Awesome card, yes it's a 7 mana for 5/5, but it's basically a free 5/5 for 7, allowing you to simultaneously play another big card following. Giant whale and a cruel ultimatum following? Sounds good.
A3Kitsune
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Costs less then nothing, considering you'd play this with lands that tap to give more then one mana, so you'll untap more lands then you tapped to play this. Blue mage ends turn with more then 10 mana's worth of lands untapped and cards in hand? Psychological warfare against your opponent.
SleetFox
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is absolutely perfect for blue. A blue deck is probably not concerned with casting big creatures until later in the game anyway, so this allows you to protect yourself still if you don't have your opponent completely locked down yet. It's not super fancy, but nothings stopping you from playing a nice Sphinx of Jwar Isle with those untapped lands.
Tackle74
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Play this from your hand are you crazy just cycle it with Recurring Nightmare plus any of the come into play cards=Game
iantewks
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
aha! who cares how good it is, look at the artwork!! oh, it's a good card? i'll take it.
bagilis
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
interestingly, the whale does not require you to control islands or have your opponent control islands. this was so common with big swimmers in blue back then
Nagoragama
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Oh hey, what a great whale.
divine_exodus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why is this rated so low? A 5/5 for 0? You tap 7 lands to play it, and untap 7 lands when he comes in. Fantastic.
In eighteen hundred and forty-six And of March the eighteenth day, We hoisted our colors to the top of the mast And for Greenland sailed away, And for Greenland sailed away.
The lookout, in the crosstrees he stood With spyglass in his hand; There's a whale!, There's a whale!, And A whalefish! he cried And she blows at every span, And she blows at every span.
The captain stood on the quarterdeck, The ice was in his eye; Overhaul, overhaul! Let your jibsheets fall, And you'll put your boats to sea, And you'll put your boats to sea.
The harpoon struck and the line played out, With a single flourish of his tail, He capsized the boat and we lost five men, And we did not catch that whale, And we did not catch that whale.
The losing of those five jolly men, It grieved the captain sore, But the losing of that fine whalefish Now it grieved him ten times more, Now it grieved him ten times more.
Oh Greenland is a barren land A land that bears no green Where there's ice and snow, and the whalefishes blow And the daylight's seldom seen, And the daylight's seldom seen.
Felt such a cool card deserved an epic sea shanty. Yeah, Splinter Twin. I was thinking suspend via Jhoira, but S. Twin's a way better idea.
EvilestTim
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well, the classic combo is with Dream Halls or Recurring Nightmare. IIRC the Dream Halls combo was what got errata thrown on the "free" creatures back in the day (they could only untap lands if they were cast from your hand rather than untapping no matter where they came from). Classic is two Great Whales alternating between play and the graveyard using Recurring Nightmare. Yay, Mana!
lordofthekithkins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great whale followed by.. hmmm another great whale?
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
Split your lungs with blood and thunder When you see the white whale! Break your backs and crack your oars, men, if you wish to prevail! This ivory leg is what propels me, Harpoons thrust in the sky! Aim directly for his crooked brow and look him straight in the eye!
Ideatog
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(12 votes)
I just realized- it's a whale that untaps the same amount of lands used to pay for it:
Untaps same amount of lands used to pay for it = no net cost. No net cost = free. Whale.
FREE WILLY!
Ouroborobelisk
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Kryptnyt: I like Mastodon, but the fact that Neil Fallon of Clutch sings that part is what makes that song truly EPIC! Oh ... and Great Whale is great.
OmTheOmnipotent
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(8 votes)
It is important to note that suddenly, and against all probability, a Sperm Whale had been called into existence, several miles above the surface of an alien planet and since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity. This is what it thought, as it fell: Ahhh! Woooh! What's happening? Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life? What do I mean by who am I? Okay okay, calm down calm down get a grip now. Ooh, this is an interesting sensation. What is it? Its a sort of tingling in my... well I suppose I better start finding names for things. Lets call it a... tail! Yeah! Tail! And hey, what's this roaring sound, whooshing past what I'm suddenly gonna call my head? Wind! Is that a good name? It'll do. Yeah, this is really exciting. I'm dizzy with anticipation! Or is it the wind? There's an awful lot of that now isn't it? And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me? Hello Ground!
