"Who is the best Red God?"

"Who is the best Red God?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

The title is one of the questions asked during the start of Amonkhet spoiler season where Hazoret the pervert...err Fervent was compared to good Ol Purphoros , God of the Forge.

I was still gathering my thoughts and reeling from other things so I was not able to answer at that time but here is my 2 cents worth on the Bestest Red God Ever. It is Rhollor!

Kidding aside. Let us see what each god can do first.

We all know Purphorus , we paired him with that kid who kept on making Elemental creatures when you burn someone. He was the high end of mana curves in many Red decks because he was sure 2 damage when a creature lands on the battlefield. He doesn't even need to manifest in physical form. 

His 2R ability to give a +1/0 to each creature you control could just be the final push to finish off an opponent in the Red.

So let us now check out the new comer Hazoret the Fervent. His is similarly costed as old Purphy but he seems to serve a different purpose. 

He is indestructible and has haste because he is the intended finisher on the mana curve of some mono red decks that might be hitting standard soon. I can see him in some Red burner deck where you just point and shoot at someone and then when you have no other spells to burn with you just unleash Hazoret on the battlefield for 5/4 damage.

His discard effects of 2R lets you deal 2 damage to each opponent but it does not work well with the Vampires of Innistrad who also requre you to pay mana to cast them for their madness cost. On the downside too is that Hazoret also succumbs to Dismember where Ol Purphy just becomes 2/1 and is begging for you to fire another Dismember at him. At which point he laughs at the idea that you just gave 8 life points to phyrexian mana if you are not playing black.

In the EDH setting Purphoros has many proven combinations especially with token creators like Prossh or Avenger of Zendikar. So he scores as the better Red God here too.

Of course I have often criticized a card and died to it in tournaments so I would rather say that Hazoret needs a little more research but he does appear a little weaker than the older Theros god.

So to be safe the best Red God is still Rhollor. And I wonder what kind of card he would have should he be ever shifted into Magic form.