The card itself isn't good, but it definitely illustrates Starke's flavor from the magic storyline. I actually did a little research on Stark and I found out that he was a low-life minion and traitor for the good guys and the bad guys. I would love to share more information about him but I do not wish to spoil anything for those who have not read the stories of Gerrard Capashen and his crew. For those of you still curious I would recommend either reading some of the older books, or just read the articles on Wikipedia.
Baconradar
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Back when damage used the stack, he was a better card than he is now.
He's still flavoursome, works in some combos and is fun and relatively powerful in casual decks.
He can block one creature and kill another, for instance.
Teotanek
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Well with brooding saurian you make a nice couple.
I must admit, it's kind of neat seeing these old legends, and then finding the card that shows their death a few expansions later.
Tevish_Szat
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Hilarious general/commander if you know you're in multiplayer (or multiplayer card in general). Watch him just jump around the board -- no one wants to bother killing Starke, so he just bounces from controller to controller murdering things until somebody wraths the board, at which point he's cheap for a legend so probably the first one back on the table.
Also, combos with anything that lets you untap him (like Freed from the Real) -- put his ability on the stack targeting your least valuable artifact or creature, untap him, then put another instance of his ability on targeting whatever you really want to kill. That resolves and passes control, then the first ability resolves and he jumps back to your side. Makes him a super-version of Attrition on legs. If you can untap him repeatedly, you can kill one enemy card per untap, for just one of yours at the end. Sadly, I don't think there's any way to do that with him as a General because of the color rules in EDH/Commander.
kiseki
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
If he is your EDH general, you can untap him with puppet strings to kill an opponent's target AND one of your goblin tokens without losing control of him for very long. Even in less restrictive formats, puppet strings is very powerful.
I put him in a deck that already has flicker effects like galepowder mage, flickerwisp, and glimmerpoint stag. With the mage, that is a creature kill every turn if they can't kill the flier. They probably can't do it will blockers since you are sniping them with Starke. He is more flexible, but not as powerful as flametongue kavu. I still run him because I maxed out the Kavu in the deck.
Abuse of the stack turns him into 2R: Destroy target permanent.
Combo outline:
Rakka and Starke tap to create an elemental and destoy it, thus putting your control of Starke on the bottom of the stack.
Puppetstrings/magewrightstone/Giant'stonic/Ringsofbrighthearth untaps Starke, lets you destroy one of your opponent's creatures, putting their control of Starke on the top of the stack.
Stack resolves, they get control of Starke, then you get control of Starke. End turn, profit.
Himborg
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Anyone else think he looks sort of like Nicholas Cage?
@SirZapdos: So you would maybe like also Heat of Battle?
LordRandomness
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
A good strategy in multiplayer is to give him to someone as a gift by shanking a creature they don't care about. Then watch him jump around the board wrecking everything that isn't yours =D
Earthdawn
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Sooooo.... Illusionist Bracers and target a creature your opponent controls, and a creature you control. Stack the triggers so you get him back second :)
Comments (18)
He's still flavoursome, works in some combos and is fun and relatively powerful in casual decks.
He can block one creature and kill another, for instance.
I must admit, it's kind of neat seeing these old legends, and then finding the card that shows their death a few expansions later.
Also, combos with anything that lets you untap him (like Freed from the Real) -- put his ability on the stack targeting your least valuable artifact or creature, untap him, then put another instance of his ability on targeting whatever you really want to kill. That resolves and passes control, then the first ability resolves and he jumps back to your side. Makes him a super-version of Attrition on legs. If you can untap him repeatedly, you can kill one enemy card per untap, for just one of yours at the end. Sadly, I don't think there's any way to do that with him as a General because of the color rules in EDH/Commander.
I put him in a deck that already has flicker effects like galepowder mage, flickerwisp, and glimmerpoint stag. With the mage, that is a creature kill every turn if they can't kill the flier. They probably can't do it will blockers since you are sniping them with Starke. He is more flexible, but not as powerful as flametongue kavu. I still run him because I maxed out the Kavu in the deck.
Abuse of the stack turns him into 2R: Destroy target permanent.
Combo outline:
Rakka and Starke tap to create an elemental and destoy it, thus putting your control of Starke on the bottom of the stack.
Puppetstrings/magewrightstone/Giant'stonic/Ringsofbrighthearth untaps Starke, lets you destroy one of your opponent's creatures, putting their control of Starke on the top of the stack.
Stack resolves, they get control of Starke, then you get control of Starke. End turn, profit.
So you would maybe like also Heat of Battle?