Pointed Discussion

Gruul may have got the shaft for constructed in this set but this card is SO sweet. It could easily steal limited games and his second ability has me drooling. I want to animate a Halimar Depths, swing with it, then champion it with Supreme Exemplar.

Now that is a *** guildmage.

You'll notice Rubblehulk (aka molimo 2.0) is missing trample. It's because he's gruul and it's REALLY easy to get it granted to him. And that 4/4 elemental is for 3 mana is just PAINFUL. Man I don't want to see this across the table from me.

Not what I was hoping for personally, but he is way better than the original. Love his art too.

This card is exactly what Gruul needed... I don't even like R/G lately but this card is just absolutely incredible... it's in the list of top 3 guildmages from the RtR block and it's not difficult to figure out why...

For starters, in the RtR cycle the guildmages were all useful but generally overcosted for their actives. especially the second active, the game changing one. Looking at Nivix Guildmage, Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage, Kordoza Guildmage and even New Prahv Guildmage you get one decently costed ability and one ability that is expensive and only moderately useful. Rix Maadi Guildmage isn't worth talking about since its cheap costed but also less than useful 50% of the time... Those 5 guildmages sit at what i like to call semi-usefull(if they're useful at all), with Vitu-Ghazi being the best and Nivix being #2.

Now take a look at the mages from this set... unbelievable, all of them. No overly costed abilities, and everything is really really useful for what those particular decks do. The ONLY overcosted ability for the new guildmages is with the Duskmantle Guildmage, paying 4cmc to mill 2 is meh, if it were 3 it'd be better but 1 life for each milled card is perfectly costed. The next two(Vizkopa Guildmage and Sunhome Guildmage) have INCREDIBLE mega-effects, +1/+0 to all creatures and life loss for life gain are perfectly costed and useful for what those guys do. Zameck Guildmage is great because both abilities are incredible and cost only 2.... idk how that card got printed honestly...

But this guildmage... this guildmage is absolutely the best of all 10. for one simple reason. CREATURES YOU CONTROL GET TRAMPLE. That is unbelievable for only (R)(G)... then that second ability is still costed well for giving you another creature(with trample thx to ability #1)... i mean, if you're green use your ramp creatures to pay for the final dive and have multiple lands become 4/4's...

This is the best card to come out of Gruul, and mark my words this card will go in many many many decks... i'll need multiple playsets, one for my squirrel deck, one for a werewolf deck...

Brutal art, Brutal utility... I rate this a 6/5 and you should too.

I love how this and Rubblehulk have direct interactions with lands, but it didn't end up being the Guild Mechanic. It as probably something they pondered in early development.

Not-Garruk here is definitely one of the best guildmages, if not the best.

Stonebrow, Krosan Hero approves.

Mr. Vakyoom,
I do agree that the Gatecrash cycle of guild mages is far superior to Retun to Ravnica's, but if the trample for all ability is much nicer for swarm decks on Legion Loyalist, who is just bonkers, or in the case of werwolfs Full Moon's Rise. While this guy is still very good he has some reasonable competition and I would not call him an instant playset in all green red decks.

Great art, the ability to make a beater/ bloodrush target, trampler for everybody, not entirely sure why this guy got less than 4.

This is by far the best guildmage in the block. For 5 mana (not including the land you animate), you can get a 4/4 out and swing with it the turn this comes into play. And compare its first ability to New Prahv's, who can only give ONE creature flying at the same cost. This card is just amazing, especially in decks with sitting mana like Gruul.

So what color is the resulting Elemental? My though would be red and green, but it has been argued that it is colorless.

His excellent abilities are definitely calling back to an old favorite of the Clans: the Gruul War Plow.

Pirate Guildmage is amazing, but I'm still wondering about his second effect.

Not because that effect is "bad" or "only okay," though; being able to get a 3cmc 4/4 that can't be hit most of the time is freaking amazing.

No, what's bothering me about it is that the land becomes a "4/4 Elemental," not a "4/4 red and green Elemental." You're paying two colors to make a land into a colorless creature...

Great first plus stackable second ability makes this standard playable

Probably the only playable guildmage. I couldn't believe it was that good until I played it myself. Early game trample for just 2 is ridiculous in Gruul: it is their flavourful way of evasion. Late game, getting Hill Giants out of your lands is awesome for your alpha strike. Don't have Bloodrush targets? Guildmage to the rescue. Not to mention, it fits right on the curve as a good old Grizzly Bears; even better when preceded by Burning Tree Emissary.

Amazing Card. 5/5

I do like the idea of animating Ghost Quarter to block then saccing it to destroy a land before damage is dealt. Also, can you use his 2nd ability twice on the same land to save it from damage?