Magic Origins: A Cycle of Numbers, Part Two

(It appears I forgot to post my latest entry this weekend. So sorry!!)

Spoiler season for Magic Origins continues! Last time, I took a look at the first three cards in a new Common cycle that emphasizes the concept of strength in numbers. Anyone who is familiar with cards like Relentless Rats or its ilk will immediate recognize how these work. Let's take a look at the remaining two cards.

My first thought when I saw Infectous Bloodlust was Squadron Hawk from Magic 2011, which also allowed you to chain multiple copies of the same card together. Of course, this will be significantly weaker, as it not only is a creature Aura instead of a creature, but it also only activates when the enchanted creature dies, rather than when the enchantment enters the battlefield. Still, this seems like a worthy addition to an aggressive tokens-style deck that has no issues with swinging in each turn and should easily have plenty of targets for the additional copies as they come. It's probably not that great outside of that specific archetype, but still should see some play.

Timberpack Wolf is actually a reprint from Magic 2013, but you can easily see why they chose it since it seems perfectly at home in this cycle. A vanilla 2/2 for 2 in Green is pretty subpar, and even with two of them in play, you're still only getting two 3/3s for your effort. In Theros block alone Green already has several decent to good 2 drop creatures, including Swordwise Centaur, which is arguably more consistent even if its potential is much lower, as well as the excellent Leafcrown Dryad. Timberpack Wolf is perfectly acceptable in Limited, where you'll happily play 2/2s for 2 most of the time. But in Standard Pauper, I doubt this will see much play.

Believe it or not, but we're only through the first official week of Magic Origins spoilers. There will be lots more to come, and I can't wait to see what else it has in store for Standard Pauper!