Pointed Discussion

This card in an elf/beast deck with timberwatch elf has been the death of me countless times

really? your friend should drop the beasts and just use taunting elf instead.

This is a slow removal spell at worst. At best, a win condition. Good example of how powerful Provoke is.

Goro on steroids.

I choose you, Brontotherium!

Baconradar: It's actually not as bad as you make it out to be. Remember that this is green, and removal is (and should be) scarce. This is a very good facimille of removal (repeatable, at that), so I'd take value in that. Otherwise, mono-green has no other way of dealing with pesky utility creatures. Well, unless they fly.

Provoke isn't exactly clunky here, either. It means that if your opponent wants to kill him via blocking, he better be prepared to lose the creature you throw in front of it as well (ie, attacking into a 3/3 and 2/2- you provoke the 2/2, forcing him to use his other creature if he wants to get rid of this thing). The (very valid) problem I think you have is his relative fragility. I hear you. But remember he was printed in a block full of creatures- Onslaught block was a tribal block, which meant lots of Lords and piddly utility creatures for him to trample over. That was and is is function. And he's good at it.

He begs to be run with creature pump to make the most of the Provoke/trample combo. Frankly, I love the idea of taking out a creature AND damaging your opponent for a moderate amount without having to do anything else fancy. But with a few Giant Growth-like effects, this is, as has been said, a win condition.

Again, as with most cards of this era, I think modern eyes spoil the value. If printed today, yes, it would probably be five or even four mana (though probably triple green if it went that low).

Ultratog: I think the point of it's inclusion was to repeatably target key creatures, not draw all blockers in for an elf-fuelled Overrun. Though that is a tried and true strategy. But besides, Legions/Onslaught/Scourge had some nice Elf/Beast interactions. It works well enough for casual, I'm sure.

Master Of Otherium. LoL But Yeah I Agree w/ Evryone

As a 'removal spel', it's only repeatable if it targets creatures of half to a third it's own CMC. By the time you're able to start attacking with Brontotherium, the small creatures it can stomp on are most likely not your first priority to deal with, anyway.

You should expect more from a six-mana creature; Visara the Dreadful was printed in the same block.

provoke is a powerful, fun, flavorful ability. I wouldn't mind seeing it reprinted.

I'm surprised by the high rating on this card - it doesn't seem very good to me. The provoke is a pretty clunky way of dealing with something and the power level of the creature itself is quite low. At 5 CMC it would have been a lot better.

Edit: Not sure why my comment is getting a hate rating, I'm not saying the card is bad. I rated it 3.0 myself - a perfectly acceptable beast, it's just that it's expensive and fragile. Its rating has dropped a bit since I originally commented, back then it was at 4/5 which I still think was too high.

I laugh every time I see this card...it looks like he's taking a leak.

As a creature, it was decent in its day...not so much anymore.

um..... is he peeing?