Stangg – MTG COTD – Throwback Thursday

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Stangg is an interesting card, and one that is probably neither as good nor as bad as he might look. The worst-case scenario is always that both him and his twin get taken out by a single Swords to Plowshares or the like, but what if your opponent doesn’t have it? They may have to make some pretty unfavorable blocks in the meantime. He’s not going to win any awards for efficiency or changing the game state, but the fact that he provides two separate creatures is far from irrelevant: combine him with something like Goblin War Drums or Sublime Archangel, and check it out for yourself.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5

King Of
Hearts

Apparently Stangg is a boat captain despite the knight armor depicted in both pieces of art,and even less is known about his twin. While a pair of 3/4s for six mana is playable, Stangg is nowhere as powerful as Tolsimir Wolfblood or Broodmate Dragon. The main problem is the fact that the twins act like they’re siamese. When one dies, the other goes with him, meaning they are especially vulnerable to removal. Another problem that has arisen since Legends released is that token replication doesn’t work with the twin token. I suppose Stangg works if you are playing big and wide and want to have some fun, but besides that I would avoid these brothers.

Constructed: 2
Casual: 3
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 2
Commander (EDH): 3

It’s been a long while since we’ve seen Stangg, hasn’t it. In effect, Stangg is a 6/4 for 6 mana, with some interesting little differences that help it stand out amidst the pack. It brings a twin with it (literally, Stangg Twin), and this gives a second activation of enters-the-battlefield abilities. And it also works better with mass-pump spells.

The downside is that, while two bodies are sometimes better, each one is linked to the other: if Stangg or its twin dies, the other vanishes immediately. This makes spot removal a good bit more powerful against the pair, and it also results in that effective 4 toughness, since lethal damage would only need to go on one of them to take them both out.

Stangg is a cool card with a wealth of possibilities. That doesn’t make it a good card, per se, but cool is always a fair starting point, right?

Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 2
Commander: 2.5