"Lurking Predators: The Smiling Lurker"

"Lurk Lurk Lurk...and then you Lurk some more..."

"Lurking Predators: The Smiling Lurker"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

If there is one thing I enjoy other than getting creatures from the graveyard into play . it is actually getting to play creatures for free! Free Free Free...The best things in life are Free after all. 

I played with one of my Buddies Julius a couple of weeks back and I also began to remember why it was so hard to play against the dude...he plays control even if he is not playing Blue colors!!! The only time remember beating him was when I played a Monoblack discarder. He didn't seem to have gathered any rust after not playing with him for awhile. He made me look like I was the one who hasn't played in awhile. Hahahaha

The play that still sticks with me until today is when he just plopped a Lurking Predators on the battlefield.(It was weird because someone was offering to sell me this card almost half an hour ago and because of the long text I said I would think about it) It cost 4 colorless mana and 2 Green.(He was playing a Selesnya colored EDH deck). Basically what this enchantment did was allow you to look at the top of your library everytime an opponent played a spell , any spell and if you reveal a creature card you can put it into play...for free!!! In the unfortunate event that you don't reveal a creature then you have the option of putting that card at the bottom of your deck or let it stay there if you need to draw it on your turn(Like that Land you need or Mass Removal).

 I looked at the subtle effect of this card and found it awesome, too bad I was not looking at it during M10. So what would happen is that in each of your opponents turn you are looking at plopping down a meaty monster...at least 3 chances(assuming that your opponent is casting just one spell per turn and you only have 3 opponents). The trick is to have Lurking Predators in play and then Armageddon or Cataclysm everyone. While everyone is on their knees figuratively praying for a land to draw and then do some serious mana ramping to get their decks going again , you are just there waiting for them to cast a spell and looking at the top of your library for creatures to plop down. This one is pure evil.Try not to look like you are in control.

 Needless to say , if an opponent does actually recover you always have your lands ready in response. You could counter or Spot remove because you have the mana available to you. After the game where I was the slowest one to recover I just had to buy this and add it to my existing deck. The guy who sold it to me was pleased. I was even more pleased when I found that it cost 3 bucks and I got it for almost half a dollar. woohoo!!!

"Time to see what Monster you would let me cast for free..."

When I incorporated this in my Skull Briar EDH deck , the combo with Sensei's Divining Top was insane.You could actually look at the top 3 cards and bluff.You could just smile and look as if there was a really horrible monster about to be cast when an opponent plays another spell or You could even mistakenly drop a Kozilek , apologize and put it back on top of the deck(After everyone has had a good long look of course). Making a table full of opponents really think about the next spells they would cast. This combo is also good with anything that can reveal the top of your library like Muldaya Channelers (Which my deck also has) , So that anyone could see that Emrakul on top of your library and think hard before casting anything. Imagine an opponent casting a 1 to cast artifact or a simple spell like Ponder and then being able to get Emrakul onto the battlefield.Insanity.Oh well. Nothing is ever fair. 

"Sing it with me: "Oh , think twice..."

As you keep on playing commander you would get to appreciate cards like Lurking predators that have a very big effect but actually have subtler effects that could change the manner of the current game. Sometimes when you are no longer looking you discover something else. Just keep an open mind and Keep on playing.