And the award for most horrible monster with the best hair goes to....... Gallowbraid!!!
theabyss
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
this card is far from awful....for 5 mana you get a 5/5 tramlpler,,,,after a few turns just stop paying the upkeep
Gilgiga
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You mean after a few turns you no long need to pay it's upkeep.
GradiustheFox
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
He does have really nice hair for a skulking undead hellion that devours not only its enemies but his master. But it's not braided at all! As for the usefulness, I bet if you could get a counter-remover set up this guy would be fun. Or are there any that could be triggered in time to keep his age at 0? If not, 1 life per round isn't that bad.
Ratoly
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You complaining about Gallowbraid! Go meet Wood Elemental!
achilleselbow
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Yea, seriously. Either it will get removed after a couple of turns, or if it stays out long enough for you to lose a substantial amount of life, it'll probably have killed the opponent by then.
okay, the art is epic, and... I want to use it as a monster in D&D
Anyway, that upkeep should cut it's CMC to 4
Mata-nui3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.7/5.0)(3 votes)
so... why is this legendary again?
supershawn
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
to be legendary something needs only to be unique, since crovax is talking about it, I'm sure we would know why it's legendary if we read the right books.
DarthKithkin
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(5 votes)
Ask Crovax's family why these demons are legendary... oh wait :-(
Samyaza
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hey, put lifelink on it and it'll pay its own upkeep and more. I run it in my mono black infect/lifelink deck, works pretty well.
Shoe2
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
My neverending hatred of Gallowbraid is well documented on WOOBERG, I have nothing to say here but...
SUCK!
P.S.: really WOTC? I can't say Documented? What about Cumin? It's just a seasoning.
Eh, it's not terrible. Swing the turn after you drop him, you've only lost 1 life.
He ain't great, but he could sit in a monoblack deck at the 5 cmc slot and not upset anyone much. Granted, Bloodgift Demon would be much better, but still.
Equinox523
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
For your convenience, here is the Gallowbraid cumulative upkeep clock, starting from the first turn it hits the table.
Turn 1: Play Gallowbraid. Lose 0 life. Turn 2: Lose 1 life Turn 3: Lose 2 life (3 total) Turn 4: Lose 3 life (6 total) Turn 5: Lose 4 life (10 total) Turn 6: Lose 5 life (15 total) Turn 7: Lose 6 life (21 total)
Now obviously, keeping him around for 7 turns is not the point of the creature. It's to attack with it early and often, if possible. This could be ghastly in conjunction with a Swamp and pair of Dark Rituals in an opening hand, as there is very little that can stop a 5 powered black creature on the board that early. His trample also means chump blocking is not a good option. Should your opponent Pacifism him, just let him die. This card serves as a great example to illustrate why Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are so good - for a single you can remove even aggressive early turn threats that other colors would have problems dealing with.
As for Gallowbraid itself, It's also effective design to demonstrate the risky nature of playing black. Cumulative upkeep means that you first harm yourself, before you even have a chance at attacking, so it's possible that you take life loss and get nothing for it. However, it comes with the price of risking removal and card disadvantage if it is thwarted somehow.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A large majority of the 'terrible' cards of Magic's past make excellent inspirations for Monsters in DnD :)
Especially Black Legendary Creatures.
blurrymadness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Holy crap! There's a band that is named after this guy*! If you like Black Metal I'd heartily recommend their song Stone of remembrance! (sorry to advertise, I'm just so excited!) Something else I like is that he's a horror; one of my favorite creature types.
Just for that, this guy will have to find his way into a deck somehow. Maybe as a commander in EDH!? I'll try to only win with commander damage via every black and colorless pump I can find. Equips, etc.. 100 lands, equipments, pumps, mana-ramping, and him; Black-Metaling his way into the opponent's face with Double Strike, Vigilance, Trample, deals double damage, haste, shroud, permanent destroying, indestructible, annihilator 2, etc..
Yes.
Yes. I haven't started an EDH deck before. This will be my introduction to the format I never play and homage to the band I frequently listen to. This will crush other mediocre decks underfoot! ..Sometimes!
Plus, with how much he'll get killed, he's bound to have a small upkeep :D
*I checked for other mythos that would have Gallowbraid such as Norse mythology and came up with nothing.
Comments (19)
As for the usefulness, I bet if you could get a counter-remover set up this guy would be fun. Or are there any that could be triggered in time to keep his age at 0? If not, 1 life per round isn't that bad.
Morinfen is probably better though.
Anyway, that upkeep should cut it's CMC to 4
SUCK!
P.S.: really WOTC? I can't say Documented? What about Cumin? It's just a seasoning.
Haha yes this is true, wood elemental ain't got nothin' on Gallowbraid.
He ain't great, but he could sit in a monoblack deck at the 5 cmc slot and not upset anyone much. Granted, Bloodgift Demon would be much better, but still.
Turn 1: Play Gallowbraid. Lose 0 life.
Turn 2: Lose 1 life
Turn 3: Lose 2 life (3 total)
Turn 4: Lose 3 life (6 total)
Turn 5: Lose 4 life (10 total)
Turn 6: Lose 5 life (15 total)
Turn 7: Lose 6 life (21 total)
Now obviously, keeping him around for 7 turns is not the point of the creature. It's to attack with it early and often, if possible. This could be ghastly in conjunction with a Swamp and pair of Dark Rituals in an opening hand, as there is very little that can stop a 5 powered black creature on the board that early. His trample also means chump blocking is not a good option. Should your opponent Pacifism him, just let him die. This card serves as a great example to illustrate why Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are so good - for a single
As for Gallowbraid itself, It's also effective design to demonstrate the risky nature of playing black. Cumulative upkeep means that you first harm yourself, before you even have a chance at attacking, so it's possible that you take life loss and get nothing for it. However, it comes with the price of risking removal and card disadvantage if it is thwarted somehow.
Especially Black Legendary Creatures.
Just for that, this guy will have to find his way into a deck somehow. Maybe as a commander in EDH!? I'll try to only win with commander damage via every black and colorless pump I can find. Equips, etc.. 100 lands, equipments, pumps, mana-ramping, and him; Black-Metaling his way into the opponent's face with Double Strike, Vigilance, Trample, deals double damage, haste, shroud, permanent destroying, indestructible, annihilator 2, etc..
Yes.
Yes.
I haven't started an EDH deck before. This will be my introduction to the format I never play and homage to the band I frequently listen to.
This will crush other mediocre decks underfoot!
..Sometimes!
Plus, with how much he'll get killed, he's bound to have a small upkeep :D
*I checked for other mythos that would have Gallowbraid such as Norse mythology and came up with nothing.