Apocalypse Card Preview: Spritimonger

Brian Kibler

Every time a new set is released, players "ooh" and "ahh" at the brand new additions to the list of enormous creatures with which to pummel their opponents into submission. Most of the hype surrounding these behemoths dies down quickly, as creatures like the Nemesis Avatars and Planeshift's Draco quickly prove too costly to be effective in serious tournament play. Sometimes, however, the big boys on the block make a splash big enough to demand that the entirety of the Magic playing world sit up and take notice.

While the Avatars failed to make the cut, Blastoderm took the bar and single handedly raised it, quickly becoming a staple of creature decks in nearly every format. Draco may not have found the spotlight his sixteen casting cost demands, but his Two-Headed cousin shared the stage with mama Rith, the Awakener at last year's Pro Tour-Chicago, and Dromar has showed up in force in Invasion Block Constructed, proving that dragons - even tri colored Dragon legends - have what it takes for the big show. Big creatures are back, and in a big way. No more Jackal Pups, no more Wild Dogs, no more Pouncing Jaguars - just Beasts and Dragons every which way you look. This trend shows no signs of ending - or even slowing - in Apocalypse. Whereas the Dragon legends were the big creature flagships of Invasion's theme - allied multicolored cards - in Apocalypse, that mantle falls upon the ready shoulders of the Spiritmonger.

Opposing colored cards have seized the spotlight now that the Apocalypse is upon us, and for good reason. Spiritmonger embodies all the aspects of a well designed opposing colored card. It possesses abilities in flavor for each of the colors, and yet a combination of which can be found in neither - along with a little something extra, the likes of which hasn't seen the light of day since Sengir Vampire. On top of all that, Spiritmonger is an absolute monster.

As a 6/6 for five mana, Spiritmonger is already efficiently priced - the only better deal for the cost is Shivan Wurm, which is stuck with gating for its trouble. On top of that, Shivan Wurm only gets trample, which seems almost fair until you realize that Spiritmonger regenerates, making it nearly unstoppable except by black removal. Wait, Spiritmonger IS black, so forget trying to Terror it, and 6/6 is awful big to try to kill with direct damage - even if it didn't regenerate. Slay or Story Circle would work, but there's that little clause that says,": Spiritmonger becomes the color of your choice until end of turn" to put an end to that idea. Your only hope seems to be to try to hold it off with something bigger - block with that Shivan Wurm - but then you get to reading the rest of the text box, and you realize that nothing stays much bigger than Spiritmonger for long. It looks like Wrath of God is the only easy solution, but even that's not so easy when you're dealing with a creature in the same color as Duress and Unmask.

So let's just get this straight. Spiritmonger is as big as a Dragon, has the abilities of a Kavu Chameleon, Drudge Skeletons, and Sengir Vampire all rolled into one, AND is green and black - putting it in the same colors as Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise, and Dark Ritual! If a 6/6 creature that changes colors, regenerates, and gets bigger every time it eats a chump blocker weren't scary enough, think about that same creature coming out on turn two with a Llanowar Elf and Dark Ritual - it's enough to give even the ubiquitous Blastoderm a run for his money. You may be able to target Spiritmonger, but what are you going to do to him?

Everything with Spiritmonger seems to come down to the same thing. He's big, he's fast, and he's one heck of a pain to deal with. It may seem like I'm repeating myself here, but that's sort of the point. The current Standard environment is defined by Fires of Yavimaya decks, with their Blastoderms to beat you down and their Flametongue Kavus to clear your board. What does a Fires deck do against Spiritmonger? I'm sure many of my opponents from Chicago last year will remember how hard 6/6 creatures are for a Fires deck to deal with - now give them regeneration and make them get bigger, and see how quick your opponents are to make a wide scooping motion. Rebel decks used to throwing their Defiant Vanguards in the way of every problem are in for a fright, as the Vanguard's ability says nothing about regeneration. The Spiritmonger will simply grow a bit larger after snacking on the poor fellow who died for Lin Sivvi's cause and continue going about his business crushing the rebellion - that is, until Tsabo gets angry and issues a Decree that Rebels aren't welcome in her lands anymore. Did I mention Spiritmonger is black?

Standard is only the beginning. What sort of impact could Spiritmonger make on Invasion Block Constructed? The g-r decks that dominated Pro Tour-Tokyo had even less means to destroy a Spiritmonger than Fires does, and even the mighty Questing Phelddagrif can't take down one of these beasts - it'll just get bigger and come back for more. The color-changing ability of Spiritmonger gets around the Phelddagrif's protection ability, along with Voice of All and Slay. Even Void allows creatures to regenerate - the only sure way to deal with a Spiritmonger is to counter it or Terminate it, and if it's in a deck chock full of other fat creatures like Jade Leech and Kavu Chameleon, those Terminates are certainly going to be overworked. There may not me much in the way of building blocks for g-b Block decks right now, but there's sure to be more on its way.

Apocalypse has opened up countless doors with the inclusion of powerful opposing colored cards like Spiritmonger, and its arrival will be sure to shake up the Standard environment more than anything since the rotation of Urza's Block, especially with Seventh Edition rearing its ugly head scant months before. If Spiritmonger is any indication, Standard will continue to be a format characterized by creature combat, and one in which green is a force to be reckoned with.