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Monday, October 8, 2012

Lotleth-Troll



“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)