Pointed Discussion

Easily one of the coolest cards in the set.

Flavor homerun, otherwise quite janky, ey?

It is weird, though, that it stops the soldiers who just crawled out of its belly from connecting.

Otherwise, mechanic-wise similar to Sleeper Agent.

FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR. Not really playable unfortunately, but... damn, that flavor.

Well if this doesn't work you could always construct a giant wooden badger....

I feel like it should have unleashed a bunch of soldiers all at once rather than trickling them out one per turn. That would put it more in line with the Trojan Horse story. Maybe depending on how many turns it had been alive.

"Sorry I wiped your board with a Supreme Verdict earlier. Here, a gift from the gods. (Mwahahaha...)"

This seems quite amusing in EDH or any other casual multiplayer format.

Also, another fun target for Strionic Resonator.

My first thought was my Zedruu the Greathearted EDH deck.

Hopefully there will be a hero in the next set that offers protection.

AKROAN MAN!!

I love the concept for the flavor behind this card, but it's pretty weak unfortunately.

I'm not entirely content with realization of flavor to functionality though.
The flavor issues I see (as well as the changes I'd make to fix them) are the following:

- Make it a Horse Construct:
If a creature that's based on the Trojan Horse isn't a construct, I don't know what is.

- Make the effect not just check the controller, but the owner as well:
The flavor gets screwed up once you take control of the horse (e.g. with Homeward Path). The effect still triggers and your opponent will get the tokens instead. But those tokens represent the soldiers you hid in your fake present. If you take it back, those soldiers shouldn't suddenly turn against you.

- Make it unable to block, or a noncreature artifact entirely:
(Lord_of_Tresserhorn already pointed that one out)
It's an inanimate object after all. It shouldn't be able to block, especially not the soldiers that came right out of it. I suppose Wizards wanted to make it easier for your opponent to get rid of this thing, but that means in the average scenario, it's one of your own creatures that destroys it in combat, and why should that creature want do that?

Only the third suggestion would have a considerable impact on the functional changes during average play. But that wouldn't make it unfair:

As it is, Akroan Horse is basically a free 1/1 token engine for you.
The fact that it triggers on your opponent's rather than your upkeep not only allows you to block with these tokens, but also attack with them on your turn.
But it comes with the considerable downside that your opponent gets a free sturdy blocker (that can block bigger threats than one of your tokens), which potentially enhances his cards' effects (like Crusader of Odric's power) or can be used to pay their cost (Opposition, Arcbound Ravager)
And if he can't make use of it and doesn't want you to get tokens, he can get rid of it with the usual means of removal (and, being an artifact creature, it is susceptible to either kind of removal).

But in addition to that, your opponent can get rid of it by blocking your strongest attack, which means not only did he not have to use one of his cards to do so, but even prevented considerable damage to him with your own cards.

This is why even with these changes, I'd still consider it far from powerful.
Four mana is a considerable sum for all this risk, which is why I would have dropped the cost of this as well.


So, to sum all I said up as card text, I present to you my flavor- and powerlevel-fixed suggestion:

Akroan Horse
Artifact Creature - Horse Construct

~ can't attack or block./
When ~ enters the battlefield, an opponent gains control of it./
At the beginning of you your upkeep if you're not the owner of ~, the owner of ~ puts a 1/1 white Soldier creature token on the battlefield.

0/4

One of the FEW moview Sean Bean doesn't die in! :D


"If they ever tell my story, let them say... I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat... but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say... I lived in the time of Achilles."


(by they way, this block is going to be my absolute favorite of All Time for Gatherer purposes. Prepare Yourself!!! James Woods is coming....)

Love that they made a card of this, but I don't think the mechanic quite captures it.

If only this was Legends, it could say "Soldiers your opponents control can't be blocked by walls and gain banding." Now you're talking.

I always wanted to play white weenie without actually playing any plains...

Interesting card. 4/5 for that. Lots of combo potential in Commander and casual decks. :)

9/18/13 - Entry 8

This will be my final journal entry. The flavor... is everywhere. We can't stop it. We can't even hold us back. The flavor will be the doom of us all.

I think it's weird that this doesn't target the opponent, like Sleeper Agent.

Should be "Artifact Creature - Horse Construct" IMO

In multiplayer, how do you decide which opponent gets the horse?

Here is what the card should have been,
akroan horse 4

artifact creature - horse

defender

when akroan horse enters the battlefield target opponent gains control of it.

at the end of your turn sacrifice akroan horse.

if you do, its owner puts four 1/1 soldier tokens into play and creatures you control cannot block until the your next upkeep.

0/4

The horse was not a magical endless supply of soldiers. It was a one trick pony, that was used to infiltrate enemy lines. IT had a fixed (small) amount of soldiers inside that opened the gates for the soldiers outside.

"Please, honored friend, take it with my compliments. I insist."

So much delicious flavor.... Wish the card was a little better though. Maybe for control? A free blocker every turn seems pretty good.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.....

In a huge multiplayer game, Suture Priest and Soul Warden.

BEDEVERE: Well, now, uh, Lancelot, Galahad, and I, uh, wait until nightfall, and then leap out of the rabbit, taking the French, uh, by surprise. Not only by surprise, but totally unarmed!

ARTHUR: Who leaps out?

