There are some excellent midrange aggro creatures in Gatecrash in the Boros and Simic guilds. It's about time for Gruul to get another of its own. To that end, the MTGCast Monday Night Magic podcast has an exclusive Gatecrash preview for us tonight, and it has the potential to be huge. Literally. Feast your eyes on Rubblebelt Raiders.
A 3/3 for four mana with no evasion and no self-protection might not be a great deal, but take a good look at that ability and think about just how much damage this creature will be throwing around merely on its first attack. That's a "Whenever Rubblebelt Raiders attacks..." trigger, meaning that a) it counts itself so it'll always get at least a perpetual +1/+1 from swinging and b) the counters go on before combat damage is dealt, so it's guaranteed to hit much harder than its cost should allow even if it's only swung once. If you've got three other attackers ready on your turn after you play this - not an unreasonable assumption in Gruul's colors - you're looking at your Rubblebelt Raiders as a 7/7 just from the outset.
Funnily enough, the guild that wants this card the most might not be Gruul itself, but the Boros; this card meshes insanely well with the strategy of their keyword, battalion. This is a Limited bomb for sure, and don't be surprised if it sees a good amount of Constructed play as well.
What do you think of this raging Gruul horde? Let me know in the comments.
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