Bloomburrow is releasing very soon, and if you’re a fan of adorable animals and typal synergies, you should be in for a good time. From a Constructed standpoint, however, this set seems a bit tamer than other sets we’ve seen over the last year.
Frankly, this should be a nice change of pace, considering how impactful MH3 was across the board. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t strong Bloomburrow cards that should make an impact in Standard, but rather that there doesn’t seem to be anything overtly broken this time around.
Still, if you look closely, you’ll find some strong additions here and there that should help various archetypes in post-rotation Standard. Today, we’re going to highlight a red one-drop that looks like an elite fit for aggro decks: Hired Claw. There hasn’t been a ton of discussion surrounding this card, but we think it fills a very important role in Standard moving forward.
A Necessary Replacement
- Mana Value: R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/2
- Text: Whenever you attack with one or more Lizards, Hired Claw deal 1 damage to target opponent. 1R: Put a +1/+1 counter on Hired Claw. Activate only if an opponent lost life this turn and only once each turn.
This weekend on Magic Online, we got to see some Standard Challenges take place post-rotation. Despite the fact that Bloomburrow hasn’t been implemented on the program yet, the Midnight Hunt, Crimson Vow, Kamigawa, and Streets of New Capenna sets were not available for tournament use. As you might expect, this led to some intriguing metagame shifts.
One of the more noticeable things from these events was the lack of mono-red aggro at the top tables. As it turns out, the loss of Kumano Faces Kakkazan and Play with Fire is a huge deal. These one-drops aren’t easy to replace, but Hired Claw looks well-suited for the job.
Similar to Scorch Spitter, which saw Standard play in the past, Hired Claw gets to deal one damage to the opponent when it attacks. If they don’t have a blocker ready, you can reliably get two damage in each attack.
Unlike Scorch Spitter, though, Hired Claw has very high upside. After playing this turn one, you can play a land turn two and attack. This will trigger Hired Claw to deal a damage to the opponent. From there, you can pump Hired Claw in combat to deal even more damage. Of course, you can choose to use your mana developing your board in your second main phase instead. However, this threat of activation makes blocking very awkward for the opponent.
Notably, you can also activate this ability even on the opponent’s turn if they lost life. As such, if you cast a burn spell on their end step, you can grow Hired Claw. Sometimes, your opponent will have to lose life from a Painland, which opens the door for an activation as well. This card is scarier than it looks and seems primed to help mono-red aggro decks fill the one-drop void.
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Potential Lizard Synergies
- Mana Value: BR
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/2
- Text: Ward- Pay 2 life. Other creatures you control enter with an additional +1/+1 counter on them for each opponent who lost life this turn. Whenever you cast a Lizard spell, Gev, Scaled Scorch deals 1 damage to target opponent.
Branching away from just mono-red aggro, there may be room for some Lizard synergies with Hired Claw, too. Both Gev, Scaled Scorch and Iridescent Vinelasher are very strong cards on rate, and both of them work well alongside Hired Claw.
In the case of Gev, Hired Claw’s attacks ensure that the opponent will lose life during your turn. This way, even if you cast a non-Lizard creature, it will still enter with a +1/+1 counter. You can also cast Hired Claw after Gev, and because Hired Claw is a Lizard itself, Gev will ping the opponent and Hired Claw will enter with a +1/+1 counter on it.
Meanwhile, Iridescent Vinelasher serves as another potent Lizard one-drop that can easily force your opponent’s life total to dwindle. It’s unclear if there is truly enough Lizards support in Standard at the moment. That being said, there are some powerful tools here for the archetype, and Hired Claw is an important piece of the puzzle.
The reality is, that the drop-off between Hired Claw and other red one-drops in Standard now besides Monastery Swiftspear seems pretty large. As such, this potent Lizard should not be taken for granted. As someone who loves playing aggressive decks, Hired Claw has me very excited.
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