Ivorytusk Fortress!!!
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Aug. 29, 2014, 3:43 p.m. by Rhinowarrior
Hey guys new card just spoiled!! It is called ivorytusk fortress. First of it is in abazan colors.At mythic spoiler.com.
Ivorytusk Fortress (2WBG)
Creature- Elephant Rare
Untap each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it during each other player's untap step.
FT: Abzan soldier march to war confident that there houses march with them.
5/7
Man this set is looking awesome. Who doesn't love more prophet of kurphix's!?
They have an attrition based mechanic. +1+1 counters might be it. However they're also supposed to be about control.
August 29, 2014 3:55 p.m.
It's not actually a fantastic card though. It's ok. Not amazing.
August 29, 2014 4:05 p.m.
BlastercoolWeird says... #6
I ain't gonna say I called it on Abzan being creature-based control archetype...
but I am going to very strongly imply how I totally called it on Abzan being a defensive, creature-based control strategy
August 29, 2014 4:07 p.m.
@ChiefBell- It leaves me wondering what Azban's idea of control looks like. Is it Orzhov with ramp? Or is Golgari with exiling and tokens?
Spoiler week is probably the best part of a set to me.
August 29, 2014 4:09 p.m.
brokendwarf says... #8
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes distributes +1/+1 counters, and he's in this wedge color.
August 29, 2014 4:16 p.m.
weisemanjohn says... #9
Ajani Steadfast distributes +1/+1 counters, across your entire field no less
August 29, 2014 4:19 p.m.
Ivorytusk Fortress looks interesting. From an EDH standpoint it might find a place in Ghave, Guru of Spores decks for pseudo vigilance (but it seems like it'd be easier to just run something like Serra's Blessing )
August 29, 2014 4:20 p.m.
Love the artwork for this! It's a bit blurry, but looks really cool.
Magic has really stepped it up inTheros and Khans with their coherency and style.
August 29, 2014 4:20 p.m.
And gah, I wish we could edit posts. Sorry for double posting.
Someone on Mythic Spoiler pointed out this is a 5/7 for 5 mana whose only drawback is the three color mana cost. Definitely a strong pick in Limited. Its Constructed playability will hinge on what other cards sit at 5 mana in these colors.
So far, it's competing with Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
, Nissa, Worldwaker
, Arbor Colossus
, and a couple other cards for that slot. Sadly, I feel it will get swept under the rug like Deadbridge Goliath
. Decent enough card, just competes with too many good cards to see play.
August 29, 2014 4:27 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #13
What if Abzan's mechanic is "whenever a creature dies put a +1/+1 counter on this dude" That would make sense and not be OVERLY broken.
August 29, 2014 4:28 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #14
Not bad for an intro pack rare. I think sylvannos hit the nail on the head though, too much competition for the 5 drop spot. That and it doesn't give counters or have evasion of any sort. It's just a big dumb vigilance anthem beater.
Kitchen table fodder for sure.
August 29, 2014 4:39 p.m.
BlastercoolWeird - maybe save it for when you've seen more than one abzan card.
August 29, 2014 5:39 p.m.
I'd love to see these guys in profile, give some perspective. It's creatively awesome.
It's almost good that it's in the Rare slot probably. I'd hate to draft and see this guy 2-3 times. He'd be better in the slot as 3WG or 6/6 or even Trample.
August 29, 2014 5:45 p.m.
andymaul123 says... #17
Fantastic artwork. Not sure if it'd make the cut into my Ghave deck, but I like what I see so far!
August 29, 2014 6:29 p.m.
magic_monicle says... #18
Maybe im missing something but this guy looks terrible.
August 29, 2014 10:03 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #19
A 5/7 is pretty damn big for 5 mana. The fact that he can potentially untap dudes is pretty clutch too.
August 29, 2014 10:06 p.m.
SimicPower says... #20
Remember, Abzan is going to have a defensive strategy. The ability to untap potentially all of your creatures each turn could make it more playable. You can tap out to attack, and still have your army ready for blocking.
Still not as good as Prophet of Kruphix but whatever, it doesn't die to Ulcerate .
August 30, 2014 2:06 a.m.
We have verbal confirmation that abzan is about control and written confirmation that they're about playing the long game.
This seems to fulfil the long game characteristic. BlastercoolWeird previously pointed out that their form of control might be playing creatures with large asses and control-y abilities. Given that this is the first card spoiled we can neither confirm nor deny anything but he could well be right.
The problem is that a strategy like that sucks because it doesn't actually control what the opponent is doing - they can still play all the cards they want, it's just that you have a few walls to stop them swinging in. If you play large creatures you're not actually stopping the opponent from doing anything.
Unfortunately this also suffers from 'I just tapped out T5 to play something that died to a 2 mana killspell' syndrome. Which is probably why a lot of the 5 drop slots at the moment have some kind of protection eg. not being a creature or pro white etc.
August 30, 2014 5:02 a.m.
Not wild about this thing; it is pretty huge for 5 mana, so it's got that going for it. I'm a bit concerned about Wizards wants control to be at this point (I know we only have one Abzan card and can't draw any conclusions).
August 30, 2014 11:16 a.m.
It looks interesting, and could be fun to try running some monstrous creatures with it. Fleecemane Lion (though, the 5 mana conflicts) Hydra Broodmaster , Polukranos, World Eater , really any hydra. Bow of Nylea could be great to add counters, to abuse its attacking death-touch, and letting you still have a defense. Cruel Sadist might not be worthless. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes is perfect but again fights the 5 drop slot. It's got potential, and I'll probably still put one in my Doran EDH, but it'll probably go the way of Prophet of Kruphix .
August 30, 2014 5:57 p.m.
This is actually pretty useful in Azban, as Outlast taps down your creatures, this lets you untap and block.
August 31, 2014 10:24 a.m.
Yeh it actually does something, now we know what their mechanic is.
August 31, 2014 3:36 p.m.
It's part of the attack, outlast, block strategy..
Brave the Sands + Outlast (Abzan's mechanic) and Ivorytusk Fortress
Brave the Sands gives Vigilance, you attack and still untapped, your second Main Phase, lets you Outlast your creatures (tap + add a +1/+1 counter), thus making them bigger and sometimes gives extra abilities; Reach, First Strike, Flying, Lifelink, Deaththough... at the end of the turn, you'll most likely have a few with 1+/+1 counters, thus they untap and ready to block next turn.. And with Brave the Sands they can block an extra creature.
If you can give something First Strike and Deathtouch, you're basically gonna kill two creatures per blocking creature.
October 2, 2014 6:16 a.m.
quesobueno123 says... #29
Jezzatron Don't necro a thread from a while ago.
beckhr says... #2
So, Abzan is going to be based around +1/+1 counters to some capacity. Seeing as it's usually the colors or reanimation, we might see something like Experiment One 's regeneration. Very interesting, very flavorful.
August 29, 2014 3:53 p.m.