molten tail masticore

[DJx32]

Having a hard time grasping why this card is any good. I tried using it in a b/w tap deck that included Blinding Mage, Royal Assassin, and Necrotic Ooze. Didn't really need it in the deck I just wanted to try to fit it in somewhere.

To me the card isn't that good because the upkeep of the card is to high and the first ability requires you to exile from your graveyard. Which was counter productive to that deck...

Someone lead me in the right direction for this card... or did I hit the nail on the head about the card not being very useful

[Nocturnus30]

I agree with you, that card sux. The only useful play I can see with it is to toss it in the graveyard and then slap out a Necrotic Ooze and start pinging for 4 w/o the drawback.

[ZCSlayer]

Having a hard time grasping why this card is any good. I tried using it in a b/w tap deck that included Blinding Mage, Royal Assassin, and Necrotic Ooze. Didn't really need it in the deck I just wanted to try to fit it in somewhere.

To me the card isn't that good because the upkeep of the card is to high and the first ability requires you to exile from your graveyard. Which was counter productive to that deck...

Someone lead me in the right direction for this card... or did I hit the nail on the head about the card not being very useful

In a deck with Necrotic Ooze you should be dumping a fair number of creatures into your graveyard for the Ooze. Pretty sure the idea hear is to dump the Molten-Tail Masticore into the graveyard to give the Ooze its ability. This allows you to exile duplicate or unneeded creature cards in your graveyard and turn them into 4 damage.

In other decks it is just a dominate finisher. Being able to dome the opponent for at least 4 a turn or knock out a majority of the creatures in the format is well worth the upkeep of discarding a card (which in turn fuels the ability).

Tack onto this that the card is a 4/4 for that can Regenerate and it ends games flat out. Honestly if this hits the board you should be wrapping up the game unless your opponent answers it quickly.

I'll admit it is not a very Timmy or Johnny style of card, but I can't disagree more with you that it is a bad card. Is it good in a control deck that has very few creatures and runs on card advantage? Absolutely not. Is it good in an agro deck that has a large number of creatures and doesn't care if they are getting binned? Heck yes.

[jjnass]

Um......the card is great but it doesn't fit in every deck. It is hard to kill being a 4/4 regenerator, ir creates a huge clock 4-8 points a turn. it is dangerous even when tapped down by a Frost Titan. It fits well in just about any decks with creatures like mono red, shaman decks, I suspect that it was actually good in yours because if you have an ooze in play you just don't pay the upkeep and you have a molten tail ooze and if you don't have the ooze you just kill him with the Masticore. In short it is good in decks with creatures

[DJx32]

Alright it may be slightly Bette than I gave it credit for. The deck I put it in wasn't ideal too few creatures, and the creatures in my graveyard served better to be there rather than exiling them.

@noxturnus - even the first ability is limited..

@zcslayer - sure its a 4/4 for 4 but unless you have draw cards you either don't play spells so you can discard or you cast some and then lose it a couple turns after because you can't discard...

@ jnass - it wasn't good because of the reason stated above

[ZCSlayer]

I really don't care what I'm drawing though. In an argo deck with the Molton-Tail Masticore as the finisher every creature I draw turns into deal 4 damage to target player. If this is turn 5 and I draw a Steppe Lynx with a Masticore on the field, I'm binning the Steppe Lynx even if I have a useless land in my hand because the Steppe Lynx would take 2-3 turns minimum to do that same damage.

Unless the creatures you are drawing are better than 4 guaranteed damage, you shouldn't care what you draw. The idea is that it is a finisher for agro decks. Once it hits the board everything else you draw is minimal in value or inconsequential. So as long as you don't play your entire hand and your opponent doesn't make you discard it either (not exactly a current T1 strategy in standard and as a result not something to worry about), you should have no issue paying the cost. Honestly being able to create a 5 turn clock at the worst on turn 4 at the latest makes this card hands down one of the best in the set.

[Sinders]

look at my koth deck in my sig :P

its a deck built a lot around the masticore

[rancidben]

Molten-Tail Masticore is a friggin house. The Masticore is def meant to be played an a creature base deck. I love this card... straight up!

[klobucik]

The card Sucks!
NO DISCUSSIONS!
(unless you use it with a Necrotic Ooze of course)

[Firefly Dreams]

(person above me) = new player

one of the best finishers for aggro in standard. In the right deck, it can beat the crap out of titans. (and that's saying something)