Reverse Bio-Engineering (Part 2)

Moving On Up

In Reverse Bio-Engineering (Part 1), we looked at creatures with a mana cost from 1 to 3. Today we're going to look at creatures with a mana cost of 4-6, which encompasses what is commony referred to as "midrange".

Here Comes the Muscle League

Let's get some report cards under way. Here's a quick refresher on our scoring system from the last article.

With that in mind, on to the reports!

Four Drops

The four drop spot is a strange one because the most played four drops all have downsides. Both Su-Chi and Erhnam have downsides that are easy to play around, but also are potentially ignorable. Erhnam's drawback is irrelevant if your opponent doesn't have any creatures in play. Su-Chi's drawback is irrelevant if you have Mishra's Factory in play, or if your opponent doesn't draw removal for it. Not only that, but Su-Chi's drawback can turn into a boon in some situations. For this reason, I valuated both these drawbacks at 1 point. That puts both Erhnam and Su-Chi in the lead at 10 points. If we look back at Reverse Bio-Engineering (Part 1), we can see that good 1 drops are 3 points, 2 drops are 5 points, and 3 drops are 7 points. This works out to 2 points per additional mana cost. Now we can see that the jump from 3 mana to 4 mana gives 3 points. Interesting. The Roc is only slightly behind, and poor Hill Giant is getting the Gray Ogre treatment here.

Five Drops

Sengir Vampire's ability potentially gives +1/+1, which is worth 3 points, however, it can be hard to trigger since it's mostly up to your opponent. Because of that, I'm vauluating it at 2 points. We know from the previous article, that the card Eternal Warrior implies that Serra's ability is 2 points, so we'll take that at face value. It seems like Sengir and Serra are in the lead with 13 points, which is 3 more points than our best 4 drops. I'm starting to see a pattern emerge. Eater of the Dead has gone hungry with a womping 9 points. Eater's untap ability is similar to Serra Angel's vigilance, but it has a cost, which discounts the ability by 1. AErathi Berserker lives an utterly pained existence at 4 points, (technically 5).

Six Drops

We can infer that Shivan's firebreathing is worth 2 points based on the card Firebreathing, since it costs the same as Flight and Lance, which both grant 2 point abilities.

This puts Shivan in the lead with 16 points, which is 3 more points than our best 5 drop. Now we're beginning to see that once you cross the 3 mana cost threshold, each additonal mana should give a creature 3 points instead of 2. Mahamoti is just barely behind Shivan, and Craw Wurm lumbers behind at 13, which would actually make it a respectable 5 drop.

Hitting the Gym

Alright, now we've identified the winners and losers, so let's send those losers to the gym!

King of the Hill

+1/+1 is all it takes to put the Giant back on the hill. Hill Giant becomes a great midrange option with no drawbacks; just raw vanilla power. Players may still opt to use Su-Chi if they have plans to take advantage of its mana or artifact synergy; and may still opt to use Erhnam if they wish to manage its minimal drawback, since it still trades favorably into other 4 drops.

Can You Smeeeeell, What the Roc, is Cooking?

This version of the Roc just needed a little shot in the arm, and now it doesn't care about your lightning bolt, you Jabroni.

All You Can Eat

Eater of the Dead spent all its extra points on cultivating mass, plus an extra black mana to round it out to an even 5/5. The ability was slightly adjusted so that, although it costs a black mana to use now, it can also be used at will, which gives it a little utility. Now Eater can munch all your opponent's creatures in one go before your All Hallow's Eve goes off.

My Rage Has Many Contributors

This poor guy has been walking around with a misspelled name tag for 30 years and he's pissed. Rampage usually sucks, but not when you can make people fight you. I valuated this ability at a whopping 5 points because it has the ability to warp the game around it. The Berserker now threatens to murder any creature played to your opponent's side of the field that isn't big enough to suffer the Berserker's rage. You also don't want to keep a lot of untapped creatures on your side when you're facing this guy down. You have to decide whether you want to attack into a potentially bad situation, or let the Berserker wreck your shit on its next attack phase. All that rampage can be dangerous if the Berserker's master runs the Bererker's favorite card:

Law of the Craw

If a creature ever deserved to have Trample, it was the Craw Wurm. Its spare point was thrown into toughness, so now it can plow through the likes of Serra, Su-Chi, Sengir, Hill Giant, Erhnam, and whatever other pathetic 4 power creature your opponent can muster.

The Special Sauce

Fat Moti spent some time at the gym, but focused on cardio instead of muscle, and thus, Fast Moti was born. He shaved off 1 toughness, but now he has the ability to return to his lamp at a moment's notice. This is a pretty unique ability in the old school cardpool. Similar to regeneration since it has the ability to save the creature, but different since this can dodge anything, but you have to recast it. Because of the similarities, I decided to put this on par with regeneration. Combine this with the Suleiman's Bottle redesign from my first article, Wizard of the Coasters:

Now you can bounce Fast Moti and replay him at the end of your opponent's turn. How rude.

That's All Folks

At least for today. Keep an eye out for more Old School Remix posts. All remixed cards are available here.

Disclaimer: This blog contains unofficial fan content permitted under Wizards of the Coast's Fan Content Policy. This content is not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. Custom card mock-ups are created with Card Conjurer, credit to Kyle Burton(ImKyle4815).

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