Hidden Dragonslayer to See Play?
Standard forum
Posted on April 2, 2016, 11:58 p.m. by HairyManBack
Hidden Dragonslayer looked like it fit with what I've been hearing about the new meta (Starcity, etc. articles).
Eldrazi midrange and ramp. Some new demon and angel beefs. Even talk about Dragons being something. Not too mention it's long played synergy with Deathmist Raptor and Den Protector. What are your thoughts?
Thinking about investing in a set.
There are still plenty of big creatures running around in standard. Including a some of the biggest problems in The Gitrog Monster, Archangel Avacyn Flip, Thought-Knot Seer, and Reality Smasher (with the benefit of not triggering it's last ability). So not having big things to kill definitely isn't a problem. I've seen Hidden Dragonslayer played to success in some random decks at my LGS including my Abzan Master deck that featured Whisperwood Elemental and Mastery of the Unseen inside an abzan midrange shell.
It has decent stats in the early game as a 2/1 with lifelink for 2, with obvious benefits in the late game as well. Another thing it has going for it is the fact that it's a human and with SOI, human tribal and white/boros weenie decks got quite a bit of support. It's actually gotten a handful of really good cards over the last few sets but there was just an obvious power advantage in playing the 3 and 4 color decks that were supported largely by khans over playing the mono colored decks (raw power was essentially beating out good synergy). With that being said, white does have some pretty solid removal currently with Silkwrap, Stasis Snare, Declaration in Stone, and Immolating Glare. So the card has potential, but there are also some other good choices there. A deck that cares more on having creatures and synergy may want this over some of the enchantments. With this many good enchantments Dromoka's Command will always somewhere in the meta and having removal that gets around the hate other decks will naturally be running may be the better option.
Personally, I think the best chance for it to see anything more than fringe play would be in a human tribal deck. Which, I feel, there is actually enough pieces to build a solid deck. The only thing that could hold it back are the other decks in the format. Having a solid deck with good synergy doesn't necessarily mean it's the best deck around, and we could run into a similar situation to the current standard. Where the raw power of some cards might push out the archetypes that are relying too heavily on raw synergy. It's currently cheap and wouldn't be the worst card to speculate on and pick a few up, but at the same time it's probably not likely to make a huge jump in price even if it does see play. So it's a low risk, low reward situation where it's not gonna break you if it never spikes but isn't gonna make you rich either if it does.
April 3, 2016 2:42 a.m.
HairyManBack says... #4
I share essentially all the thoughts shared and speculated myself as much. My intentions on posting this thread was to respond to all this red-eldrazi hype. Eldrazi didn't see much rotate and looks like a tier 1.0, for sure. Being a humble semi-budget player I was hoping to get the jump on'em. ;)
April 3, 2016 3:25 a.m.
dragonsandgoblins85 says... #5
My opinion on Hidden Dragonslayer is a good one. He is a very good card. Quite frankly I really like that card even though I'm not much of a white mana person, but I used him in a few decks in the past. Morph, flip, destroy target creature 4 or greater... sounds nice to me. d&g85
April 3, 2016 10:59 a.m.
JKLawson89 says... #6
For 6 you get a 3/2 Lifelink destroy target creature with power 4 or greater opponent controls. Too slow, too specifically restrictive. Always Watching does look pretty tempting with the Morph cards left, since they aren't tokens though.
April 3, 2016 11:34 a.m.
HairyManBack says... #7
Funny how Den's morph is 2 mana and Slayer is 3. I mention it because Slayer is dictated by situations. Not Den. I do like it on the lines of Always Watching, however.
April 3, 2016 1:47 p.m.
That's the benefit though of being able to cast it face up or as a morph. In match ups where the "destroy target creature with power 4 or greater" is less relevant, it can be played as a 2 drop and still be effective. It gives you flexibility from match up to match up in the mainboard and lets you focus your sideboard as well.
