Common/Uncommon Sense #2: Common Creatures of the Chromatic

Heya Zoners!

Much Thanks for making the first installment of the series a sizable hit.

This week, I'm back with 5 budget creatures I hope you'll like just as well.

Benevolent Bodyguard

We'll kick things off with a little rattlesnake protection dude I'm trying out. Clearly never going to be Mother of Runes, but can be a nice one-hitter when Mom's not around. In White, this a cool card because it fits into the Ranger of Eos package and increases his value in combat with Sun Titan. Getting consistent play out of a mono-White deck is never an easy task.

Bodyguard isn't going to like being Wrathed, but if you play against Blasphemous Act, it eats this card for breakfast, then dies. Also, if you play other Instant-speed tricks, having one out in the open on the battlefield is a good distraction.

Krovikan Sorcerer

This is a card I loved to get early on in Dromar. Reliable card draw coupled with black spells I didn't mind pitching meant I was going to maximize efficiency, and more often than not, led to several games I won.

Though it is only Blue in total color identity, don't waste your time putting it in anything that isn't U/B or an additional color.

Sigiled Skink

I saw this card in action at Prerelease and decided that a cheap, aggressive, value-seeking creature like this belonged at the low end of the curve in Animar. So far I've been pleased. It's a nice card that wants to attack, and even if you just get one scry trigger, he's already more than paid for himself. Definitely a card that wants to be attacking in the horde of creatures, as it is less likely to be getting blocked in favor of Animar or a bigger creature.

Probably not as good or interchangeable with Academy Raider, but I'm a sucker for deadly looking desert Lizards.

Mold Shambler

Fact: There is little unknown to the general Magic-playing population when it comes to underrepresented green creatures. Still, I find that even I tend to forget we have a great budget partner for Acidic Slime. In fact, Mold Shambler could even become more useful than Acidic Slime in the fight to stop planeswalkers as well as decks that want to spread out and turn sideways. Because it has a little more P/T and a little less deathtouch, Shambler's another creature that can go unblocked if you've got a decent threat on the table and contribute to you directly to the bottom line.

Phyrexian Rager

My last nugget of tech for today is Phyrexian Rager.

Unlike other ETB creatures in the color pie, Black as a color doesn't have a whole lot going on for it before Turn 4, generally speaking. In fact, short of Brain Maggot, its previous incarnation Mesmeric Fiend, Liliana's Specter, and a Fleshbag Marauder, there isn't a whole lot of EDH playable options that create early value.

Rager is an early investment that has the potential for abuse because of Black's penchant for Reanimate and Disentomb style effects. I like it because Rager almost always ensures I'm going to get to the 4th land drop in black, which is crucial because of the acceleration that occurs for the color at the next turn.

I also like it because it gives my opponents a nutty reason not to attack early on. In multiplayer, attacking is swayed pretty easily in the early stages by simply scanning to find out who doesn't have a creature. So Rager, along side other TGZ previously mentioned cards like Moriok Replica, do have a lot of value if you haven't tutored for Phyrexian Arena yet.

Pass Turn.
-UL