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Official Eventide Preview Card – Wake Thrasher!

Eventide!
Thursday, July 3rd – Merfolk! One of the all-time classic tribes in Magic: The Gathering. The little fish are currently extremely popular in both Standard and Block Constructed. Eventide promises to bring fresh fish to the table… and there’s none as fresh as the Wake Thrasher!

Eventide approaches, and the land of Lorwyn is about to be turned on its head. In the offical previews so far, we’ve had a slew of interesting and tricky effects, cards that promise much in the way of power and guile.

And today’s card is no different. Let’s take a look:

Fishy, fishy, fishy, ooooooh

At first blush, this unnasuming 1/1 for three mana doesn’t appear to be world-changing fare. Indeed, three-mana 1/1 guys aren’t exactly the dreams on which Constructed Magic is made. However, with a little application, the tiny Merfolk Soldier can swell to powerhouse proportions.

On its face, Wake Thrasher reminds me of an overlooked card from Mirrodin:

Man, I remember when that little beauty hit the shelves… I spent weeks trying to smash a format-wrecking deck out of it. Sadly, the specter of Affinity made playing non-Modular artifacts in the artifact block a pretty bad idea, and my best laid plans were relegated to the “Where Are They Now?” pile.

So where will the Wake Thrasher find his home? Personally, I like him in an Aggro Merfolk deck. As Jan Reuss proved at Pro Tour: Hollywood, swimming with the fishes can be rather successful…

4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord Of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Wake Thrasher
2 Sygg, River Guide

4 Cryptic Command
4 Sage’s Dousing

11 Island
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
4 Wanderwine Hub

Let’s investigate Wake Thrasher’s swelling ability in cold, hard terms. You’re playing Fish, and you win the die roll. Imagine the following aggro start…

Turn 1: Land, Cursecatcher.
Turn 2: Land, Lord of Atlantis, swing (18).
Turn 3: Land, Wake Thrasher, swing (14).
Turn 4: Land, Merrow Reejerey, swing (0).

Huh?

Turn 4 beatdown Fish kill?

Sweet!

In the above scenario, Wake Thrasher comes down on turn 3, hot on the heels of two beatdown guys. Thanks to the Lord of Atlantis, he’s a 2/2. However, when you hit your untap step, the fireworks begin.

Your three lands untap. That’s +3/+3.

Your two guys untap. That’s +2/+2.

Goint into your main phase, your tiny 1/1 for three mana is actually a 7/7 guy. Drop a Merrow Reejerey, and Bam! 8/8. Hell, drop a land and a Cursecatcher, and use the Reejerey ability to untap a land… BAM BAM! 9/9.

A 9/9 guy swinging for the fences on turn 4… in a Blue deck.

There are other powerful starts capable with this deck. The Stonybrook Bannarets look particularly inticing…

Turn 1: Land, Cursecatcher.
Turn 2: Land, Stonybrook Bannaret, swing (19).
Turn 3: Land, Stonybrook Bannaret, double Wake Thrasher, swing (17)
Turn 4: Land, Merrow Reejerey, swing (-3).

Two 7/7 guys rumbling into the Red Zone on turn 4… Shivan Wurm, eat ya heart out!

Of course, there’s more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. While I firmly beleieve that, given the right aggressive home, Wake Thrasher will be very silly indeed, why limit yourself to merely smashing face? There are many tricky tapping and untapping effects out there. Wake Thrasher also works well with token permanents; the more things that untap, the better. Some cards that play well with the Wake Thrasher include Seedborn Muse, Springleaf Drum, Scryb Ranger, Heritage Druid, Stonybrook Schoolmaster, even Rite of Consumption… hell, let’s go old-school and throw him in an Opposition deck!

There are a number of strong synergies and funky options open to anyone willing to investigate this most ferocious of fishes. While the power of the Wake Thrasher may not be obvious at first glance, I believe that he will definitely make waves come the release of Eventide.