Pointed Discussion

Just hope your opponent has a little creature, unless you want to make a mindleech mass unblockable.

To be honest I've never found the drawback that big a deal. There's usually something innocuous enough, or something you wouldn't have been blocking anyway. It's excellent in multiplayer, and these days it's not hard to run it in decks with few or no Forests. Even with the massive power hike of green creatures in recent years, a 4/5 for 3G is a good enough deal that for me Herman is still eminently worth it.

decent enough green creature. but sub-par compared to modern green beaters

I run 4 in any nonstandard deck. Great in black green. Can get em first or second turn if you are lucky.

My favorite creature in the game, Just love this artwork as well.

The Arabian Nights Djinns are pretty cool, even if they weren't that practical. Combo with Armageddon.

I disagree with doctor kenneth, this card is still very useable. However, today it must be played very differently. Around the time this card originally appeared, decks that were fast and used mana curve were mostly unheard of. The spells were far better than the creatures, and most games you won were from a game ending spell that either complemented your creatures, or didn't affect them at all. The fact that people combo'd this card with such a powerful card like Armageddon proves this. DESTROYING ALL LAND TO ATTACK WITH A 4/5?? By that thinking, the first player to drop towering baloth and armageddon was the sure winner.

Of course this card isn't mythic quality, and of course there is power curve over time, but this card still fits at rare, and is still really useable in the right deck, for the same reason imperiosaur is useable. Its just you can't expect the meta-game to stay the same. Hell the main reason you couldn't play this in vintage isn't because of power curve, but because of powerful oldies. How many leatherback behemoths and baneslayer angels do you see in that format? 0

You can get rid of the drawback with Pacifism or any similiar card. Heck, since it says "non-Wall" instead of "creature without defender" in the Oracle text, you sometimes don't even need the aura

Wait...people still use basic lands? Since when?

It's a little saddening that the number of 4/4-for-fours in green - with a further advantage, mind you- have made what was once a drawback well worth the benefit into something that is becoming increasingly less attractive. I mean, we're getting 3/4's and 4/5's for three, now, without any drawback (albiet in triple-green, but not that mana-fixing ever mattered when you're running green). I really like this card. I just think it's a shame that our standards must be constantly redefined.

In short, I kind of disagree with stygimoloch, and wanted to take bloodyspasm's point a little further. It's not quite worth the cost anymore, when I can run something comparable without a drawback at all. Mister Clean here is a card full of fond memories, but he's been retired to the casual tables forever, I'm afraid.

And, as an endnote- no, don't combo with Armageddon. Chances are your foes will catch up on the removal quickly (considering how cheap it usually is) if they're playing control, or they will have a stable enough position by turn four that Mister Clean will not be such a big deal (especially if you're playing against Jund/Zoo/Fae).

Edit: In response Omenchild's comment, I make the following clarifications (you're still on the stack).

I don't doubt that it's a good card. Please don't misunderstand- I know it was a staple in it's day, and I like the card a great deal. It is not, and I repeat, NOT unplayable. Nor do I expect cards to be of mythic rare quality. I simply mean to say that it's been outcompeted. Casually, you could run this in a non-forest deck and get a 4/5 for four with no drawback. You could combine it, as Fivefiftyseven has mentioned, with defender-granting cards, negating the drawback. It is a solid creature ahead of the curve. What I'm saying is that I could play something like Chameleon Colossus orWolfbriar Elemental and get a benefit rather than a drawback for one less toughness. Or, at uncommon, Sporesower Thallid or others that are less directly comparable. I don't have to play around a drawback with them. This was run in agro decks. You can't deny there have been better cards for that strategy since. That's not to say I LIKE that fact- I consider this card well balanced.

As for Vintage, you are completely correct. You're right, of course- it's dominated by things such as hand disruption, land destruction, draw-go, and other things that are less creature intensive. The modern focus has shifted dramatically from good instants, sorceries, and enchantments to creatures. This is obvious. And in doing so, the pendulum has shifted past cards like this (and it's 5/5 for 2BB bretherin, which was not played at all when it's spiritual reprint came out), which were once impressively past the curve, on to something else. Which is exactly my point. Creatures have been redefined, and it will reach a point where they are the most efficient for their colour. Then, maybe, other spells can be redefined so we need not be focused on creatures (spells other than mere creature removal, of course). I have every confidence that it will balance itself. But in the meantime- in the creature dominated formats of Standard and Extended, there are better 4-drops in green. In Vintage, an aggressive card like this wouldn't be played at all, demolished by Stasis and Necropotence decks. It's doomed to be locked in an unfortunate limbo between formats- a good card that doesn't have any space to be played in.

My apologies for the length of that. I guess in response to your comment I played Convolute.

