Quoth Dante's Inferno, "You never go ash to mouth!"
Dragonmaster3.0
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
So much better than Goblin Piker. I will run this in a heartbeat if I get it.
BioPrince
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
add deathtouch for instant kills
TherealphatMatt
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This guy'll be great in Limited. There are a lot of 1-toughness creatures in Innistrad.
Gabriel422
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
It's like, even faster than first strike, if you think about it.
asmallcat
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Yeah, this card will be a limited all-star for red. Aggressive, and if they want to kill it they have to use a guy with at least 2 toughness, which a lot of early creatures don't have.
A0602
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
You gotta love firster-strike!
jsttu
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I had a lot of success with this guy in the pre-release, especially if i could make him bigger somehow. he will deal 3 damage to a creature in combat, one of which is preemptive, possibly killing the creature before combat damage is dealt. surprisingly powerful 2 drop, may see constructed.
JU4
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(10 votes)
I let this card die when he should have lived during one of my prerelease matches. My opponent was very young, and it was his first experience in such a tournament. He was low on life, I was not, we had traded creatures until the Ashmouth, equipped with a Silver-Inlaid Dagger, was the only creature left on the board. On my declaration of attack, he flashed in an Ambush Viper with a huge smile on his face. I could see his pride in having played a flash card to it's best advantage, and I decided I wouldn't break this kid's heart by pointing out that his creature would die alone. So, I let our creatures trade, and hopefully got some Karma out of the deal.
BastianQoU
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@JU4: That's the main reason I don't like playing younger players at a tournament. You feel so guilty about having to tell them that something they had worked hard for wouldn't really go as planned. But then I wonder about how many young kids are couched into taking advantage of that feeling.. Just not as fun...
And giving this creature deathtouch turns it into a better Thicket Basilisk. This is pretty much the ultimate deathtouch/first strike combo you can pull. Gets around hexpoof and shroud, so toss a Lure on him and laugh maniacally.
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I ran a ridiculously off-flavor combo with this dude in pre-release. I equipped him with both the Sharpened Pitchfork and the Blazing Torch.
My opponent attacked, I blocked a toughness 5 creature of his. Ashmouth Hound deals it one damage, then two first strike damage, and THEN I tapped him, sacced the Torch, and burned the attacker.
And my hound lived on!
(I still didn't win that game, though...)
PastProphet
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I think this should be keyword: Preemptive
fuzzyvision
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I would love to see this ability on more red creatures. Such a simple mechanic to bring across the feeling that this thing is on fire.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Every time I cast this creature I yell DEMON DOGS just like Thundarr the Barbarian. :)
Also, I'm rereading Test of Metal, Tezz's Planeswalker Novel. Unless you've read Agents of Artifice, or the Artifacts Cycle, I guarantee you you haven't read a Magic book half as good as Test of Metal. Stop reading the block novels and just stick with the Planeswalker series- they're worth it. Anyway the point is, one of the fight scenes involves some 'Magma Scorpions'....they were described as being horrifiying unkillable and bad-tempered. I wanted to make proxies of them :)
So I figured I'd start with this guy, and just add stuff till it was crazy enough to plausibly terrify a Planeswalker as powerful as Tezzeret.
{2}{R}{R}{R}
Indestructible
3/5
Burns creatures for 2 instead of 1, then an activated ability-
'gain deathtouch and infect' for {B}{B}{B}. Probably be Mythic Rare.
Too weak, too powerful, or just awesomely right?
I'm considering giving it reverse hexproof to prevent you from Pumping it, Bouncing it, or Blinking it, since I don't see giant fire scorpions as the type to really be under their summoner's control, and it might need some more downsides to balance it....
BlkStar
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
call me crazy but this is my favorite card out of innistrad. Great art, cool as s*** flavot txt, and has a da** good effect especially if you can pump him. i want a deck built around him soo bad.
Mr.Wimples
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is a prime example of a well-designed common. From a design standpoint, this is one of my favorite cards of the set.
Galgus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like it: a simple, yet sufficiently powerful card design. I wish more commons were like this.
