"EDH Battles: The Massacre Wurm Massacre"

"EDH Battles: The Massacre Wurm Massacre"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

Ah the Massacre Wurm ,a really really great asset in taking out a lot of those pesky 1/1's and 2/2's in early games. The casting cost of this monster screams a full commitment to Black mana since it requires 3 of these and 3 colorless to be cast normally. Thank goodness I was running a reanimator deck that didn't rely on the color requirements all that much.At 6/5 he is a really great Aggressor and defender when needed but what he really brings to the table is the ability to give -2/-2 to all of your opponents creatures until end of turn.( He just smiles at those indestructible and Hexproof 2/2's). He also has the added ability of having opponents lose 2 life for each creature that goes to his or her graveyard. Such a wonderful comes into play ability. Something that I really needed because during my early EDH days I was facing a lot of aggressive weenie EDH decks. 

I maybe a fan of swarming my opponents but I'm not so fond of being swarmed by a horde myself. So I decided that I would really purchase one for my EDH deck ( all the better to kill Soldier tokens with). I bought my copy from my good friend Mark and ironically he was the first person that I got to use it on. We had a battle between his ever efficient Mono Red Krenko Tokenator deck that pumped out a real mob of Goblins that overwhelmed opponents on a consistent basis and my favorite Skull Briar that normally did not have a creature with such massive removal capabilities. The massive amount of tokens on Mark's side of the board meant that he would take damage in the 20's, I didn't really want to use the recently purchased card on him ( He was reluctant to sell it because he knew what would happen but he sold it anyway) but I was about to have a rampaging horde of 2/2 goblins down my neck of the woods. Needless to say he knew that his deck was strong and he knew I now had an answer to it. Funny thing is he still beats me with those goblins most of the time. 

At a recent EDH free for all in the ongoing Arsenal League my Massacre Wurm would shine through for me again , this time it was against Consistent Contender Karl. I had to face down 13 2/2 tapped zombies from Army of the Damned which Karl had cast in order to pressure everyone on the board. I had the most to lose because my life total was the lowest. I was sure I was a goner with just 6 lands , no creatures to block with and no decent Mass removal spell in my hand (Where is a Damnation when you need one?!!!). You could just imagine how happy I was when I drew no other than Mr. Massacre Wurm with all his sharp teeth grinning at me. I knew he was hungry and wasn't so squemish in eating up 2/2 Zombies. When he landed on the battlefield and with no one in a hurry to counter him , my friend Karl took in a whopping 26 life loss to the face while losing the army he had hard cast.  Awesome Moment. I wish I had a camera. I didn't.I eventually lost the game but that Massacre Wurm arriving on the battlefield , the other players assessing if its to their advantage to have it land and then deciding to have it resolve is a great feeling. So after retooling my deck Mr. Massacre Wurm was an auto add in and will always be in any of my EDH decks that would have black in it. 

Sometimes is just not enough to kill one creature. Sometimes it has to be a total massacre and I will  always have the right guy...err...Wurm for the job. Till next time! Keep on brewing! Keep on playing!