Random Card of the Day #5

Random Card of the Day #5:

Deepwood Drummer - 1G

Creature - Spellshaper

{G}, {T}, Discard a card from your hand: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

1/1

Initial thoughts:

A discard effect to pump one of your creature... it reminds me a little of Wild Mongrel. While both are completely different (Deepwood Drummer pumps other creatures while Wild Mongrel changes his color to avoid Doom Blade or Protection from Green cards) both have similar effects to pump for the cost of a discard.

This may be personal influence, but I love tap effect creatures. My all-time favorite card is Royal Assassin. I don't care too much that my opponent can "see" my play coming. However, I do hate cards that make me discard, especially ones where it is in the cost so it can't be avoided. Acceptable Losses is an example of a card I hate for that. If you don't discard you don't get the effect because you can't pay for it.

While I would sooner play Nantuko Disciple over this card, their mana costs are so different that you can't exactly compare the two side-by-side. Yes, you can turn any card in your hand into a Wax. The odds are you will probably never use this on your turn, and just save it for your opponent's turn. The way I see it, you swing with your creature(s), your opponent won't declare blocks because he knows you are just going to pump it after blockers have been declared. You don't care much for the extra damage early in the game, and use this creature to block, tap, and become a 3/3 blocker--if your opponent even decides to swing. It's a huge enabler on the battlefield that makes it so not even using it's effect its a threat, and you can swing almost with impunity. Almost.

If I were to make a deck around this. It would definitely include Basking Rootwalla just because of the madness effect--I suppose it could also pump itself fitting the "theme" of the deck.

I wonder how this card was in Limited. Pump effects tend to be amazing there especially with the lack of mass removal. Odds are it was pretty decent and won a fair amount of games if it wasn't dealt with. I see it as a more aggressive Blinding Mage. With a discard effect of course.

A good card. It may not fit every green deck, but when it does it can be pretty effective. 3/5