This Green Creature from Magic 2013 Will Make a Huge Impact on Standard

June 15, 2012 | Posted by Dee

Luis Scott-Vargas (LSV) recently previewed Thragtusk, a Magic 2013 green creature that you’ll be seeing a lot in Standard.

This card is really good for a couple of reasons. First, it’s awesome against the top deck in the metagame, Blue/White (UW) Delver. Second, it’s good against a wide spectrum of cards, from Vapor Snag and Doom Blade to Geralf’s Messenger and Day of Judgment.

Third, it interacts well with other good cards. Fourth, it’s undercosted and easy to cast. Thragtusk’s only colored mana requirement is one green so many decks can play it without wrecking their manabase.

Check out Thragtusk below.

[Preorder Thragtusk on eBay at a low price]

Thragtusk is awesome against UW Delver because it passes the Vapor Snag test with an A+. First of all, you gain five life when it enters the battlefield. That’s a lot of life gain. It almost negates a Geist of Saint Traft attack or two Delver hits.

If they Vapor Snag it, you’ll just replay it and gain five more life.

And it gets worse for the Delver player. Not only do you gain 10 life versus Vapor Snag, you also get a 3/3 Beast token to block Geist of Saint Traft and Snapcaster Mage. Vapor Snag can’t even do its job of clearing the battlefield of blockers!

Thragtusk has a unique ability that makes it good against any removal spell. Its ability doesn’t trigger whenever it dies. Instead, the ability is much more flexible. It triggers whenever Thragtusk leaves the battlefield.

Therefore, cards like Vapor Snag, Oblivion Ring, and Terminus still leave you with a 3/3 token. Even the best reset button ever cannot keep you from getting the 3/3 Beast.

Thragtusk’s abilities make it a good card against both aggro and control. The life gain slows down aggro decks while the other ability gives you resiliency against the removal and boardwipe spells in control decks.

Both abilities make Thragtusk the perfect creature for flicker, or blink, cards like Cloudshift. With Thragtusk on the board, Cloudshift becomes a one mana instant spell that gives you five life and a 3/3 Beast. That’s pretty sick.

Restoration Angel and Deadeye Navigator are great creatures to play with Thragtusk because of their flicker abilities. If you want to play non-creature permanents, Mimic Vat and Venser, the Sojourner are both excellent with Thragtusk.

Birthing Pod players will love this card because it gives you value twice with Pod. When you search for it, you gain five life. When you sac it, you get a 3/3 Beast.

I think Bant Pod will make a comeback because Thragtusk is insane with Phantasmal Image. Imagine copying Thragtusk multiple times. You’ll gain too much life for aggro decks to deal with while control decks will be very hesitant to cast any mass removal spell.

Thragtusk is a green creature so you can search for it with Green Sun’s Zenith.

I haven’t even talked about its power/toughness. With five power, it hits hard for five mana. Its three toughness keeps it out of range of Galvanic Blast and Pillar of Flame. It can be a liability if many players start packing Incinerates and Slagstorms, but you still get a 3/3 so those spells are never really good against Thragtusk.

With a five mana casting cost, Thragtusk is definitely undercosted when you add up its abilities and stats. Having one green in the mana cost is huge for its playability. I could see all kinds of decks playing it because it’s so splashable. For example, I could see it being played in a Heartless Summoning deck.

This card is the real deal. It will change Standard as we know it.

[Preorder Thragtusk on eBay at a low price]

Filed Under Magic 2013 (M13) Spoilers