With the revealing of Phyrexian Fleshgorger, a new card coming in Brothers War, we were introduced to a new mechanic. It is called Prototype and is one of the most interesting and most usable new mechanic in a while, in my personal opinion. The only other one that comes to mind is Ward and possible connive. Others, like cleave and causalty, were misses and I never really see them in any real use. But let’s get to the real reason we are here.
The Prototype ability allows you to play a card for a cheaper price, and so far a lower power and toughness, but allows it to keep all the abilities of the card. This is great for a number of reasons but the most obvious is that drawing a bomb in your opening hand is just a drag. It will leave you sitting and staring at it in hopes you can eventually have enough land or the correct time to play it. Having the option to play a lesser version of it give you options that most higher cost cards do not. This also makes these more viable in commander that is trending lower and lower on mana curve.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a great option for these cards is to flicker them. When these cards leave the battlefield and come back they will come back as the main version of card and get around the casting cost. Using them this way is just free value as long as that is what your deck was aimed at doing anyways.
What do you think of this new mechanic? Is it something you see yourself slotting into your commander decks or trying to build around in standard? I know I will be trying to figure out a way to bust these cards open and suck as much value out of them as i can. Thanks for taking the time to stop and check this out. Find us on social media and let us know what you think. We’ll talk to you soon!
AoE Table Top 