EndGamer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If this guy attacks and is blocked by an X/1 creature, wouldn't it simply pass through and hit your opponent? Since blockers are declared before the combat damage step, it'd deal the 1 point of damage that would eliminate the blocker. Since it would then be unblocked, could it still deal 2 points of damage to your opponent, or would it act like it's being blocked by a 0/X creature?
RobinHood3000
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@EndGamer: No; once a creature is blocked, it remains blocked for that combat, even if the blocker dies before combat damage. So even if Ashmouth Hound kills its blocker before combat, it still won't deal damage to the defending player.
Slade007
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ashmouth Hound + Lure = Death to all 1/1. He needs some Swiftfoot Boots before you get risky with Lure. Good Luck!, But by himself hes a solid 2 drop. 3.5
Yukikah
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Death to 1/1? Psh. Why not get an Onyx Mage out and be death to anything that's not indestructible or having protection from red? Hah XD Course, 3 color deck and all that, but at least this and Onyx both only require the one colored mana each.
@Darth Parallax: Too "WTF" Infect, deathtouch, and indestructility are not in flavor for red, neither is higher toughness than power. Also, good luck trying to get the AND . Lastly, CMC-5 doesn't fit into many mono-red strategies (where else would you get ), and especially not red/black
RJDroid
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
So, the fabled Throat Wolf has finally seen the light of day...
With Assault Strobe and similar cards, he almost has triple strike. If only he did 1 more damage on his super First Strike ability.
TastetheJace
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This guy gets around hexproof and shroud.
MojoVince
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He's nice , i just discover it and went searching my common red pill of card to only find one when i have 5 of others shit cards of the same block ... Good common are not that common if you see where i'm coming... This plus deathtouch is a nightmare but you can use it too to trick with a burn spell for an extra damage just before the damage assignation. Somberwald vigilante is his little brother and so bad he cannot do damage by blocking too...
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great little filler card for an aggro deck.
Majinkajisan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Everyone's fawning over this card like they've never seen a Laccolith before.
Comments (31)
That's the main reason I don't like playing younger players at a tournament. You feel so guilty about having to tell them that something they had worked hard for wouldn't really go as planned. But then I wonder about how many young kids are couched into taking advantage of that feeling.. Just not as fun...
And giving this creature deathtouch turns it into a better Thicket Basilisk. This is pretty much the ultimate deathtouch/first strike combo you can pull. Gets around hexpoof and shroud, so toss a Lure on him and laugh maniacally.
My opponent attacked, I blocked a toughness 5 creature of his. Ashmouth Hound deals it one damage, then two first strike damage, and THEN I tapped him, sacced the Torch, and burned the attacker.
And my hound lived on!
(I still didn't win that game, though...)
Also, I'm rereading Test of Metal, Tezz's Planeswalker Novel. Unless you've read Agents of Artifice, or the Artifacts Cycle, I guarantee you you haven't read a Magic book half as good as Test of Metal. Stop reading the block novels and just stick with the Planeswalker series- they're worth it. Anyway the point is, one of the fight scenes involves some 'Magma Scorpions'....they were described as being horrifiying unkillable and bad-tempered. I wanted to make proxies of them :)
So I figured I'd start with this guy, and just add stuff till it was crazy enough to plausibly terrify a Planeswalker as powerful as Tezzeret.
{2}{R}{R}{R}
Indestructible
3/5
Burns creatures for 2 instead of 1, then an activated ability-
'gain deathtouch and infect' for {B}{B}{B}. Probably be Mythic Rare.
Too weak, too powerful, or just awesomely right?
I'm considering giving it reverse hexproof to prevent you from Pumping it, Bouncing it, or Blinking it, since I don't see giant fire scorpions as the type to really be under their summoner's control, and it might need some more downsides to balance it....
This plus deathtouch is a nightmare but you can use it too to trick with a burn spell for an extra damage just before the damage assignation.
Somberwald vigilante is his little brother and so bad he cannot do damage by blocking too...