A fairly simple common creature, and a decent
vehicle for showing off the new "Raid" mechanic.
Raid is pretty simple. If you attacked with a
creature on the turn you play the Raid card, you
get an extra effect. Raid is a Black, red, and
white mechanic, and the specialty of the Mardu
clan. Not all Raid cards are creatures.
I like Raid as a mechanic, as it reinforces two
important lessons for new players to learn:
don't forget to attack with your creatures if
you've got an opening, and it's usually better
to play your creatures after your combat phase,
so your mana is open and the enemy doesn't know
whether or not you have a trick. With Raid, you
have to play the card after combat to get the
effect. So, if your opponent has seen you play
Raid cards, he won't know if you're leaving mana
open because you have combat tricks, because you
have a postcombat Raid card, or because you just
don't have a play this turn.
Mardu Skullhunter is pretty subpar if he's not
on a Raid. A 2/1 that enters the battlefield
tapped? That's borderline even in Limited. If
his Raid trigger goes off, then he's good. Two
mana to get a 2/1 and make your opponent discard
is good value. Cheap discard spells are always
nice, but this is definitely a mid-game discard
spell, unless you're playing aggro and genuinely
expect to play a creature Turn One and swing
with it Turn Two in a majority of games. That
said, I like that even in the mid-game, this is
cheap enough that you can swing with a few guys
and have mana for a combat trick AND a
postcombat Skullhunter.
This is a curious sort of card to evaluate. On
the one hand, it almost looks like a riff on
Ravenous Rats, and could thus be part of a
disruptive strategy. On the other, its stats and
the raid ability asks for a more aggressive
strategy which casts a creature on the first
turn (or at least sometime before the
Skullhunter) and attacks frequently. Not that
you couldn't be both, of course, but it remains
to be seen how exactly this card fits in. Older
formats are notoriously hard for new cards to
crack, but at least Standard will soon no longer
have Sphinx's Revelation and the attendant decks
that can ride out anything short of a
Thoughtseize.
Today's card of the day is Mardu Skullhunter
which is a two mana Black
2/1 that enters play tapped and has Raid which
has target opponent discard a card if you
attacked with a creature the turn the
Skullhunter enters play. This is a pretty
average creature for Black and the types aren't
heavily supported in color, so the only real
selling point is the effect. It is a nice
effect as a situational plus one card advantage
and this will see play for that alone, even
outside of Liliana or other hand destroying
builds. The attack requirement demands one
mana cost creatures to support it and overall it
will see pla
In Limited this is a very nice card to have as
an early play with the potential card advantage
attached to a useful low mana cost creature.
An automatic inclusion for any deck using Black
mana in Sealed even as just a two mana 2/1 and a
reasonable middle of the pack pick in Booster.
The "Raid" mechanic is going to work well in
aggressive decks. Turn 1, play a 1-drop
creature. Turn 2, attack with that creature and
play this guy second main, forcing an opponent
to discard. It's no Thoughtseize, but every
little bit of card advantage is helpful.
But what if you aren't in the position to be
attacking? Then, this guy is terrible. Not only
do you not get the discard ability, you can't
even block the first turn since he comes in
tapped.
I doubt he's going to be powerful enough in any
constructed format to compete with the powerful
2 drops out there, but he should be a limited
staple. A few of these guys could really put
your opponent in a tough spot.