Uhhhhh...

Leatherback Baloth...

I used to win tourneys with the Erhnam and Burn 'em deck (basically green ramp, land removal, as much direct damage from red as possible, 4 erhnams, and zuran orb to get rid of the forests if needed and gain life). After 10 years of not playing Magic, I tried to play that against some current t2 deck with nothing special in it and lost handily.

Not a good or bad thing, Just sayin.

I think people are spoiled by easy dual lands and forgot how difficult it was to get multi-color mana in the past. A 4/5 using only ONE colored mana was a blessing back in the old days, especially since any pain land could produce it and thus nullify the drawback.

Nowadays people can play 3~5 color deck without issue, render old classic like Djinn obsolete. Splashable cards no longer hold their status. So sad.

Provides a safe Path to Exile, maybe.

A safe path to nowhere, except straight to yourself.

I still find him great in free-for-all multiplayer games... green is very popular in my play group, so running around with Erhnam Djinn in a base-red deck with no Forests is positively hilarious. Each turn you can vigorously encourage the largest creature on the board to go attack someone else.

If my creature has been given forestwalk, and the player controlling the Djinn loses the game before his next upkeep, does my creature have forestwalk permanently?

Look at him! He's listining to all of your comments, and quite frankly he's not impressed.

From the card-art, I can see how much is mad on Leatherback Baloth

99 percent of the time I'm using Leatherback Baloth these days. The other 1% of the time I'm splashing good ol' Erhnam into a non-green deck in which I probably have no forests.

Here's something else you can do with the "drawback" in with more old favorites - use Magical Hack to change the Djinn's text to give something islandwalk instead of forestwalk. Then kill those creatures with Merfolk Assassin.

Mr. D pitties the fool. So, he gives people's stuff a glimmer of a shot my giving them forest walk.

A few cards in the Arabian Nights set bear names that are personally significant to Richard Garfield. In this case, "Erhnam" is an anagram of "Herman," Garfield's brother-in-law.

You could just splash green and run duel lands instead of forests....

I remember thinking to myself that there was no excuse for this guy's ability, even when the card was new. Bigger creatures such as Force of Nature and Colossus of Sardia/Voltaic Key combo existed already, and when the opponent controlled them, giving forestwalk to them was suicidal.

The best thing this card was good for was mid-game hits. After that you generally sacced it to Lord of the Pit, unless the opponent had no creatures on their side.

Your guy has forestwalk? It's unfortunate for you that I have no Forests after casting Armageddon. Or paid for the colored mana with a City of Brass. Or will just race you with one of the most cost-effective beaters of the time.

Erhnie hasn't stood the test of time, but I love the new art and the second chance at life they gave the card.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?page=0&action=advanced&cmc=+%3C=+%3E&power=+%3E=&tough=+%3E=

Notice how almost every single one has a drawback?

Yeah.

(and work backwards to turn those mana symbols into the correct URL, it's not too hard)

The "drawback" is superfluous. You give it to a chump that they would rather block with. Or, better yet, you've burned their creatures. The whole idea is that you would rather beat their face in and would be happy to take a couple of damage in return. This guy is still above par. Don't be a coward. Play the djinn.

My name is Erhnam Djinn, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

I want to add my 1-cent opinion about this card: as far as I can see, it is still one of the very few green creatures that has an average P/T ratio that is greater than its casting cost, if the casting cost is 4, AND requests only 1 specific green mana to be cast. Usually other similar cards request at least 2 green specific mana to be cast or have much greater penalties. It still makes an advantage on slim decks that aim to cast spells quickly.
This card is somehow obsolete but you can still build decks on it and it can still be fearsome, as you have already explained here, in decks without any forest land or in ones that can negate its malus with a good playing strategy
I'm 34 now, but there was a time when we used Erhnam Djinn to kill creatures with the ability that is the opposite of Shroud (dies instantly when the target of spells or effects) as Skulking Ghost or Tarpit Warrior.

When it was released, I always thought that it was unfair for green to have a creature overall weaker than Juzam Djinn (4/5 for the color that should be the master of big creatures? Nonsense) and it was extremely hard to use it competitively in mono-green decks, since there were few valid alternatives. We also used Armageddon with Zuran's Orb to keep its penalty under control. Also, it was terrible when you couldn't attack nor block for strategic reasons, or it was locked by a pacifism or similar, but it was granting a free opening to the opponent as well, leaving you with a bunch of turns to win or die. Nowadays, even if there are better creatures, I think that it is more powerful than the past for the real possibility of creating a land with no forests. :)

Even at the time that this was reprinted in Judgement, power creep had begun to take its toll. Spiritmonger has been printed a full year ago.