This will be a lot of fun to combo with a certain orzhov uncommon, in limited. By fun, I mean annoying. And by annoying, I mean, hilarity for me to enjoy.
handoflazav_414
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Oh, COME ON! Reassembling Skeleton works much better, especially against multiple attackers! *returns after being defeated* I take that back. This is way cooler.
Splizer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Coolest common in the set BY FAR. Not because it's super-powered or even necessarily good. No.
It's just BADASS. A B/U skeleton? An awesome name? Sweet art? An ability that doesn't give two craps about what the majority of removal thinks? This guy should have sunglasses over those empty eye sockets!
Also, Corpse Blockade is a nice little defensive combo. You can get immense card value out of that over the course of a game.
xenohedron
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Interesting card, simple text with useful ramifications. Similar usage to Reassembling Skeleton but at sorcery speed for entering the battlefield untapped. Obviously great with sacrifice outlets.
MisterAction
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Man, this gets my award for biggest personal surprise at the prerelease. Two different games I found myself with one of these on the field alongside Consuming Aberration, Shadow Alley Denizen, and something with extort, just absolutely praying the opponent would attack me and give me a chance to chump with this guy.
Brastus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"EVER SHALL I RISE TO THWART YOU!" Exile. ".....well dammit."
General_Naga
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Forms a loop of Creature ETB triggers with Deathrender and any sac outlet. Equip the Deathrender to the Strider, sac it, put the Deathrender trigger on the stack, put the Strider trigger on the stack, Strider trigger resolves putting it in your hand, Deathrender trigger resolves and you can put the Strider into play with Deathrender equipped. Add Warstorm Surge and that's game.
Mode
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Would have loved to see that one with flash. Or to be unblockable. Which would have worked great with the Cypher mechanic. And to some extent, it would also have been a nice shoutout to Dimir Infiltrator.
However, the ability fits perfectly to a blue/black card.
As it is, it's not exactly that powerful that it would have needed the dual-colored casting cost. They could have made it a hybrid card as well. Or they could have given it a stronger body, like 2/1. Or add a may-clause, just in case.
I'd say it's certainly missing something. Well, at least regarding playability - regarding flavor, this one is damn slick!
wholelottalove
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Really rated this low? It triggers entering the graveyard effects then returns to hand.
CastleOrange
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Awesome in Dimic+Orzhov. So many extorts...
Smoke_Stack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
if this were a zombie or cost 1 less, it would be soooo OP. Definitely agree about Grimgrin.
SeaThief
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
More food for Grimgrin?
Hercynian
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This would be good in a self-mill or discard deck if only it said 'when it's put in the graveyard," instead of when it dies. Or they could have given it flying. That would have made it playable. As it is now I'd take reassembling skeleton over this 99 times out of 100.
Insane in Limited, only good for the Johnniest of Johnnies otherwise. 3/5
Mistralis
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's good, but I'm not sure why it's in Dimir.
What does Dimir do? Mill. What does this guy do? Block and fuel sacrifice engines. I'm not really sure what he's good for. Not a very good Cipher target, doesn't mill your opponent, and for the aggro Dimir (ie Consuming Aberration, Wight of Precinct Six, Jace's Phantasm) he's a 1/1 for 3cmc.
Bottom line is, he would've been much better flavorwise and even mechanicwise in say, Golgari or Orzhov colors. Golgari loves its sacrifice fodder and graveyard fillers, and Orzhov loves being able to bounce for extort. But even then, he'd be... hmm...
EvilDarkVoid
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My only complaint is that this thing is way more Orzhov than Dimir. First of all, Orzhov is known to manipulate souls and death so it would make sense for their guild members to be able to become immortal, while aside from this card Dimir has no (afaik anyway) cards that show them as surviving death or stuff like that. In addition, this card actually works a lot better with Orzhov as it allows for a chump blocker every turn so they have time to extort as well as a relatively cheap creature every turn for them to extort (unless the opponent isn't killing it, in which case you're probably doing pretty well anyway).
cotf1692
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well the flavor articles did mention some necromancy going on in the Dimir, since you can't bribe or torture a corpse, they can make good agents. As for this card I would play it in every UB deck if it just cost one less
lilwolf2005
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Look at the battlefield, now look at the my graveyard, now look at it go back into my hand, then look back again at the battlefield. Oh yeah, damn right I'm crazy.
Lord_of_Gelectrodes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I've seen it used well with Consuming Aberration. "Oh, you block it? Have some more mill!"
Combine with a sac engine, like, Altar of Dementia, and mill an extra 1 or more depending on what you have on hand (Bad Moon?).
N03y3D33R
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Basically Endless Roaches reprinted as a skeleton. Great card if you know how to use it right, but definitely not very dimir. Basically, the Roaches could be used for an infinite mana of any color trick involving Phyrexian Altar and Endrek Sahr, but that's not what shines here. Get Endrek Sahr and Phyrexian Altar into play and then cast this guy: (You can still use roaches as they are mono-black, it really doesn't matter anyway since altar lets you generate whatever color mana you want.) Endrek Sahr states that whenever you play a Creature Spell you put X 1/1 Thrull creature tokens into the field where X is the CmC of the creature played. Phyrexian Altar states that you can sacrifice a creature at any time for one mana of any color. You could just keep saccing Mortus and all the tokens he brings for 4 mana, using three to cast him again, and repeating with the net gain of one mana each time for infinite mana of any color combination and use that to play a massive Mind Grind, but let's think bigger.
