Welcome to the Daily Dose of Throne of Eldraine! Today I will NOT be talking about hatebears, but value bears! Magic has had a strong history of 2/2 creatures that cost two mana. Often, these 2/2 creatures are ‘hatebears’ or creatures that will tax or hurt your opponent like Leonin Arbiter or Ethersworn Canonist. Today, I’m going to flip the script and talk about 2/2 creatures that will provide the caster with value upon value. Why hate, when you can love! Often these creatures are in white, but I have three today from different colours.
First off, I want to talk about a Red creature that likes to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Here is Robber of the Rich.
There is a lot to take in about this card, so let me start with its basic stats and keywords. For two mana you get a 2/2 creature with haste and reach. Reach isn’t something you usually see on a Red creature, but it has been appearing more frequently on common and uncommon creatures like Turret Ogre. Haste is something more in red’s wheelhouse and is great to have on this creature. You can exile the top card of the defending player’s library if they have more cards in hand than you. This shouldn’t be too hard for red who likes to empty their hand quicker than most decks. You won’t be able to cast the spell exiled on turn two if you cast Robber of the Rich on curve, but you will be able to cast it on future turns if you are able to attack with a Rogue. There are a couple of Rogue creatures already in Standard that could work well in an Aggro deck including Tin Street Dodger and Hackrobat. There is the potential for a lot of value from this card if you can build your deck around it.
Next is another creature with reach, but one that wants to eventually become more than a 2/2 creature. Here is Wildborn Preserver.
When I first read this card, I had thought that X was equal to the casting cost of the creature you cast once Wildborn Preserver was on the battlefield. No, no, you can spend any amount for X and add that many +1/+1 counters. This is a sweet addition to an already powerful Simic Flash deck for standard next month. All of the current creatures used in the Simic Flash deck are non-Human creatures, so they will all be able to trigger Wildborn Preserver’s ability and allow you to add on some +1/+1 counters. Imagine having this on the battlefield and casting Spectral Sailor. You could then tap any amount of mana to add that many +1/+1 counters to Wildborn Preserver. Not bad extra value for a 1-drop creature. Here's hoping they'll add a couple more Flash creatures in Throne of Eldraine to take this deck to the highest level.
Finally, I have the white card you have been waiting for. Here is Charming Prince.
To start, it is very hard to not remember this card with the name reversed. This creature has the option of doing whatever you need in a game. If you need to search for that winning card, you can Scry 2. If you are playing against Aggro, you can gain 3 life and have a 2/2 blocker on the battlefield. The most interesting option is being able to blink one of your creatures. There are some interesting options for that including Elite Guildmage so you can draw an additional card and gain 3 life. You can target Hanged Executioner to get an extra 1/1 Spirit. How about blinking Knight of Autumn so you can choose one of its three ETB options? This seems like it would work great in a Prime Speaker Vannifar deck.
There you have it, some fun 2/2 creatures that will gain you some love and some value! Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Throne of Eldraine. Join me again tomorrow as I talk about some colourful new artifacts from Throne of Eldraine.
