and lifelink) and it generates
card advantage by producing a pair of 3/3 tokens
when it dies. Each token, incidentally, is
nothing to sneeze at either-- a 3/3 with
lifelink will continue to unbalance the scales
of life totals quite handily, and a 3/3 with
deathtouch is just powerful enough that
opponents will find themselves needing to block
and thus reluctantly throwing away a creature to
the deathtouch trigger.
THAT said, I fear that deathtouch is about to
lose some of its marketability with the influx
of Indestructibility we're bound to see
alongside this Wurm.
Biomech design? Organic machine components?
Almost impossible to kill? Yeah, this is a
Phyrexian card, all right. I like how Wurmcoil
Engine is hard to deal with in both its large
and split configurations. The stats mean it has
potential for constructed decks, and the
possible interactions mean it has potential for
those who want to be a little clever. And it
takes a lot fewer tokens to keep track of it
than Mitotic Slime.
Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Wurmcoil
Engine
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day
is an interesting and powerful one from Scars of
Mirrodin. Wurmcoil Engine is a sturdy 6/6 for
six that has Deathtouch and Lifelink two very
relevant abilities. The fact it can trade with
the titans and pop out two tokens replacing
itself. In standard this card should see play a
possibility in ramp decks or depending on the
artifacts our return to Mirrodin brings us an
artifact archetype. In extended its still a
powerful card, relevant in combat and normal
removal spells don’t hurt it much. In eternal
legacy may test it as a powerful creature
artifact decks can ramp into with Metalworkers
and such, In vintage I doubt it. In casual and
multiplayer this card is nuts, the ability to
put pressure on opponents or make what would be
unfavorable trades, and reap tokens and provide
some more offense or defense. Sign me up. In
limited it’s a bomb pure and simple colorless
cost means no matter what you draft I would pick
this highly.
Today we start looking at cards from Scars of
Mirrodin with Wurmcoil Engine a 6/6 for six mana
with Lifelink and Deathtouch. That alone would
make it an impressive card for a fair price, but
add in the effect that splits it into two 3/3
tokens when sent to the graveyard from the
battlefield each with one of the abilities and
you have solid card advantage as well. This
isn't a card that is likely to win games by
itself as it doesn't have Trample, evasion, or
anything that will overwhelm an opponent.
Instead it offers an efficient and resilient
creature with two of the three abilities of the
infamous Vampire Nighthawk. Keep an eye on this
creature as a potential component of upcoming
artifact decks as options that lower the casting
cost will make this a real menace.
For Limited this is a fantastic mythic that
is an easy first choice with Lifelink and card
advantage built in as well as the colorless
nature allowing it to work with any later
choices for deck design. Six mana is quite
affordable and there is no shortage of artifact
support in this set and even some token support
is being hinted at as well.
