"Silumgar , the Drifting Death: Imagine Hopelessness"

"Silumgar , the Drifting Death: Imagine Hopelessness"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I am writing this on the eve of the release of Fate Reforged. It is a Thursday and my thoughts have once again turned toward the Dragons. While I will be collecting all of them in this set(and the following set) there is one dragon that I simply could not wait to get my hands on and this is the Dragon Silumgar , the Drifting Death. 

Like a true Sultai I was able to face this dragon on the battlefield. I did lose. Good thing it was only in the Pre-Release. This 5 to cast Blue/Black Dragon is simply a cut above the rest of the Dragons emerging from Fate Reforged. It is a Flying , Hexproof 3/7 Monster that gives all your opponents creatures -1/-1 whenever a dragon attacks! 

"I am the answer!"

Normal Spot Removal can't handle it because of its hexproof , the only things that could take care of it in this set is Mass Removal via End Hostilities and Crux of Fate. And that Abzan guy , the new Fleshbag Marauder , Merciless Executioner. Other than these things in standard it will always be a race with the dragon before it finishes you. It is a great thing that power level wise they decided to cut this to three power because other creatures could still outrace it in the damage department.

One other dragon that I think would be a much for it is the Dragon Atarka who has double strike. Ojutai and its tapping effect bounces off Silumgar , Dromoka and Kolaghan don't have the power to deal with it but Dromoka might grow to 7/7 if it was the only creature on an opponents side of the board.

"Silumgar Stopper"

Still there is a feeling of hopelessness the surrounds the dragon Silumgar especially for those who love 1/1 creature tokens. When Silumgar sweeps in and gives them all a -1/-1. In standard the only 2 dragons that could play within the Dimir colors are the black Noxious dragon(which is actually part of the Silumgar brood) and the blue Mindscour Dragon. Assuming that you could play all three and attack with them then opposing creatures would  be in big trouble because the moment they attack altogether that is a -3/-3 Bile Blight sweep without even spending mana.It is quite a feat in standard to be honest and I find myseld turning to an older block , Lorwyn to take better advantage of Silumgar and all the triggered abilities of the dragons in Fate Reforged.

"I am the Dragon!"

Changelings. Yup those creatures that are every creature type. There is even a one to cast dragon in Lorwyn. Mothdust Changeling! 2 to cast dragons? Yup. Amoeboid Changeling. Shapesharer. Skeletal Changeling just to name a few. Seems like when Silumgar comes into play any of these "dragons" could already attack and kill opposing creatures at will. 

Wings of Velis Vel could even make any of your creatures dragons until end of turn! Time to make some heavy digging in my card pile. Silumgar plus these changelings in the EDH setting and I could just see a lot of potential.A New Dragon for a new army of Dragons. Smells like a war brewing. With Silumgar there is always an air of hopelessness. And the smell is thick.