Add Undercity informer to the mix. Instead of saccing all three tokens and Mortus just sac the Mortus and two tokens, play mortus again for another three tokens, (etc incremental token gain) until you have 6 thrulls (Six because if you have seven or more you have to sacrifice Endrek and ruin the combo) Of those six you can sac one for one mana, use it on undercity informer and sac another one for informers ability clause, sacrifice three more remaining thrulls to play mortus again to start the loop again with one spare thrull left over to shorten waiting time until your next six, rinse and repeat, and eventually you will have milled your opponent at the cost of millions of sacrificed creatures. But how do you really finish them with flair? Cast Flesh Allergy using some of your infinite mana thrull magic and laugh as they take one million damage.
Black mages have such fun combos.
TowerDefender
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Would be a cool commander in a Pauper / Peasant variant.
Dryten
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
what is it you see MOrtis StrIDEr?
RIGHTEREE
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I like using these guys as blockers in a deck with Maze Abomination. Once that lug comes out to play - these turn into renewable deathtouch defenders. Anything ground based will die....heheheheheh.
jonrds
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@hercynian Wasnt there some super broken combo with Zodiac Dragon that made them errata it to "is put into your graveyard from the battlefield" rather than "is put in your graveyard"? Psychatog broke it I think. Thats why they cant make that type of ability.
Though I agree, it would have been very interesting if it had "when it is put into your graveyard, if you did not discard it..." or something along those lines.
DexterJexter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Wait... if I discard this does it go back into my hand? INFINITE COUNTERS ON LOTLETH TROLL!!!
BENJAMEAN123
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
using altar's reap i can get two cards and technically i don't lose a single one. :)
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i faced against 2 of these and a consuming aberration in the sealed two-headed giant tournament and we got wrecked.
Comments (46)
B*tch please, look at me.
Infinite damage: Goblin Bombardment
Infinite life: Life Chisel (since you can play at instant speed)
Infinite mill: Altar of Dementia
Infinite mana: Ashnod's Altar
And so on.
*Acknowledges that there is no "infinite" in magic.*
Reassembling Skeleton works much better, especially against multiple attackers!
*returns after being defeated*
I take that back. This is way cooler.
It's just BADASS. A B/U skeleton? An awesome name? Sweet art? An ability that doesn't give two craps about what the majority of removal thinks? This guy should have sunglasses over those empty eye sockets!
Also, Corpse Blockade is a nice little defensive combo. You can get immense card value out of that over the course of a game.
Exile.
".....well dammit."
Or to be unblockable. Which would have worked great with the Cypher mechanic.
And to some extent, it would also have been a nice shoutout to Dimir Infiltrator.
However, the ability fits perfectly to a blue/black card.
As it is, it's not exactly that powerful that it would have needed the dual-colored casting cost.
They could have made it a hybrid card as well.
Or they could have given it a stronger body, like 2/1.
Or add a may-clause, just in case.
I'd say it's certainly missing something.
Well, at least regarding playability - regarding flavor, this one is damn slick!
The Oracle text is "When Mortus Strider dies, make a trollface grin."
@Yirktos
That combo won't work. Mortus Strider isn't a Zombie.
Also, Virktus Rooftop doesn't work, this isn't a zombie.
What does Dimir do? Mill. What does this guy do? Block and fuel sacrifice engines. I'm not really sure what he's good for. Not a very good Cipher target, doesn't mill your opponent, and for the aggro Dimir (ie Consuming Aberration, Wight of Precinct Six, Jace's Phantasm) he's a 1/1 for 3cmc.
Bottom line is, he would've been much better flavorwise and even mechanicwise in say, Golgari or Orzhov colors. Golgari loves its sacrifice fodder and graveyard fillers, and Orzhov loves being able to bounce for extort. But even then, he'd be... hmm...
"Oh, you block it? Have some more mill!"
Sage's Row Denizen mills 2 every time he enters the battlefield.
Selhoff Occultist mills 1 every time he leaves the battlefield.
Combine with a sac engine, like, Altar of Dementia, and mill an extra 1 or more depending on what you have on hand (Bad Moon?).
Basically, the Roaches could be used for an infinite mana of any color trick involving Phyrexian Altar and Endrek Sahr, but that's not what shines here.
Get Endrek Sahr and Phyrexian Altar into play and then cast this guy: (You can still use roaches as they are mono-black, it really doesn't matter anyway since altar lets you generate whatever color mana you want.) Endrek Sahr states that whenever you play a Creature Spell you put X 1/1 Thrull creature tokens into the field where X is the CmC of the creature played. Phyrexian Altar states that you can sacrifice a creature at any time for one mana of any color. You could just keep saccing Mortus and all the tokens he brings for 4 mana, using three to cast him again, and repeating with the net gain of one mana each time for infinite mana of any color combination and use that to play a massive Mind Grind, but let's think bigger.
Add Undercity informer to the mix. Instead of saccing all three tokens and Mortus just sac the Mortus and two tokens, play mortus again for another three tokens, (etc incremental token gain) until you have 6 thrulls (Six because if you have seven or more you have to sacrifice Endrek and ruin the combo) Of those six you can sac one for one mana, use it on undercity informer and sac another one for informers ability clause, sacrifice three more remaining thrulls to play mortus again to start the loop again with one spare thrull left over to shorten waiting time until your next six, rinse and repeat, and eventually you will have milled your opponent at the cost of millions of sacrificed creatures. But how do you really finish them with flair? Cast Flesh Allergy using some of your infinite mana thrull magic and laugh as they take one million damage.
Black mages have such fun combos.
Wasnt there some super broken combo with Zodiac Dragon that made them errata it to "is put into your graveyard from the battlefield" rather than "is put in your graveyard"? Psychatog broke it I think. Thats why they cant make that type of ability.
Though I agree, it would have been very interesting if it had "when it is put into your graveyard, if you did not discard it..." or something along those lines.
INFINITE COUNTERS ON LOTLETH TROLL!!!