There wasn't room for "X can't be zero." On the card. Don't think this is an infinite source of targeting/creatures dying.
Regardless, very powerful and fun Naya card that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Never feel afraid to let this bad boy die so he can keep growing.
Mode
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
"There wasn't room for "X can't be zero." On the card. Don't think this is an infinite source of targeting/creatures dying." --ChttrBox88
Pretty sure "there wasn't room" wasn't the reason for this. Look at Ice Cauldron for example.
It was some really odd oversight if I'm not mistaken. I wonder, how could you not notice the potential for abuse for infinite etb/dies triggers without the restriction? It might only have been a printing error somehow and was planned to come with that restriction, though.
Hunter06
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Tis a shame they nerfed it, but its still pretty good.
4.5/5 Stars
Sonserf369
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Second favorite Commander in the set after Nekusar. Awesome timmy creature + utility. Anything that will add counters when he enters (Primal Vigor, Llanowar Reborn) makes him even better. Badass art as well.
The fact that you have to keep investing mana for his effects makes him a bit less powerful than the other commanders IMO.
Cyberium
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Marath would be fun to play even outside of EDH. There's versatility written all over it. Besides, there are plenty other ways to add +1/+1 counters onto him. Ring of Thune and it's cousins would make Marath a cannon, a token generator, and a creature-buffer all in one for a long time.
He's got mad combo potential, and he's also a neat Swiss army knife in command of a rampaging Beast tribal deck. (Uril was the only legendary beast before Commander 2013, and he wasn't much of a team player).
TheBossHammer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
To be fully honest, he's really just a tiny X Spell with options that you have to pay for twice per shot and that gets bigger and more expensive as the game goes on. By himself he's actually really weak...with Doubling Season, Primal Vigor and perhaps even a Parallel Lives on the field, he's a god...but still strictly worse than Ghave, Guru of Spores, who scales the same way and who goes infinite off of Ashnod's Altar with any of the above (except a lone Parallel Lives, that's not quite enough).
Totema
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
They didn't "nerf" it, the clause was always meant to be in effect.
JimmyNoobPlayer
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
The Marath Commander 2013 deck, Nature of the Beast, uses 7 different tokens, including 3 different Beast tokens. But this is much better than last time- the Ghave Commaner 2011 deck had 14 different tokens, including weird stuff like a Penumbra Spider and a Spawnwrithe.
It also had Bestial Menace which put three different-sized tokens on the field. If you don't have a Snake, Wolf, and Elephant token prepared, what can you do? You might use spare face-down cards (I hope no one confuses them for Morphs) with dice to represent the power. That'll work fine until Ghave wants to add counters.
I'm glad Marath's deck is a little more reasonable. Those X/X Elemental tokens are going to be a pain in the butt, but I'm sure it'll work out somehow.
FaltonOV
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@Mode: Wizards specifically mentioned that the "X can't be zero" ruling would be added as Oracle text later.
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(10 votes)
"My general is a fierce demon!" "I've got a noble knight!" "I'm playing a reindeer today."
ConsoleCleric
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Food Chain will turn your manabase into pump, damage or tokens!
EvilDarkVoid
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If I'm understanding this correctly, you can use him with Chorus of the Conclave to pour your excess mana into casting him, and receive double the counters for doing so. Still, this guy is a pretty effective mana sink on his own, so I'm not sure its worth it.
Throttlesky
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fun card to play as a commander (obviously). He makes tokens (of different sizes), damages creatures or players and can distribute +1/+1 counters easily.
I'm using Basilisk Collar and Gorgon Flail to help kill nasty creatures, and don't be afraid to kill this guy. I've casted him turn 3 and killed him via making tokens and pinging creatures turn 4 just to bring him back turn 5 with even more counters. Rinse and repeat (especially if you keep dropping lands and have ramp going)
My favourite of the Commander 2013 legendaries, followed closely by Prossh. Marath is an amazing toolbox card and only gets more powerful the more the game drags out. By the second time you can cast him, he'll already be able to assassinate most other commanders (Prossh, Oloro, Sharuum etc.), and it only gets worse from there. He doesn't really need Doubling Season-esque cards to be good - all he needs is enough mana to repeatedly gun down your opponents' key creatures and brute-force his way to victory - but they're certainly not a bad combo with him.
While Marath's deck has an identity crisis (it doesn't know whether to be ramp, power 5+ matters or beast tribal), at least Marath is there to help the deck have some kind of inevitability in the late-game, and the deck has plenty of cards that can kill stuff like Control Magic and Darksteel Mutation in case you don't have the spare mana necessary to make Marath explode into an army of tokens in response to those kinds of cards.
my goodness this guy is a house, put in a deck meant to abuse the sheer force of endless tokens, this guy does everything, particularly with champion of lambhodlt....
clab7834
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Use this guy to power your Gyre Sage, then use your Gyre Sage to power this guy.
Justice1337
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
WIthout errata, Blade of the Bloodchief is a rofl-stomp. With it, it's still pretty good. And since he can target himself with the add counter ability, Illusionist's Bracers is actually the aggressive utility equipment that you want.
Overall, I think he's a pretty good improvement over Ghave, Guru of Spores from the last packs. Ghave just really wanted a little built-in removal, some aggressive potential, and some continued playability after the first death. Same combos basically apply too, since most didn't use Black.
Vulf
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The Forest gives life and takes life away. Life and death are his alone.
-Moro the Wolf
Even if everyone of us dies, it will be a battle the humans never forget!
Looks like Marath ate too many cheap tacos and now he's paying the consequenses for it. Try to unsee it.
genresavvy
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(7 votes)
You know Venser, and Momir and Skullbriar and Avacyn, Cromat and Talrand and Animar and Doran., But do you recall? The most famous commander of all?
