“Lotleth Troll” is a rare creature from Return to Ravnica
set and one of the premiere monsters from the expansion. At an incredibly
efficient two mana, the troll comes out of the gate quickly, and makes a
substantial threat with very little investment. Having a cheap regenerate and
trample on a two mana creature is already solid, especially with Rancor running
around, but throw in the ability to grow himself permanently (at instant speed, no less!) and you’ve got a
powerhouse creature, ready to rip through other decks.
The most obvious application of the troll’s discard ability
is to throw creatures featuring the new Scavenge mechanic, and then activating
Scavenge and making the troll even bigger. But what if the creatures you threw
down didn’t actually stay down? “Lotleth Troll” is actually a zombie troll, which means that you can
toss a Gravecrawler (from Dark Ascension) and then cast it out of the graveyard!
Talk about having your cake and eating it, too (though it appears the troll
prefers… other delicacies).
Good:
- Efficient body at an affordable cost in a color pair
that’s getting a lot of support
- Lets you play a bluffing game with the cards in your hand
(Are they three creatures to make the troll +3/+3 bigger? Or are they lands?)
- Trample, because just regenerate on a monster that gets
huge wasn’t enough of a beating
- Combos well with the other zombies running around from
Innistrad block
Bad:
-It’s not free? There is so little bad about this card, it’s
hard to say. It does have a very specific mana cost, which may delay the
troll’s arrival in some less-than-perfect hands
Scully Rating: 9.5
out of 10
Projected Settled Value: $8-10 (10/08/12)
