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Monday, October 29, 2012

Deathrite Shaman



“Deathrite Shaman” is yet another outstanding Black/Green creature from Return to Ravnica, and this time, one with multi-format appeal! As a 1/2 for one, his body is certainly reasonable, but it’s his incredibly flexible glut of abilities that really define him. This creature does it all, and while messing with any graveyard shenanigans your opponent may have going on. Deathrite has three abilities, each one revolving around removing a card in a graveyard from the game (it is important to note that it is any graveyard – yours or your opponent’s).

He can dig a land out of the graveyard to produce a mana of the color of your choice. In standard, this doesn’t do much of anything, unless you run Ghost Quarter [Innistrad] (which may not be a bad idea, considering how many fantastic nonbasic lands are running around the format), but in old formats, this is incredible. A first turn fetchland [Onslaught, Zendikar] into Deathrite is a frightening set-up in either modern or legacy – especially legacy, where Wasteland [Tempest] is very much a thing.

Deathrite can also dig up creatures or instant/sorceries, at a boon of +2 life/creature or -2 life/spell. This is quite relevant in both standard and older formats. He’s hell on wheels against a reanimator deck as Deathrite can pop off the ideal reanimation target before the resurrection spell is cast. And in any given game of Magic, instants and sorceries will fly around, letting Deathrite turn into a repeatable source of burn, which can finish out some games that stall. These abilities do require a specific green or black mana, meaning he’s only at his best in a deck using (or splashing) both.

Good:
-One mana cost, in either of two colors, allowing for consistent easy casting
- 2 OUTSTANDING abilities, if you have access to the colors
- 1 very relevant Legacy acceleration ability
- Messes with graveyard strategies
- Uses either graveyard, so should have no shortage of ammo

Bad:
            - Small body
            - Specific color requirements for abilities, so only thrives in black/green
            - Mana ability isn’t relevant at all in standard
            - He’s an elf. No one likes elves. :p

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10
Projected Settled Value: $6-8