When the MTGPrice staff talked about breaking up the set for reviews, I began to think about what my ideal section would be. Thankfully, when I volunteered to participate, the section I wanted was the only one left: red.
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Thanks for a very in depth red analysis. The fact that you play red and know what you are talking about really shows. I really enjoyed the foil multiplier section you added too. This entire set seems like it could end up having a pretty hefty foil price tag.
I would like to add that while Embermaw Hellion and Pia and Kiran Nalaar aren’t very attractive financially….
OMFG are they crazy bombs in limited. These two cards on the board are INSANE!
I wouldn’t count out Embermaw Hellion so fast in standard (shh, quit laughing! lol). I know that red is usually all about speed… But this card is AMAZING if you start to run out of steam and need some board presence. 4/5 Trample isn’t something you should shrug off. I know the single damage doesn’t seem like much but this guy can hold down the board while you top deck burn. And it survives Languish. It still probably won’t get played, but a random few might put it in their sideboard if they keep stalling out mid to late game. Probably not…
Its still a Limited BOMB in any case. At least we see that WotC is is trying to give red some synergies and encourage options for mid-range. I think that Embermaw Hellion, like many other cards in Origins are incremental experiments in how many abilities WotC can put on a single card. Most of these experiments probably aren’t broken yet. But as time goes on aggressively costed multi-option cards are going to be the name of the game. I think this is going to make evaluating spoilers that much harder moving forward.
Would Embermaw Hellion see play in standard if it did 2 damage instead of 1? If it was 4R or even 3R casting cost? Any chance at all this sees sideboard play against decks like CoCo or Abzan? If there was such a thing as a Mono-Red EDH deck… Wouldn’t this card be in it?
Thanks for your feedback!
Embermaw Hellion would definitely have a better chance of seeing constructed if some of the development knobs were turned down one (or up, in the case of his damage ability). I think it’s more likely that he shows up in EDH, since things like Dictate of the Twin Gods and Furnace of Rath sometimes show up with friends like Hidetsugu. I may squirrel away a couple foils in a few weeks when people are just giving them away. Why not, right?