Marath the Red-Nosed Pain deer Had very shiny toes And if you ever kill him You would even say he grows And all of the other commanders Used to laugh and call Naya lame They never let poor Marath Join in any commander games
Then one foggy combat phase Borborygmos came to say, crush, crush them Marath with your counter might, Won't you burn them just outright?
Then all the commanders hated him As they shouted out with pain, ochee Marath the Red-Nosed Pain deer You'll go up in CMC
Mr.Freshness-Timmy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
If I have something that buffs creatures like elesh norn, could I keep paying 0 to make 0/0's removing 0 counters?
Orohu
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Mr.Freshness-Timmy: 10/17/2013 Marath, Will of the Wild has received minor errata. The text “X can’t be 0” was inadvertently omitted from the card. The correct Oracle wording appears above.
@TheDoomknight Is a card printed six years before Marath referencing it? I'm going to say probably not.
@Mr.Freshness-Timmy Since the rules text specifically says you can't do what you're asking, again, I'm going to say probably not.
Continue
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
If they hadn't errata'd this, it would have produced infinite damage with Goblin Sharpshooter, among other things.
Dragonshoredreamz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Marath, Flaming Ass of the Wild
TapToUntap
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
His 1/1 Elementals get along with Skull Clamp very well.
It's Essentially : Draw 2 cards.
JuQmadrid
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Attach him some equipment that grants deathtouch or even better, the Sword of Kaldra and watch him become a bad motherf***er. Add a Blade of the Bloodchief and he'll become even more badass (except with the sword of kaldra).
Salient
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A: "Alright, so we've got : Move a +1/+1 counter, do 1 damage, or create a 1/1 elemental. Seems pretty solid."
B: "But wouldn't Marath be even more awesome if it could make large creatures, too?"
A: "Well, I guess we can just change the to an . That doesn't have an impact on the other abilities."
B: "Seems legit."
...six months pass...
C: HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN
B: "Seemed legit."
A: "Seriously, who pays for ?"
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think the reason why they put the "X can't be 0" clause in was because of Ceaseless Searblades.
Comments (36)
Regardless, very powerful and fun Naya card that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Never feel afraid to let this bad boy die so he can keep growing.
Pretty sure "there wasn't room" wasn't the reason for this. Look at Ice Cauldron for example.
It was some really odd oversight if I'm not mistaken.
I wonder, how could you not notice the potential for abuse for infinite etb/dies triggers without the restriction?
It might only have been a printing error somehow and was planned to come with that restriction, though.
4.5/5 Stars
He's got mad combo potential, and he's also a neat Swiss army knife in command of a rampaging Beast tribal deck. (Uril was the only legendary beast before Commander 2013, and he wasn't much of a team player).
It also had Bestial Menace which put three different-sized tokens on the field. If you don't have a Snake, Wolf, and Elephant token prepared, what can you do? You might use spare face-down cards (I hope no one confuses them for Morphs) with dice to represent the power. That'll work fine until Ghave wants to add counters.
I'm glad Marath's deck is a little more reasonable. Those X/X Elemental tokens are going to be a pain in the butt, but I'm sure it'll work out somehow.
"I've got a noble knight!"
"I'm playing a reindeer today."
I'm using Basilisk Collar and Gorgon Flail to help kill nasty creatures, and don't be afraid to kill this guy. I've casted him turn 3 and killed him via making tokens and pinging creatures turn 4 just to bring him back turn 5 with even more counters. Rinse and repeat (especially if you keep dropping lands and have ramp going)
Great card. 5 stars
All the 2/2s.
While Marath's deck has an identity crisis (it doesn't know whether to be ramp, power 5+ matters or beast tribal), at least Marath is there to help the deck have some kind of inevitability in the late-game, and the deck has plenty of cards that can kill stuff like Control Magic and Darksteel Mutation in case you don't have the spare mana necessary to make Marath explode into an army of tokens in response to those kinds of cards.
Overall, I think he's a pretty good improvement over Ghave, Guru of Spores from the last packs. Ghave just really wanted a little built-in removal, some aggressive potential, and some continued playability after the first death. Same combos basically apply too, since most didn't use Black.
The Forest gives life and takes life away. Life and death are his alone.
-Moro the Wolf
Even if everyone of us dies, it will be a battle the humans never forget!
-Okkoto the Boar
Edit: Oracle text says X can't be 0.
Cromat and Talrand and Animar and Doran.,
But do you recall?
The most famous commander of all?
Marath the Red-Nosed Pain deer
Had very shiny toes
And if you ever kill him
You would even say he grows
And all of the other commanders
Used to laugh and call Naya lame
They never let poor Marath
Join in any commander games
Then one foggy combat phase
Borborygmos came to say, crush, crush them
Marath with your counter might,
Won't you burn them just outright?
Then all the commanders hated him
As they shouted out with pain, ochee
Marath the Red-Nosed Pain deer
You'll go up in CMC
10/17/2013 Marath, Will of the Wild has received minor errata. The text “X can’t be 0” was inadvertently omitted from the card. The correct Oracle wording appears above.
Is a card printed six years before Marath referencing it? I'm going to say probably not.
@Mr.Freshness-Timmy
Since the rules text specifically says you can't do what you're asking, again, I'm going to say probably not.
It's Essentially
B: "But wouldn't Marath be even more awesome if it could make large creatures, too?"
A: "Well, I guess we can just change the
B: "Seems legit."
...six months pass...
C: HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN
B: "Seemed legit."
A: "Seriously, who pays