Oh snap.

This looks a whole lot like a hellion. What happened to the whole Vent Hellion deal? Greatest Vent Hellion?

Also: oh snap. You're going to have a hell of a time balancing this. Keldon Champion and Flametongue Kavu are already bad enough dudes that they get to hang out with Moxes and stuff in legit Cubes. Smushing them together into Walking Fireball That Steals Your Lunch Money is pretty rude.

Maga, Traitor to Mortals was BBBX. That card kinda sucked. This has one paying 4 to do 2 damage and get a 4/4. I'm good with that.

It's playable for every value of X, and only gets better as X get's bigger? Yow. I guess something has to be "First pick and now I know what colours I'm in"; and this card is it.

You really can't compare this to Maga, as the versatility of being able to target a player OR a creature is what really puts this over the top, not to mention its "physical" characteristics are strictly better than Maga's.

And is a much friendlier cost than . Monoblack is historically a trap in limited formats not named Urza's Block, whereas R/G Beats is almost always a "thing", and this is splashable in R/x or G/x.

But limited is not the only format and as a result the comparison to Maga is perfectly relevant. As a rare, R/G beast, this fits in very well. Yes, it's super good but it's a rare. They're supposed to be good.

It also costs a lot of mana if you want to get somewhere and dies to every Black removal spell ever printed. I think it's awesome and I don't believe it's broken.

If the pushback is strong enough, set it to a 1/1. It'll loose a lot of wow factor and be less green but sometimes that's just how it breaks.

Here's perhaps a more modern comparison to illustrate this card's power level:

For I can get a 10/10 Apocalypse Hydra, that — for an additional expenditure of — will allow me to distribute 5 damage how I see fit and leave me with a 5/5.

Or, for I can get a 7/7 Trampling Blitzhorn that will let me Lava Axe someone a question or turn my opponent's best creature into a Beacon of Destruction.

This doesn't mean this design is completely outrageous, it just means this is something to keep an eye out for during playtesting.

Other options on the table: • Same cost, 0/0 creature. • Lose burn, add haste • Lose burn, add first strike • Lose burn and trample, 0/0 base, add double strike (very sexy)

Bumping back to front of list for consideration of options:

• Same cost, 0/0 creature. • Lose burn, add haste • Lose burn, add first strike • Lose burn and trample, 0/0 base, add double strike (very sexy)

Let's put it in the jumbler!

Blitzhorn ­
Creature - Beast
Haste When Blitzhorn enters the battlefield, put X +1/+1 counters on it and Blitzhorn deals X damage distributed among any number of target creatures. 0/0

At you get an almost-Arc Trail and a Rip-Clan Crasher...

At you get an almost-Arc Lightning and a 3/3 Haste critter... hmmm...

At you get a mostly-better Kuldotha Flamefiend

Seems pretty fair.

Blitzhorn ­
Creature - Beast
Haste When Blitzhorn enters the battlefield, put X +1/+1 counters on it. Creatures with power less than Blitzhorn's can't block it.
0/0

Still has that blitz, but no burn. Gets significantly better the more mana you pump into it. Problem is: could easily be monogreen.

How about this? It still has the “I show up and immediately charge the first poor sap I see” angle, but has some added vulnerabilities. Plus, you’re far less likely to play it when your opponent has no creatures.

This also looks monogreen.

Also, I don't think you want two rares that fight things, assuming you're still keeping Stalking Mycolisk.

Mmm. Points taken.

Keep in mind, none of us thought the original design was bad, it was just really strong.

And for all we know, R/G deserves a card of that caliber. Who can say until you've got some testing under your belt.

Well then back it goes...