Pointed Discussion

Best two-drop ever, still. Tarmogoyf cries itself to sleep over pictures of the doggy.

Definitely one of the best two-drops out there. Situationally better than ''goyf, and easier for the casual crowd to find. Wild Mongrel, can you go all the way? Yes, yes you can.

Very sweet 2 drop. i wish he was still in extended.

Mongo is, quite simply, one of the greatest creatures ever printed, and he's also a centerpiece of my all-time favorite deck, UG Madness. He really has that special place in my heart.. :)

wild mongrel might just be the reason (along with psychatog) we'll never see a manaless discard pump ability ever again.

Definitely up there with the best two-drops ever printed. What can't this pooch do? Basking rootwalla, fiery temper, arrogant wurm, circular logic, anger, brawn, wonder...heck, i could name stuff he works with all day. He dominated odyssey block AND onslaught block.

A Mongrel, a Mongrel my kingdom for a Mongrel.

I understand the ridiculous power level of this card in a madness deck with the discard and the pumping, but is there any relevance to his ability to change colour? Just curious...

Well obviously it can protect itself from cards like Terror by changing its colour to black, as well as blocking creatures with fear.

This card is strong for it's cost ad you can change it's colour. Awesome
4.0

Broken

Simply ridiculous for its mana cost. Up there with the most efficient beaters, dodges color-based hate, enables madness and treshold, is a 2/2 for 1G; all this amounts to a very powerful 2-drop. Would play again++

am i the only one who's exicited that the doggy is coming to Garruk vs. Lillana

One of the best green creatures ever. All HAIL Mongrel !

Perhaps they thought at the time that people might care about the colour-change ability? Anyway, this is one of the greatest creatures of all time. If the opponent thinks "Oh, it's two damage, and he won't want to part with his hand this early in the game" and let it through, they will be shocked by the flood of Basking Rootwallas, Arrogant Wurms, and Flashback cards that pour from your hand onto the battlefield and into the graveyard, as well as by the fact that they take about 10 damage. The best part is that if they know what to expect, it doesn't help. 5/5

Has anyone mentioned Dredge yet?

Where do you begin to start with it's ridiculousness: casting cost? (too cheap). P/T? (should've been a 0/1). Ability? (zero drawbacks, all pluses). Rarity? (should've been a rare). The best 2cc creature ever and one of the ten best creatures of all time.

@swinger:
Are you insane? Do you like it when WotC prints tournament staples at high rarity levels? I sure as Hell don't. Although I don't like the power level of this card (though I wouldn't go quite so far as to call it broken), I like that it's a common. Printing cards like this at the common rarity helps prevent players with more wealth than skill or brains from going to tournaments and punching people with their money. Remember the days when rarity didn't always determine how good a card was?

Unfortunately, playing dead doesn't stop the Mongrel.

His color change ability can also play around protection or something like Slay.

Also, on the subject of card rarity: I like it when they print the core cards of a deck like Mongrel at common, and then print the more splashy stuff at a higher rarity. A more recent example of this is Lightning Bolt at common and "Fork" (Reverberate) as rare.

"One of the best green creatures ever." Green? This doggy is any color it wants to be! Pink Floyd made a song about it!

Were it not for the existence of Tarmogoyf, this would still be the best green creature of all time. However, for bonus points you can use both of them together.

Man, just... the best enabler ever printed. Ever.

(Incoming Mythic Rare rant)

@TDL: Yeah.
And then Wizards came up Mythic Rares, an in my opinion bad concept that was realized in an even worse way.
Initially intended to mark the very unique rares, and instead brought up staple cards like Lotus Cobra or Mox Opal as (vital) mana accel, Warren Instigator as the new Goblin Lackey in Standard, Walletslayer and Batterskull as superior beaters, the Mirrodin Swords (Sword of X and Y) for your weenies or pretty much any other creature, and Jace 2.0 or various other Planeswalkers that are almost mandatory if you play their colors.

Those are cards for the early and mid-game that are just better than comparable cards just because of their mythic status, which is pretty much the opposite purpose of what rarity is for.
The M11 Titans and Rampaging Baloths are similar because of their mana cost which would on regular rares even be higher or triple-costed.

Where it makes sense to use that rarity are the steel colossuses, Emrakul, and Progenitus; or the cycle of Preators, since these guys are really deserve being mythic - they aren't just special because an orange expansion symbol allowed them to do more than your average rare.
So there are also positive examples of how Mythic Rare status should always be used.
But overall, this rarity just made staple cards more expensive... :/

I'm overly thankful Wizards didn't print any Mythic Rare lands so far though.
(Although if there should one day be a legendary land that produces mana of any color without drawback, that would be one exception i'd grant that rarity status even though it'd probably make the card even more expensive.)

I use this little fella in my budget Golgari Grave-Troll/Dredge-in-general deck together with some Putrid Imps and it works like a charm.
They get my Grave-Trolls in the grave after a drdege of six when the grave still ain't enough.
They discard my drops like Sheoldred, Whispering One when I can't hard cast it but has the mana for Dread Return or something like that.
It's just a splendid beatstick at turn two and gives me a reason to drop my Trolls to the grave.
5/5, one of a kind, perfect.

Hellbent - Dies to Doom Blade

The Odyssey Loleth Troll. Except this one can change colour, and lets you ditch ANY card, so for that, I think it's the better card (In the right deck. Zombie decks still want the troll). Although the regeneration on the troll in pretty nice.

Play without madness or other graveyard strategies.
All of a sudden this card is a piece of crap.

@TheWrathofShane I try to avoid feeding trolls but your comments are always terrible enough to earn response.

So, first, this is a bear. That means it is limited playable, period. Sometimes it is even block constructed playable in fringe strategies. Bears never suck.

Second, this a bear with upside. I'll mention limited again, to point out that bear with upside is first pick worthy. This specific upside also lets it dodge removal, albeit at card parity. Here's the thing: you're going to have lands. After you curve out with this guy (I like to never have more than six mana sources in a deck built around him but apparently you don't put cards in decks that they fit into), every land is his. Then there are situation specific cards, like Doom Blade against black or creature light decks that the Mongrel eats. Even mono green, he'll still find untimely Rampant Growths and mana elves.

Third, when you play without a critical mass of blue, Force of Will is a piece of crap. Without fetch lands and cheap discard/cantrips, Tarmogoyf is a piece of crap. You will never play this guy without Basking Rootwalla, so it doesn't matter how bad he is without it.

As it turns out, Land Tax and this are legal in the same format. As is Knight of the Reliquary, and Armageddon.

And here I thought Green and White were the friendly colors...