I remember a time when almost every demon card
had a disadvantage of some sort; now many of
them have an active advantage of some kind. It
takes a little getting used to, but it might be
made easier by the fact that Archfiend of
Depravity is a strong card. It does, however,
require a little discretion - its ability is
clearly advantageous and always is, but it won't
always save you outright. It's devastating
against token decks, but some kind of midrange
construction with dragons or hydras may just say
"Okay, I'll keep my two 9/9s". Still, keep in
mind that in limited settings you expect
creature races and should be prepared, and
constructed decks can choose any legal
creature-kill option - zero is less than two,
after all.
Today's card of the day is Archfiend of
Depravity which is a five mana Black 5/4 with
Flying that has each opponent at the beginning
of their end step choose up to two creatures
they control and sacrifice the rest. This
could be a sidedeck option as a response to
swarms, but with the end step timing and higher
casting cost it isn't very likely to see
competitive level play. Where this should be
popular is in Commander and Multiplayer where it
can devastate many decks even if just one
opponent has three creatures in play it equals
card advantage.
In Limited this is a five mana 5/4 with evasion
that potentially might cause an opponent to
sacrifice some creatures with no drawback to
yourself. This is a clear and easy first
pick in Booster even with the double Black in
the mana cost and is very strong motivation to
run Black in Sealed.
5/4 flying for 5 mana isn’t too bad, but it’s
the other ability that makes this guy
interesting. Sometimes, the ability is going to
do nothing, as they won’t have more than two
creatures. But in some cases, this can be an
effective way to hold off a horde of goblins
while you swing over the top for five each turn.
The four toughness makes the demon fairly easy
to kill with all the 4/4 fliers going around
right now, so make sure you have some additional
plans to either protect the demon or have other
weapons.
