Fifth Dawn display boxes: Masticore?

[Matt]

Masticore!

The red thing on the other two boxes reminds me of a sharkticon.

[Dr. Sylvan]

There's no way in hell they'd reprint Masticore... I think. It was just too good too easily.

Most likely it's a tweak of some kind.

Besides, they wouldn't make a reprint one of the 'signature' cards of a set. It wouldn't be good marketing.

[Matt]

I don't think they would either...but you never know. They've been ding some really fucked up things recently - Affinity, Trinisphere, indestructable, Mindslaver.

[jpmeyer]

That's weird, because Masticore was such a "mistake" card in terms of design.  It gave both cheap, durable fat and efficient permanent creature kill to every color.  Cards like Skullclamp and Mindslaver, while powerful, at least were unique.  Masticore just takes mechanics that are like purely red and green and gives them to everyone.

[Matt]

I'm really tempted to write this off as another artifact killer spell that just shows a Core being rusted or whatever - except why is there a Masticore on Mirrodin to begin with? R&D thinks of these kinds of things. It's not like on Deep Analysis where the dead Core was left over from the Phyrexian war.

[Magi]

I hope they print it again


let's see the chaos that would ensue not only on the players but on the market

start hoarding them now!!!!!

[Dr. Sylvan]

Hoard right before the supply goes up? I don't understand at all.

This is coincidentally only hours after I was talking to someone about selling my two Masticores at Regionals so I can benefit before they rotate out of 1.x.

[Magi]

Hoard right before the supply goes up? I don't understand at all.

This is coincidentally only hours after I was talking to someone about selling my two Masticores at Regionals so I can benefit before they rotate out of 1.x.

but peple will want the older, cooler version


good call on me though, I should have made my post clearer

[Bram]

I dunno, but over the past few days there have been numerous bids on my otherwise so-so masticores. Maybe there's ppl with inside knowledge

I think it's some sort of Masticore pup. cheaper to play, less p/t and more expensive to use or something.

And yes, the right think DOES look like a sharkticon, only it's the wrong color.

[CrazyCarl]

That picture only has two mouths, where as the UD one has like, 14.[/list]

[Matt]

[card]Masticore[/card]

I don't know what base you're counting in where "14" means "three," but more power to you!

[Jebus]

...except why is there a Masticore on Mirrodin to begin with? R&D thinks of these kinds of things. It's not like on Deep Analysis where the dead Core was left over from the Phyrexian war.

While he was watching over Mirrodin, Memnarch started shaping it to his liking.  He did this by reaching in to other worlds to "import" new creatures to Mirrodin.  This is how the Atog got there, and could explain a Masticore.  I dunno.  It's a stretch.

Personally, I don't see Masticore being too game breaking in the current Type 2 environment, what with all the artifact hate.  Of course, that doesn't stop Ravager too well.  But, that's another point.  4 Mana is really expensive for an Artifact creature, where as the mana curve of the Affinity decks tops out at 2.

Of course, more importantly perhaps is that Masticore won't rotate out of Extended any time soon if it is indeed reprinted.

My theory is that this is probably some tribute to the 'Core.

Then again, I wouldn't really be suprised if they did reprint it, as they do crazy things sometimes.  Even though it is on the reserved list, I never really looked at that as if it were unchangeable.

[kirdape3]

Masticore would be silly.  Oops, every deck now has a really tough creature to kill.  The current four mana creature in the format is either like Clickslither or Jens Thoren the Sad Robot - Core's just infinitely better than either of those.

[Bram]

...except why is there a Masticore on Mirrodin to begin with?

read the flavor text on the new Ornithopter and Yotion Soldier. It might be something similar.

[Hyperion]

Razormane Manticore - 5
Artifact Creature
First strike
Discard a card at the beginning of your upkeep or sacrifice Razormane Manticore.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have Razormane Masticore deal 3 damage to target creature.
5/5

This was posted on the MTGnews Fifth Dawn spoiler...looks like the new 'Core that's pictured on those booster boxes.

