December 30, 1997
The Card of the Day is...
Lava Hounds
Weatherlight Uncommon
2RR Summon Hounds
4/4
"Lava Hounds is unaffected by summoning sickness.
When Lava Hounds comes into play, it deals 4 damage to you."
A brief rundown of the card:
Lava Hounds are a pretty fair heavy-hitter in type 2 play these days. I feel there MAY be some more effective type 1 cards to use in it's place (Two-headed Giant, Sedge Troll...), but if you're looking for a strong, fast 4/4 beastie in type 2--Lava Hounds works pretty well. Often found in a deck full of cheap red direct damage, Lava Hounds can be bent to a less drastic means of some quick damage with any of the following:
- Circle of Protection: Red
This one's easy enough--use the COP to prevent the Lava Hound's 4 damage to you when it comes into play. Perfect just incase your opponent is using Capsize or Unsummon to force you to cast Lava Hounds multiple times.
- Thought Lash/Soldevi Digger
Yes, Thought Lash and Lava Hounds. Odd combo you might think, but if you're trying to run yourself down to only having one card in your library AND your graveyard combined, Thought Lash is tops. This is a common pratice when using Soldevi Digger and some sort of direct damage spell. You make really sure that the only card left for you to draw is, for example, Lightning Bolt, while making sure your graveyard is empty. The Soldevi Digger will allow you to keep drawing and playing the same card over and over--a pretty handy thing. Here's where Lava Hounds come into play--they will help churn away 4 cards from your library when they come into play while Thought Lash is out AND give you an adequate creature to attack/block with.
- Thundermare
If you have 10 mana laying around, a well timed Lava Hounds and Thundermare should deal 9 damage to your opponent. Sure, you could do the same thing with a Disintegrate or Fireball, but you won't have 2 huge creatures around next turn with the direct damage spells.
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