With a Dark Rit, awesome 1st turn. I use it to get Ashen Ghoul in my graveyard early, then 3rd turn Buried Alive to get the other 3 Ashens in my graveyard and the combo begins. Good card in black.
nammertime
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Either that, or just discard Basking Rootwalla... onto the battlefield!
Aaron_Forsythe
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(13 votes)
Aaron’s Random Card Comment of the Day #66, 3/27/10
The most interesting thing about this card--to me--is that the original Clint Langley art for it hangs in the home of one Paul Barclay, former Magic Rules Manager and current director in WotC’s Creative and Production Services team. So next time you’re at his house, check it out.
Now I need to say something entertaining for the 99+% of you that will never go to Paul’s house…
Ah, Weatherlight. A set named after a ship, with a book for its expansion symbol, and a heavy graveyard-oriented mechanical throughline. Did I mention it was set three in an African-flavored block? Does any of this make sense?
Hidden Horror has nothing to do with Africa, ships, or books, but he is a clever card in a graveyard-themed set. Black creatures have a long history of exchanging a super-efficient mana cost for some kind of unsavory drawback, and players have an equally long history of trying to turn those drawbacks into advantages. The easy answer to the question posed by Hidden Horror was to discard an expensive creature you had no intention of casting and then use a reanimation spell to bring said fatty back to life on the cheap… and you get a 4/4 for your troubles.
Such a strategy was hinted at not-so-subtly throughout the Weatherlight set, with more ways to discard creatures such as Merfolk Traders and Firestorm. While there weren’t any strong reanimation spells in Weatherlight (just Strands of Night), the Standard environment at the time contained Animate Dead, Necromancy, Reanimate, Corpse Dance, and Living Death, among others. Hall of Famer (and ex-R&D member) Alan Comer combined several of these cards to cheat out Sliver Queens and Verdant Forces in one of his most famous deck designs, “Comer-Zilla”, which he played in ‘97 Regionals.
We typically don't encourage decks like Comer-Zilla any more. Because our fatties these days are even better than Sliver Queen and Verdant Force, we tend to shy away from reanimation spells that cost less than four mana--we’d rather make the awesome fatty than the awesome Zombify--but there’s still room in the game for antics like those Hidden Horror provides. If a designer or developer told me that card was being reprinted in an upcoming set, I’d be pleased to hear it.
okaaaaay
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This art is better than the new art.
Cheza
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@ Aaron:
I agree with you that there shouldn't be any cheap reanimation spell in black that is able to revive a Titan or anything similar. But this doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any cheap reanimation spell at all.
I'm no fan of black reanimation spells that return the creature to your hand, as this feels like a break in the logic. I either reanimate it or not. So what does a creature in my hand mean? Is it reanimated, just to be played 4 turns later? Or maybe it never sees the battlefield again... since you've decided to discard it for a Hidden Horror instead. Therefore, I like the Unearth or Stir the Grave spells much more than any Disentomb. If the spell would also state "a graveyard" instead "your graveyard", it would really make me a fan of black again.
The Hidden Horror is an "ok" card. It's flavorful that this cards "frightens" the one who casted it, losing a "thought = card" in this way. I don't like the fact that the lost card is put into a graveyard, but I DO like the fact that this isn't a must effect, but a "choose one - discard or sacrifice", since this allows some other forms of abuse, not just the reanimator strategy.
Comments (5)
The most interesting thing about this card--to me--is that the original Clint Langley art for it hangs in the home of one Paul Barclay, former Magic Rules Manager and current director in WotC’s Creative and Production Services team. So next time you’re at his house, check it out.
Now I need to say something entertaining for the 99+% of you that will never go to Paul’s house…
Ah, Weatherlight. A set named after a ship, with a book for its expansion symbol, and a heavy graveyard-oriented mechanical throughline. Did I mention it was set three in an African-flavored block? Does any of this make sense?
Hidden Horror has nothing to do with Africa, ships, or books, but he is a clever card in a graveyard-themed set. Black creatures have a long history of exchanging a super-efficient mana cost for some kind of unsavory drawback, and players have an equally long history of trying to turn those drawbacks into advantages. The easy answer to the question posed by Hidden Horror was to discard an expensive creature you had no intention of casting and then use a reanimation spell to bring said fatty back to life on the cheap… and you get a 4/4 for your troubles.
Such a strategy was hinted at not-so-subtly throughout the Weatherlight set, with more ways to discard creatures such as Merfolk Traders and Firestorm. While there weren’t any strong reanimation spells in Weatherlight (just Strands of Night), the Standard environment at the time contained Animate Dead, Necromancy, Reanimate, Corpse Dance, and Living Death, among others. Hall of Famer (and ex-R&D member) Alan Comer combined several of these cards to cheat out Sliver Queens and Verdant Forces in one of his most famous deck designs, “Comer-Zilla”, which he played in ‘97 Regionals.
We typically don't encourage decks like Comer-Zilla any more. Because our fatties these days are even better than Sliver Queen and Verdant Force, we tend to shy away from reanimation spells that cost less than four mana--we’d rather make the awesome fatty than the awesome Zombify--but there’s still room in the game for antics like those Hidden Horror provides. If a designer or developer told me that card was being reprinted in an upcoming set, I’d be pleased to hear it.
I agree with you that there shouldn't be any cheap reanimation spell in black that is able to revive a Titan or anything similar. But this doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any cheap reanimation spell at all.
I'm no fan of black reanimation spells that return the creature to your hand, as this feels like a break in the logic. I either reanimate it or not. So what does a creature in my hand mean? Is it reanimated, just to be played 4 turns later? Or maybe it never sees the battlefield again... since you've decided to discard it for a Hidden Horror instead. Therefore, I like the Unearth or Stir the Grave spells much more than any Disentomb. If the spell would also state "a graveyard" instead "your graveyard", it would really make me a fan of black again.
The Hidden Horror is an "ok" card. It's flavorful that this cards "frightens" the one who casted it, losing a "thought = card" in this way. I don't like the fact that the lost card is put into a graveyard, but I DO like the fact that this isn't a must effect, but a "choose one - discard or sacrifice", since this allows some other forms of abuse, not just the reanimator strategy.