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Editor: Yaro Starak. Saturday 1 June 2002.
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 Card Review: Anurid Brushhopper
Discard two cards from your hand: Remove Anurid Brushhopper from the game. Return it to play under its owner's control at end of turn.
It's so tough it can frighten itself into hiding.
3/4
Expansion: Judgment
Before any abilities are placed on this guy a 3/4 for
3 mana is awesome. Add to that that he is very hard
to kill, survives global destruction like upheaval,
obliterate and other wrath of god effects, AND can get
out an Arrogant wurm, basking rootwalla and any other
number of madness cards from your hand and you've got
yourself a right little tropper.
Limited: Solid, he's a little battler that will keep
on truckin, and can also allow you to dump wasted
cards like lands for threshold... a very powerful
commodity in limited. He also can come out on the
third turn which sets up a neat little clock for your
opponent who is by now trying to find creatures to
throw into his way until they get out their 4 defense
creatures (not many in limited). As he will be picked
up in the third pack, and with g/w not being a very
powerful draft combination before that you may be able
to pick him up later than you normally would if it was
a judge/judge/judgement draft. Take him no.1 if you
can.
Type II: This is where the lil' hopper will come into
his own. No longer allowing a safe upheaval/tog win,
and even adding to your wrath/hopper effects he is one
guy that can take the beats and keep them coming.
Immune to flametongue hits (for a price) and comming
out as early as turn 2 (bird/elf) he's a quick beat
compliment to your call of the herds and maddness
creatures. He may however, end up like mystic
enforcer and only splashing white in a g/u deck for
his ability. In the words of Danesh he is "Some Good"
and will surely see tournament play.
PRICE: the hopper will go into a few decks but not as
many as you would think. Im predicting a $10-12 price
tag to this guy. 2 things make him not $15+ material.
Hes g/w and he comes from a 143 card set.
Until next time, I'll see you next time
Finally, something GOOD in green and white hailing from the so called
Green/White set. Okay, so there are some other good things too but near as
I can tell this guy is head and shoulders above the rest.
Limited: Well, so long as we're not talking about the judgment pre-release
here, I think he's only very good in a 3 colour deck in which either the W
or the G (probably the white) is a splash. Of course, this is just because
chiefly GW limited decks are utter piles of junk, for fairly obvious
reasons. Of course, in any deck that can use him the Brushhopper is
obviously very good. Survives most anything and is a very efficient threat.
But what am I saying that isn't obvious.
Constructed: Obviously the guy shines more when being able to design a deck
based around his never to die ability. Comparison: Reborn Hero vs Anurid
Brushhopper. Hrm. Similar things just infinitely different in the goodness
ratings. Upheaval, any Obliterateish effect etc. Not to mention the fact
that he faces down Elephants, Mongrels and Walla rather efficiently. The
only sad thing to me is that he can't really be used with Devestating
Dreams due to the excessive cards in hand requirement.
But you've got to expect some kind of WUG lowish creature count deck with
whats currently available to it. As far as I can see though, White remains
pretty lame on any card that doesn't also have a G in its casting cost.
Value: Best card in the set? Definitely top 5, this, Seedtime maybe
Genesis, Fledgling Dragon and some of the Wishes. Tell me this guy isn't
better than Meddling Mage, who sees approximate values of 12, so this guy
should be that much as well.
yarkshamarsh
Jason Street
Anurid Brushhopper is one of those hard to kill creatures we all love - plus
he's a decent size. Unfortunately his bullet-dodging powers come from
stripping your hand, and it's not the friendly one card job that things like
Thalakos Scout ask for. Any time you save the Brushhopper you are turning
your opponent's spell into a Hymn to Tourach. I think you need to use the
Brushhopper in a way that negates the card disadvantage.
First up: Wrath of God. A really simple solution to all your massed creature
problems. Blast them all off the board, and pitch a couple of cards in
response, saving your beatstick. A more nasty effect can be had with
Jokulhaups, as well as Tempest's Apocalypse (you lose your hand with
Apocalypse, so there is some incentive to pitch cards). there are a lot of
mass destruction cards that you can use, but you should try to strip the
board of everything you can in one go.
As for fuel for the critter, I don't see much in the way of long term use in
T1 or 1.5. If you are determined then you should look at Howling Mine and
Arcane Laboratory, which is a combination that serves well in a deck running
Forbid. There's also the ever-handy Squee, Goblin Nabob, providing you have
a few. You can also have cards that benefit from being in the graveyard -
The new Incarnations have four in their ranks that could go in a White/Green
deck: Brawn, Genesis, Valour and Glory.
Value.... $6 to $8 I guess, he's hard to kill, rare, and will give some real
headaches to people. Certainly a card that needs other cards, which is what
Wizards like. However in this case the cards to use with it are the sort of
things you'd love to play with in a deck anyway - Mass destruction is always
good for your health.
Jason
Judgement seems to be the set of big green creatures
and this is definitely one of the best.
Limited
Anurid Brushhopper is a good card, period.
White/green decks are going to be popular in OD/TO/JU
draft and this little guy will make a welcome
addition.
Even if you are playing G/X the brushhopper could be
worth splashing if you had enough Harvest Druids,
Rites of Spring etc. His high toughness makes him a
great blocker and his ability is just nuts. Madness
cards work well and he also lets you hit threshhold
quicker - what more could you want?
A first pick without a doubt and he is second only
to the G/W Phantom Nishoba in terms of limited
brokeness.
Constructed
Extended - This guy has so many uses it makes my head
spin. I am looking at November Extended now and I can
see the brushhopper slipping into an Erniegeddon deck
similar to the ones played a few years ago. You could
make the deck G/W/U and play Tradewind Riders and go
for the quick geddon lock with some light counter
backup - my kind of deck.
Type 2 - With Ernham being reprinted we are seeing the
dawn of cheap undercosted fatties and I can't see the
sun setting anytime soon. The brushhopper could find
it's way into a G/W/R deck that uses mana
accelerators, fatties and burn to finish off their
opponent. He seems to combo well with Upheaval so
G/W/U could be an option also.
OBC - Judgement has really thrown a spanner into the
works but I can see many a Basking Rootwalla being
thrown to save this guy. I am guessing that beatdown
will be the order of the day and green will be the
colour doing it. Not sure what white could bring to
the table in this department but they do have a 2/4
flying protection from creatures legend which will see
play. At this stage I'm thinking G/W/R with Fiery
Tempers, Violent Eruptions, Rootwallas, Mongrels and
Roar of the Wurm.
Anurid Brushhoppers are going to be in demand so I
would put this card at $10 with a bullet.
Dan
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Anurid Brushhopper (Rare)
Scott Smith
Danesh Jogia
Dan Turner