This guy's text feels more and more mythic
the further down the box you read, which I think
may not have been intentional by the designers
but is pretty cool. I also like how the effect
that mimics Curse of Stalked Prey feeds that
huge activated ability of his; I still further
like how neither actually needs the other to be
good. If you use his activated ability to draw
just one card every turn, you're looking at
effects you usually see on control deck staples
like Dark Confidant and Azure Mage, meaning said
decks can't ignore him even as they have trouble
dealing with him in combat. Drawing several
cards in response to a Wrath of God effect is
sure to feel downright unfair - don't forget his
release comes only a year after the monstrosity
ability!
Today's card of the day is Shaman of the Great
Hunt which is a four mana
4/2 Red with Haste, whenever a creature you
control deals damage to a player it gets a +1/+1
counter, and for two Green or Blue and two
colorless you draw a card for each creature you
control with power four or greater. This
works very well with evasive Blue creatures,
swarm builds at the top of the mana curve, or
just support for any aggressive deck. The
card draw effect is strong when it gains even
two cards and overall this is likely to be quite
popular in current formats and Commander.
In Limited this is an easy first pick in Booster
that has high threat for a low and easily
splashed mana cost. For Sealed this should
always be included when running even a little
Red and the card advantage when paired with
Green or Blue is a serious advantage.
There's no real drawback aside from the low
toughness, which a single successful attack can
address.
A four power creature with haste for four mana
is a pretty good weapon. The fact that it makes
everything that hits your opponent get +1/+1
counters further encourages a hyper-aggressive
strategy. With those +1/+1 counters and all the
creatures floating around that naturally have 4+
power, it's not hard to activate ferocious to
draw at least a few cards off this ability. You
shouldn't need to do this more than once or
twice before you get enough gas to take out your
opponent. The 2 toughness means that the Shaman
might not be attacking a lot, but even as as
tool to make your other creatures bigger and
draw more cards, she's still a worthwhile play.
