Earlier today I posted the link the Alara Reborn Visual Spoiler  — featuring a whopping 16 cards that have been revealed in various places so far — on Twitter and asked which card people thought would see play in Constructed. I expempted the already proven Terminate from the discusssion but left the floor open. Thought Hemorrhage was the early leader among the replies but as the day wore on there was more and more support for the exciting Jund Hackblade.

Who hacks the Hackblade?

I have to admit, I spent a lot of time thinking about this guy today. I remember a discussion with Billy Moreno about building aggro decks after watching Billy overload some rather unimpressive beaters into the one-drop slot of an otherwise impressive looking red deck. Billy suggested that you needed a certain critical mass of one-drops — he played a whopping total of 14 in his PT Hawaii deck — to ensure that the deck made its scripted plays. He normally advocates at least 10 in an aggro deck. That would certainly seem to be true of any deck that was going to feature the Hackblade. The way this card will really shine is when played on turn two after leading off with Tattermunge Maniac or Figure of Destiny.

With the Maniac he is clearly amazing. Imagine leading off with the pup, sending it in alongside a 3/2 ‘Blade, and then following up with the Ram Gang on turn three against a deck which made its third land drop tapped. That is 13 points of beats by turn three. I am pretty sure you can find some assortment of similarlly colored cards to get those final 7 points pushed across even if they find a way to deal with your team.

Figure of Destiny is a little more clumsy to deal with since you usually want to use your mana to pump the Figure on turn two but you would certainly be happy deal with those kind of problems if you had to. The real problem comes if you decide that you need two more one-drops to make the deck click — or if you hate to play with Maniacs or don’t want to have to pick up a set of Figures. Are there any more playable multi-colored one-drops in Standard? Assuming that there are no multi-colored one drops in Alara Reborn since it is reportedly a gold set we can actually pull together a list of not ready for prime time one-drops auditioning for a shot at the big time alongside the hasty Jund beater:

Duergar Assailant — This quasi-Fanatic is almost certainly going to be the guy. He is not nearly as good as the Mogg Fanatic but he does make combat annoying and assuming we were going to warp our deck for the Hackmaster this is likely the performer that would get the part. We did call everyone else to tryout so lets see what they have to offer. Damned alphabetical ordered auditiions.

Elvish Hexhunter — Not exciting but certainly not unprecedented to see similar cards get some Constructed action. Granted it was usually when Illusions of Grandeur was in the environment. Maybe but probably not getting a callback.

Manforge Cinder – I guess it could help fix your mana…next!

Nip Gwillion – And then we will make it a 4/4 with Edge of Divinity and…next!

Odious Trow — I could have sworn you had Wither…next!

Oona’s Gatewarden — …next!

Rhys the Redeemed – Interesting. Not dead in the mid and late game and uses your mana. Green and white is not the direction we were leaning here but we will get back to you.

Skuzzback Scrapper — Wither is okay. Colors look fine. Still would feel pretty emabarassed playing this guy when my opponent was bracing for a first turn Figure. Put him on the call back list — just not near the top.

Seedcradle Witch — Oooh! I had completely forgotten about this one. I like it. Makes and even better use of your mid-game mana than Rhys and does not need to fully recovered from summoning sickness. Again…colors don’t seem right but and interesting possibility.

Slippery Boggle – Am I am completely off my rocker for liking this one? It is actually immune to Mogg Fanatic when trying to set up your Hackblade turn. Nimble Mongoose has been good for me even without Threshhold and I can target this guy with an aura or equipment. I could see myself playing this guy but probably not in this deck.

Stream Hopper – Probably a much better choice from the same cycle than the previously mentioned Boggle. Semi-Flying Man can get across the red zone while other one-drops just crane their necks and stay home.

The Hackblade is almost certainly be a staple card in Standard beatdown decks. There are plenty of viable one-drops that allow it to single handedly attack for six by the end of turn three and it is also perfectly fine to play it on two and then attack for six on turn three with either a second copy or a Ram-Gang. All in all, a pretty nice beater at common meaning it should become a fixture in Pauper.