What Makes Alpine Houndmaster Worth Talking About?

Alpine Houndmaster would certainly be an odd “best card in the set” if in fact it ended up the best card in the set. But this one is kind of like an Ancestral Recall.

You play the Alpine Houndmaster and get one 2/2 for two mana (1); but in addition you get to search up Alpine Watchdog (2) and Igneous Cur (3)… So three-for-one!

While potentially powerful, the Houndmaster demands a steep deck building cost. In addition to playing [presumably] four copies of Alpine Houndmaster, you have to play some copies of both of the other two to get maximum value. On the high end you might spend twelve slots in your deck for four copies of each of the three two drops; but at a minimum, you need to play at least one Alpine Watchdog and at least one Igneous Cur in order to get paid off by even the first Houndmaster.

Therefore the question can only be answered if we know if we want to actually pay the deck building cost. Or, would you want to play any of the other two at all?

Houndmaster’s Best Friend: Alpine Watchdog

Mike points out that twenty years ago, back when he was a kind of White Weenie player, he had to pay a full WW for a 2/2 creature with vigilance. For 1W he only got a white Grizzly Bears.

Not that he actually paid for either thanks to Ramosian Sergeant or anything:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Top Level Podcast (@toplevelpodcast) on Jun 28, 2020 at 9:26am PDT

Alpine Watchdog is an update to the same. You probably wouldn’t be stuffing either Fresh Volunteers or Steadfast Guard into your sixty without Rebel support; but Patrick points out that people weren’t really into 1/1 flyers for two mana either… Except Squadron Hawk proved everybody wrong.

Good doggy.

Houndmaster’s (other) Best Friend: Igneous Cur

Igneous Cur is probably better than Alpine Watchdog all other things held equal.

If you’re stuck casting it on turn two… It’s still a better body — tapped out — than a Runaway Steam-Kin. It will trade for the Stomp half of Bonecrusher Giant or Shock like any other x/2 early.

Later in the game, it’s a legitimate threat. Igneous Cur and a ton of untapped mana is like a Fireball waiting to splatter the opponent; or at the very least, trade up with a more expensive creature. Not bad at all, being on the bonus.

The Best of the Rest

Is Alpine Houndmaster going to prove to be the best card of Core Set 2021? We’ll have to wait and see… But both hosts are cheering for it.

Potential payoffs include Rin and Seri, Inseparable; while Feline Sovereign can be a rival or teammate (probably with Rin and Seri, Inseparable).

Mike’s old school favorite Faith’s Fetters might be better than ever; while the even more ancient evil, spiteful Kaervek finally makes his way to a cardboard depiction.

All that and more in this week’s (slightly belated) podcast!

Direct Download

Who’s Afraid of Terror of the Peaks?

… Maybe you should be!

Let’s break it down…

Terror of the Peaks is a 5/4 flying Dragon for five mana. It’s comparable to many other Constructed-playable Dragons.

But unlike many of them, it has a built-in defensive capability. They might get your Terror of the Peaks, but you give them a Lava Spike back.

If they don’t deal with it, though? Terror of the Peaks can be a true terror for the opponent! Not only will it not take long to kill the opponent “naturally” with five power and evasion, other considerations can close the kill super fast… Or even in just one turn.

For the “fair” take on Terror of the Peaks, look for this card to show up in Gruul as a straight swap to start.

What if You Weirdly Had this Spider?

“I didn’t like Gruul Spellbreaker anyway.”

-Mike

Sporeweb Weaver is a pretty good creature on the merits. It’s a tenacious defender for its cost; and can put the big hurt on both Mono-Blue and Mono-Red Aggro.

So… Pretty good card; devastating in some matchups.

But how does this card go with Terror of the Peaks?

Putting it All Together

So you’ve got a Terror of the Peaks on the battlefield.

You play Sporeweb Spider. Ting for one!

Now you play a Selfless Savior. Trigger your Dragon, targeting Sporeweb Spider. In response, sacrifice Selfless Savior to give Sporeweb Spider indestructible.

Now when you finish resolving the ting on Sporeweb Spider, you can make a 1/1 and get other triggers. The new creature also gives you a Terror of the Peaks trigger. Target your 1/4 again; rinse and repeat.

Since your Spider is indestructible, you can do this as much as you want, gain essentially infinite life, make infinite power, and finish off with a point on the opponent.

In sum: Terror of the Peaks is great fair… And might be something else entirely when infinite or unfair.

The Best of the Rest…

• All of the M21 Planeswalkers
• Barrin, Tolarian Archmage
• and more!

Check it out:

Direct Download

Baneslayer Angels.

Mulldrifters.

Titans.

Discuss.

Michael and Patrick discuss this quite a bit, mostly around large creatures (often Baneslayers) from the upcoming Core Set 2021. But you know what is, and unambiguously, a Titan?

Llanowar Visionary is a Titan

Mike has already drawn a line in the M21 sand: Llanowar Visionary is his favorite card; and he is unlikely to be moved from this point.

Drawing a card is approximately as powerful as searching your library for a basic land. Any longtime readers or listeners of Mike know his adoration for cards like Borderland Ranger. Borderland Ranger was a 2/2 creature for three mana that searched up a basic. No one wanted to trade with it.

Llanowar Visionary is largely an upgraded Borderland Ranger. In the early game drawing a card will often be worse than searching up a basic land (but will usually be better late game). The difference? The body on Llanowar Visionary actually matters!

That’s the difference between a Mulldrifter like Borderland Ranger and a Titan. Both cards generate value immediately; pointing a Doom Blade at either is going to put you at least a little behind. But while Borderland Ranger is a boring 2/2 after its 187, Llanowar Visionary is an awesome mana Elf and the opponent will often be overjoyed to Doom Blade one.

Basri’s Lieutenant or Baneslayer Angel?

Which is better?

We’ll actually get to find out, given that Baneslayer Angel — the original best large creature of all time — is back in Standard! This will allow for direct comparison to Basri’s Lieutenant:

Protection from multicolored might be a big game. Stonecoil Serpent certainly helped carve its niche on the back of that ability in Pioneer.

While it says 3/4 in the bottom-right, Basri’s Lieutenant is a de facto 4/5.

But maybe most of all, Basri’s Lieutenant can produce 2/2 Knight creature tokens when certain of your creatures die. It can defy removal and set up any number of profitable trades, therefore.

But will it be better than Baneslayer?

Stay tuned…

How to Play with Peer into the Abyss

This is a tough one to assess.

Do you target yourself?

When exactly do you target the opponent?

Some pretty good thoughts and one mondo combo one click away:

Direct Download