"Zurgo Helmsmasher:A Lesson In Brutality"

"zhurgo Helmsmasher:A Lesson In Brutality"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr

.

Zurgo Helmsmasher is a card that was made for maximum aggression. I mean just one glance at him and you know that he is all business. He is a 7/2 Orc that attacks once he hits the battlefield. For opponents with critical life points he could very end their existence the first time he ever gets to meet them.

Making his debut in the Speed vs. Cunning deck , where I ignored him for awhile until he did some heavy duty damage for me in the last Khans of Tarkir PR weekend. The Mardu chief is a 5 to cast behemoth that knocks down opponents in a couple of turns. 

Zurgo Helmsmasher has a lot of things going for him so here are his strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

1)Haste - Smashing face as soon as possible.Sometimes you just need to cast him once for a win.

2)Indestructibility as long as it is your turn - So yeah , opponents may have spot removal in their hands but they would need to wait their turn to kill this hulking Orc. The handy thing about this is that you could also cast a mass removal spell(white is one of his colors by the way...End Hostilities) during your turn and he survives while everyone else...well , kisses the grave.

3)Whenever a creature dealt damage by Zurgo Helmsmasher dies this turn , he gets a +1/+1 counter on him.  - So opponents are forced to block a 7/2 behemoth and naturally the blocking creature dies(unless they are also indestructible or bigger). Simply put Zurgo Helmsmasher is an 8/3 the next time he attacks.

Weaknesses:

1) He has to attack each turn - Not much of weakness because you do want him to attack each turn to pressure your opponents and besides he doesn't die to normal damage during your turn. Unless it is infect which does not exist in standard.And yeah he gets bigger after killing something so believe me attacking is the only direction for this guy.

2) Lack of trample... - So he doesn't trample , that is the reason why you have spot removal or mass removal before he attacks anyway.

3)You have to commit to Mardu colors to play him. Well if you like him so much then it won't be much of a sacrifice. Mardu is the fastest and least static of all the Clans in Tarkir. Zurgo Helmsmasher is the embodiment of that speed. 

4) The annoying fact that he dies to a shock or a Debilitating Injury.He seems so unstoppable and then he dies from a simple shock on your opponents turn! Well Wizards of the Coast had to give him some weakness.

With all this being said Zurgo Helmsmasher stands as the brute of choice if you are playing Mardu colors and opponents who do not form a healthy respect for him usually get a lesson in brutality that they don't normally forget. I may have found another EDH commander but since these are normally not my colors I may have to do a bit of reading up first. Still very excited to be playing in this Khans of Tarkir environment.