BEDEVERE: U-- u-- uh, Lancelot, Galahad, and I, uh, leap out of the rabbit, uh, and uh...

ARTHUR: Ohh.

BEDEVERE: Oh. Um, l-- look, i-- i-- if we built this large wooden badger--

I'm obviously reading the rules for this thing wrong because as I understand it "your opponent puts a white 1/1 soldier token onto the battlefield" means they get control of the token. Or am I as wrong as I think I am?

Meh... I don't like this very much. The mechanic doesn't quite fit the myth as the Trojan horse was used one time for a big effect, not used repeatedly over time for a small effect. And the mechanic is quite clunky and inelegant regardless.

Something tells me Purphoros, God of the Forge thought this was the best battlefield trick ever.

Comboing this with Purphoros, God of the Forge is very powerful. You get a Purphoros trigger when the horse enters the battlefield (It only goes to your opponent's side in response to entering, it doesn't enter on their side) and then of course you get two more free damage each turn. You'll need to tune your deck to win without unhelped ground attackers. I used Massive Raid and Seismic Stomp; Teleportal seems good in red-blue, and Glaring Spotlight could be bonkers.

I don't know if it's tournament-worthy, but it's strong enough to win in FNM. I won two out of three matches very handily even though my deck had serious flaws. (I made it mono-red, which was tough against Master of Waves and big creatures like Kalonian Hydra and Stormbreath Dragon, and I needed more instants and sorceries to trigger Young Pyromancer and Guttersnipe. I'll remake it red-black, including Dreadbore and maybe Hero's Downfall to help with planeswalkers, and Doom Blade for Master of Waves.)

It's kind of weird that they don't say how the opponent that gets it is determined. Is it at random? Is it someone you get to choose? Is it whichever opponent loses a game of rock/paper/scissors?

Oh, you sided in Mistcutter Hydra?...

To all the ppl posting to ask in multiplayer who gets the token...
Reading FTW!
If you read the card it says "EACH" opponent gets a 1/1 soldier.
This text speaks to the player controlling the horse so it would mean that each player who isn't him will get a token each turn.

Seems like a bomb in limited. Functionally not all that different from Moat, which is really saying something. Your non-flying creatures get poorer attacks, and you get infinite 1/1 dudes to chump their non-flyers. Awesome in control, assuming you aren't facing much trample or evasion. This could also be sick in a Phalanx Leader deck.

Also, this cannot be used with Strionic Resonator, since that only copies abilities you control.

To take full advantage of this put it in a blue flying or unblockable deck.

He he he.
"An opponent gains control": You choose, but DOESN'T target. >_<

"Each opponent puts a token into play": You definitely get tokens.

In other words, this card is: Play this card onto any opponent's field. At the beginning of their upkeep, everyone else gets a 1/1 token. Oh, and this creature can't even attack or kill what it blocks and is strong enough it won't be dying in battle soon.

A crowin' horse, you say? Never saw one before. :P

Zedruu approves.

Some of you might say this card is weak, but I just went 7-1 with a blue black flyers deck at a PTQ and this card was an MVP. Being able to chump block every turn while also building an army is better than it looks, this card deserves to be in standard sideboards.

Dat flavor!

You could play fleshwrither to ensure that he hits the board.

And use clone to make even more, you can also get him through fleshwrither.

Paradox Haze even makes more.

Massiv tokens for you

4/5 because it is usefull for Zedruu or Heliod EDH.

@Avensai "I feel like it should have unleashed a bunch of soldiers all at once rather than trickling them out one per turn. That would put it more in line with the Trojan Horse story. Maybe depending on how many turns it had been alive."

Wait, so does that mean the soldiers spend their time inside the horse... Breeding?!?

Everyone is talking about their Zedruu decks, but you can also put it into a Glissa, the Traitor deck.

When it inevitably dies (blocking Glissa, or sacrificed, or something), it counts as a creature an opponent controls. Then Glissa's ability triggers and she gets to pull it out of your graveyard for another go-round. It's hilarious.

Looking at Goblin Assault, Bitterblossom, and Honden of Life's Web, this card doesn't seem all that bad. It costs 1 more than the Assault and gives the opponent a Steel Wall, but since you're getting a token every turn, you can pretty quickly overrun them. It doesn't play nice with any 3-power creatures you have, but in a token deck one more blocker won't slow you down too much.

The real downsides are that you can't attack with anything that has 4+ power without losing your tokens, the Horse doesn't survive through wrarth effects, and anyone playing sac effects will just laugh in your face.

It's no Bitterblossom, but hey, it's colorless and the Blossom kinda made Standard revolve around itself for a fair while. Plus, this thing has some crazy political potential in mutliplayer.

In an EDH game a week ago I was given this by another player, when my turn rolled around I played out Elesh Norn. We never did figure out why dead soldiers were pouring out of the horse, maybe they forgot to put breathing holes in it or something? x)

this card is obviously great in a deck build on soldiers, and speed. Hypothetically, dropping this on turn 4, then turn 5 a crusaders so every time a token hits the battle field under your control all your creatures get +1/+1. which isn't too hard, in a Red/White deck. u'd just have to build in a decent removal spell to deal with him...

I'm surprised no one mentioned the synergy with Purphoros yet

Now this is designing with multiplayer in mind!