As I mentioned in a previous review, the dash
ability seems to be inspired by Rocket Powered
Turbo Slug from Unhinged. As such, I keep
thinking of this guy as Turbo Slug plus battle
cry. He doesn't feel derivative, though - he
feels more like he bolsters a dimension of his
colors that rather needs a little more love from
time to time. He also offers red and black a
creature that's hard to target while remaining
in character for them, and who's basically
unkillable by Wrath of God effects but
vulnerable to instants. That sounds less useful
than the opposite, but it does come up now and
then: anybody who thinks that Elspeth's -3
ability will protect them from large creatures
in an emergency is going to get hit hard by
Kolaghan.
Today's card of the day is Kolaghan, the
Storm's Fury which is a five mana Black and Red
4/5 Legendary with Flying and Dash for five that
gives creatures you control +1/+0 until end of
turn whenever a dragon you control attacks.
In the long term or with fewer creatures this is
a weaker effect than Dromoka, but with a larger
swarm it can make for a lethal alpha strike in
the short term. The opposing colors also
mean that these two would be unlikely to appear
in the same deck, so different builds allow each
to work well if supported. The Dash can be
useful for a sudden powered up attack which can
win games and overall this is a solid finisher
for a Rakdos or Jund aggro build.
In Limited this is a good first pick in Booster
that is an efficient 5/5 on the attack for five
with evasion and strengthens your offense with
every attack. There is no real drawback
aside from locking you into two colors which is
mitigated by Black and Red typically being solid
in the format with multiple removal or direct
damage options. In Sealed it of course depends
on the pool, but splashing Black or Red when
using the other is well worth it to allow this
to lead any offensive.
My first thought when seeing this cycle of
"whenever a dragon you control attacks..."
creatures was about how hard it would be to get
multiple dragons attacking to stack all these
abilities. I quickly realized that the idea
isn't to build a deck full of dragons, but to
have just a few in a deck. Any one of these
dragons's abilities are powerful enough even
when it is the only dragon attacking. If you get
more than one, it's just gravy.
For Kolaghan in particular, he is very useful as
a finisher in a Rakdos or Mardu deck. Throw out
a bunch of quick attackers, then on turn 5, dash
Kologhan for a surprise 5 in the air and +1 to
all your little guys on the ground. This will be
hard for most people to deal with. At 5 mana,
he's a little high for these type of decks, but
I think they can afford at least a couple
Kologhans.