Using the card you mentioned, a first 3 turns of Thraben Inspector, Hidden Dragonslayer (face up), and Always Watching would be a reasonable line of play. You'd have a 2/3 w/vigilance a 3/2 liflink w/vigilance and a clue token (card advantage in white). You could even follow it up turn 4 with Thalia's Lieutenant to buff your team and have 2 mana available for Declaration in Stone to clear room for your team or if that's not necessary then you can sac your clue to draw a card. There are also things like Knight of the White Orchid that can be played to help you hit your lands. Odric, Lunarch Marshal than can give other abilities like lifelink and first strike that your creatures have to your whole team. Hanweir Militia Captain Flip which can help fuel a go-wide strategy, and these are just some of the humans if you wanted to go purely human tribal. It's possible a white weenie version shows up that uses some of that tribal synergy but includes something like Archangel Avacyn Flip as a powerful finisher that flashes in to protect your board state. Or, even a version that uses Bygone Bishop as a way of pumping out clues by dropping a bunch of cheap creatures and then using those clues to keep refueling their hand. There are a lot of options for this type of deck which is why Hidden Dragonslayer does have potential here. Unless there is just one version of the archetype that is clear cut, head and shoulders better above the rest it's really gonna depend on what other decks are succeeding in the format. For example, if it's nothing but white weenie and other aggro decks around obviously the dragonslayer will fall out of favor for other cards that combat those strategies, but if there is a healthy mix of midrange around and the format is balance having that flexibility could be vital for the deck.
April 3, 2016 3:09 p.m.
HairyManBack says... #9
Maybe I want him to be good but he's just not cutting it. Yet there is potential for him like mentioned. For some ungodly reason my meta insists on playing ramp like it's going out of style. I'll be curious to see if he pops up in more decks as the new meta evolves.
April 3, 2016 3:56 p.m.
I'll be using him in my sideboard, he was great last rotation for me, especially since very few people saw him coming.
April 4, 2016 5:31 a.m.
I think if Hidden Dragonslayer was going to shine, it would have been when manifest was still in standard.
I'm woth the people that said he is too slow for most match-ups and that he costs a bit too much.
April 12, 2016 4:16 p.m.
HairyManBack says... #12
He popped up as a copy in Davis's 1st place the weekend at Starcitygames Baltimore.
Unless there's a big shift to Ramp I think this little guy is probably done. And Ramp looks like it's power level could shrink, idk. That's coming from the 'pros'.
April 12, 2016 4:30 p.m.
I just want to point out that while not a 4 of Hidden Dragonslayer was in the mainboard and sideboard of Jim Davis's Bant company deck that won this weekend in Baltimore. Like I said before, the card definitely has potential to see play however it'll depend on how the meta shapes out. Also, things are changing, how much play he saw before rotation is irrelevant because it's a brand new meta. Things that worked before might not work now and conversely things that didn't work out before may be better suited now. Just look at all of the white weenie decks from last weekend, you would not have seen that a week earlier. Rotation means you have to be open to new ideas and concepts, you can't just blow something off because before rotation (under a completely different set of circumstances) it wasn't the best option.
April 12, 2016 4:44 p.m.
HairyManBack says... #14
Wasn't blowing him off (if you were referring to my last comment?). That's my presumption at this point. I believe he has great potential. But as of now I'm not going to pack a set. But all metas are different. If I'm coming against one with biggies I'll pack a few in the 75.
I play Bant, G/W a lot. And frankly I always loved the guy. I just wish his morph was 
EmblemMan says... #2
I mean its a dollar rare so investing is not exactly difficult but I also think this guy is going to be way worse post rotation without the bigger creatures Anafenza, the Foremost Siege Rhino Savage Knuckleblade etc and without it seeing much play there I dont see why it would now. I have also played with the card and it is DREADFULLY slow for a morph to just kill a guy but thats just my opinion.
April 3, 2016 1:22 a.m.