[jpmeyer]

Hmm, that doesn't seem like the way that WotC would template it.  It seems more like they'd do it in "At the beginning of your upkeep do ~this~.  If you don't, do ~this~."  I think cards are templated in this way because of what happens if you "forget."

[Jebus]

Templates don't always come out right in Rumors.

[LoA]

http://gallery.cybertarp.com/displayimage.php?album=12886&pos=19

Sometimes you need to click on the picture to enlarge it if you want to see it at all.

Edit: As mentioned in another thread, this site is down from the influx in traffic.  Mtgnews.com has the text of this card as well.

[Hyperion]

I can't follow that link to see anything, but here is a better templated version of the "Razorback Manticore" that was edited into the spoiler:

Razormane Masticore - 5
Artifact Creature
First strike
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Razormane Masticore unless you discard a card from your hand.
At the beginning of your draw step, you may have Razormane Masticore deal 3 damage to target creature.
5/5

It pales in comparison to Masticore (thank god) but still not a bad card at all.

[Matt]

I honestly see lots of situations where it's better than Masticore. FS is better than regeneration in combat, and it's a whole turn faster of a clock. This is even more burn-resistant in formats where the average burn damage is less than 3, because they can't block+burn it (FS kills the blocker). The tricky part is that when it's the only creature in play, it has to bolt itself, leaving it more burn-vulnerable.

You might even say, "Matt, you can't mow down lots of 1/1s with RazorM!" To which I reply, but look at all the mana you save! And it's not like blocking one guy and shooting another won't whittle the opponent's forces down mighty fast.

I really like this guy. Assuming affinity doesn't get much faster, I expect he'll see a lot of T2 play once Goblins leave the format.

[Dr. Sylvan]

They were probably much more willing to experiment with a non-invincible critter in the modern era due to setting it at cmc 5. It doesn't look like a major delay because in T1 we have no concept of ordinary mana development, but in the format of Wrath of God it's a big deal. You can see the pattern of creature power based on Ravenous Baloth and Spiritmonger (color reqs aside), they're willing to make four-cost guys good, but five cost guys look insane.

I don't know if he's good enough for T1, considering we don't even have a real role for original-Masticore outside of some Stacker variants.

[Smmenen]

He seems to me like a SB card - somewhere in the range of FTK - perhaps he will will replace FTK in the SB of Workshop Slavers who want to empahsize the Man Plan.

Steve

[Samite Healer]

The tricky part is that when it's the only creature in play, it has to bolt itself, leaving it more burn-vulnerable.

Well, the posted wording says you "may" deal damage to a creature, so I don't think you have to even worry about that.

[Smmenen]

Actually Matt, I've thought about it more - and I'm almost certain that this Masticore is going to see more T1 play than the original. In other words, I agree with you.

Steve

[Bram]

Ladies and gentlemen, looks like we have a chase rare!

[Toad]

Imho It's really superior to the original Masticore. In Workshop decks, 4 manas or 5 manas does not make much difference, but 5/5 is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar superior to 4/4. Razormane Masticore kills Juggernauts and Suchis without the need to keep open. It can ping bigger dudes than Masticore for free. First Strike is muuuuuch better than Regeneration (except against artifact removal though).

The only drawback is that it fails to deal with an active Goblin Welder. And that's a real real real drawback.

[Bram]

As a more or less 'universal'  (i.e. not just for Welder builds) sideboard card against Sligh builds (the traditional role of Masticore) it's inferior, however. While it may take down a decent number of creatures like Matt said, it goes down pretty easily. Regenerarion was an important feature for the role this guy's cousing used to fulfill. Even so, yeah, it looks superior overall.

[Bastian]

The mere fact that this doesn't tie up mana to use its abilities makes it already superior to Masticore.

The reason why some consider it inferior to the original is due to the existence of creature/artifact kill, but think about the following: with welders in play you can bring it back into play and then you also have cards like Swords and Oxidize... there's really not much that either masticore can do about those, so regen would end up being plain useless...

In the end its like Stephen already put it: in type 1 and in workshop decks the new Masticore is simply superior!