Alara Reborn Preview: Pale Recluse
Recluse spiders are highly venomous, and their bites cause necrotic skin lesions. So don't summon too many.
The last of Robot Viking’s Alara Reborn previews is the Pale Recluse, a very large spider that can block all manner of attackers, or it can slink back into its web and give you a land instead. Remember, the prerelease weekend is April 25-26, and the release date is April 30 (a Thursday).
There’s not a whole lot to say about the Pale Recluse in constructed formats. Let’s face it, you don’t don’t have to work too hard to find a better use for 6 mana.
In booster drafts or sealed deck tournaments, though, this is a recluse you’d be happy to find (you would probably not be happy to find a brown recluse living under your toilet seat, however). The cost is still a little high, but the landcycling makes it ok. If you draw this arachnid too early, just cycle it for whatever type of land you need, a plains or a forest. Draw him late, and you’ve got a major threat in the creature battle. Lots of limited format games come down to a creature standoff broken by the first player to get a flyer. With a 4/5 that can block flyers on your side, you’ve got a great deal of control over the situation.
Of course, your pale Recluse could very well be the biggest threat on the board when it comes out, so you might just send it in to attack and start inflicting massive spider bites on your opponent. It’s too bad they didn’t give the Pale Recluse an ability related to that whole necrotizing skin lesion thing.
Find the nearest prerelease event and get a foil Dragon Broodmother just for showing up. Plus they’re a lot of fun!
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April 15th, 2009 10:53 AM
…somebody is obsessed with necrotizing skin lesions…
April 15th, 2009 2:00 PM
My Chem Lab Professor was bitten by one of these buggers and now he can’t do anything active physically. brown Recluses are bad news.