"Angrath , Minotaur Pirate: All work and no play."

"Angrath , Minotaur Pirate: All work and no play."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I have been wanting to write about Magic's first Minotaur planeswalker card for a bit now but as a lot of knew what happened to me I have been and will be preoccupied in the coming months and years in rebuilding my family. I still plan on writing as much as I can though and today let us focus on that other planeswalker who was mentioned in Ixalan but will only just be appearing now.

Now this version is probably a lot weaker than the standard version of the card but this guy seems to possess a lot of good abilities for the 6 mana that he would require you to cast him. 

His first ability , a +2  , allows you to deal 1 damage to target opponent and each player that player controls. There would be situations where you are not going to be able to assault an opponent. Ghostly Prison and Propaganda or a a whole slew of blockers on the battlefield. In regard Angrath can be a pinger finisher for you or maybe eliminate those pesky 1/1 blockers so that your creatures can smash through. Whatever the case I wish that they just made this into a pyroclasm ability but then again this would be too strong for a planeswalker duel deck exclusive.

The Minotaurs second ability , a -3  , proves that you never really stop working for him even if you die. It is a very limited necromantic calling but it can be quite effective in decks that are dedicated to pirates. So you can just put one of your dead pirates from your graveyard unto the battlefield. There are a lot of ETB effects from the pirates of Ixalan and I am sure that there will be a lot more of those in Rivals of Ixalan. So to maximize this ability you need to stick Angrath in a pirate EDH deck , preferably with Admiral Beckett Brass as so far there are no their captains that can work with him in EDH.

Angrath's Ultimate ability , a -11 , let's you choose an opponent and destroy all of his or her creatures. And to rub a little salt on the injury that he has lost all of his attackers or blockers , Angrath would also deal damage to that opponent equal to the total power of the creatures that you have just destroyed. Channeling all of that death and causing more death. Ouch.

When you think about it even if your opponent survives this board wipe it would still leave him vulnerable to your attacking creatures. 

And this ultimate makes the most convincing argument for adding Angrath into your pirate decks may they be in Standard or EDH. Will you be building a pirate deck now? Will you add Angrath to your existing decks? Time to have fun. Keep on brewing. Keep on playing.