Shadoflaam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
WHITE! WHALE! HOLY! GRAIL! I declare this to be the card for MTG player Mastodon discussions. Well this or Spectral Flight. Maybe Oblivion Ring... (Also Crack the Skye was slightly better than The Hunter.)
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Sj4t6dEms
gman92
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@OmTheOmnipotent: Not only did you recycle that from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy without giving credit to it, you had several errors in it and didn't even finish it. *Shakes head* =/
Justin133Nivmizzet1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He is begging to be copied!!! Kiki jiki or splinter twin
Grumman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This plus Momentary Blink gives you a 5/5 and 8 mana for two cards. Not bad at all.
Cast Great Whale: -7 mana Untap 7 lands: 0 mana Cast Momentary Blink: -2 mana Untap 7 lands: +5 mana Flashback Momentary Blink: +1 mana Untap 7 lands: +8 mana
Axelle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It untaps for FREE.
And it untaps faster than other cards, too!
The-Earth-Dragon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Get ready for flicker effects next week!! This card might see more play after avacyn restored enters legacy.
Extremely powerful if used properly, and yet wimpy compared to Palinchron, which just goes to show you how badly broken Palinchron is...
Continue
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
He's not Palinchron, but goddammit, he's trying as hard as he can and coming damn close. What an awesome card. 5/5
Notanoob
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card has its own version of reanimator. Its infinite mana + infinite reanimation with recurring nightmare and if you have access to the white, it gets you 2 reanimations and nets 5 mana with even Unburial Rites. The only tough part is unless you are doing some serious land ramp it takes 7 turns to trigger.
Comments (46)
There's a whole cycle with this card. One is a Persuasion (Treachery), one counters a spell, and another is like an unsummon.
oh, it's a good card? i'll take it.
And of March the eighteenth day,
We hoisted our colors to the top of the mast
And for Greenland sailed away,
And for Greenland sailed away.
The lookout, in the crosstrees he stood
With spyglass in his hand;
There's a whale!, There's a whale!,
And A whalefish! he cried
And she blows at every span,
And she blows at every span.
The captain stood on the quarterdeck,
The ice was in his eye;
Overhaul, overhaul! Let your jibsheets fall,
And you'll put your boats to sea,
And you'll put your boats to sea.
The harpoon struck and the line played out,
With a single flourish of his tail,
He capsized the boat and we lost five men,
And we did not catch that whale,
And we did not catch that whale.
The losing of those five jolly men,
It grieved the captain sore,
But the losing of that fine whalefish
Now it grieved him ten times more,
Now it grieved him ten times more.
Oh Greenland is a barren land
A land that bears no green
Where there's ice and snow, and the whalefishes blow
And the daylight's seldom seen,
And the daylight's seldom seen.
Felt such a cool card deserved an epic sea shanty. Yeah, Splinter Twin. I was thinking suspend via Jhoira, but S. Twin's a way better idea.
When you see the white whale!
Break your backs and crack your oars, men, if you wish to prevail!
This ivory leg is what propels me,
Harpoons thrust in the sky!
Aim directly for his crooked brow and look him straight in the eye!
Untaps same amount of lands used to pay for it = no net cost. No net cost = free. Whale.
FREE WILLY!
Ahhh! Woooh! What's happening? Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life? What do I mean by who am I? Okay okay, calm down calm down get a grip now. Ooh, this is an interesting sensation. What is it? Its a sort of tingling in my... well I suppose I better start finding names for things. Lets call it a... tail! Yeah! Tail! And hey, what's this roaring sound, whooshing past what I'm suddenly gonna call my head? Wind! Is that a good name? It'll do. Yeah, this is really exciting. I'm dizzy with anticipation! Or is it the wind? There's an awful lot of that now isn't it? And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me? Hello Ground!
WHALE!
HOLY!
GRAIL!
I declare this to be the card for MTG player Mastodon discussions. Well this or Spectral Flight. Maybe Oblivion Ring...
(Also Crack the Skye was slightly better than The Hunter.)
Cast Great Whale: -7 mana
Untap 7 lands: 0 mana
Cast Momentary Blink: -2 mana
Untap 7 lands: +5 mana
Flashback Momentary Blink: +1 mana
Untap 7 lands: +8 mana
And it untaps faster than other cards, too!
Don't forget Cloud of Faeries.
Could people perhaps hate Palinchron for some reason?
HOLY GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIL
Alternatively use him with a free sac outlet and Nim deathmantle for infinite mana