Why Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Is This Standard’s Siege Rhino

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Dominaria United is right around the corner, and with it, we’re getting a slew of sick cards to look at! I don’t know about you, but to me, these are some of the most exciting spoilers I’ve seen in a long time. Between super cool designs and beloved callbacks, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended up being one of the best sets of all time.

Today I’m going to be looking at the card that I believe is going to function as Standard’s newest Siege Rhino – Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

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So before I dive into analyzing Sheoldred, let me first explain what I’m even talking about for you zoomers out there.

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Back in Khans of Tarkir Standard, the best deck of that format for quite awhile was Abzan Midrange. Headlining Abzan Midrange was this big fella who would come down and dominate board states. Getting a 4/5 body with Trample is already a decent rate, but to Lightning Helix the opponent on entry is what made this card so scary. This was considered to be the best creature in Standard and was frequently brought up as a potential ban in Standard (which I found unwarranted, but that was the happenings back then).

So with that context, I’m saying that Sheoldred is going to function in a very similar way to how Siege Rhino did in Standard. I think this is going to be one of the most feared creatures that’s going to be an absolute beast no matter the board state. Let’s break down why.

To start with the comparison, both Sheoldred and Siege Rhino are four mana Black creatures with 4/5 bodies. To keep the analogy going, both creatures can also drain the opponent, albeit at different times. While Siege Rhino got the 3 on entry, Sheoldred instead makes the opponent lose 2 life with each card drawn and gain 2 life with each card you draw.

So as a body, I would say Siege Rhino gets the slight nod here. A Trampling 4/5 is going to be better than a Deathtouch 4/5 most of the time as the Deathtouch is mostly going to be unnecessary. However, double blocking Siege Rhino was a very realistic line where you would never want to double block a Sheoldred so it’s not like Rhino’s body is strictly better.

For the abilities, this is much closer. No matter what (barring Rhino getting countered) Siege Rhino always guaranteed you would get 3 life and 3 damage. Sheoldred on the other hand doesn’t have an enter the battlefield ability, but triggered abilities that work whenever a card is drawn whether by you or the opponent. So if both are killed instantly, obviously you’re coming out way ahead on Siege Rhino. However, if you manage to untap with a Sheoldred in play, you’re coming out ahead and will continue to rack up advantages. So once you pass the opponent will lose two life, if they let you untap without killing it you’re gaining two, and then when you pass back again they lose another two life. So that then begs the question of how often Sheoldred is going to die on resolution? Personally, I feel not often. 5 toughness lets her dodge common Red removal like Voltage Surge and Lightning Strike and The Wandering Emperor can’t tag her immediately. She’ll die to Infernal Grasp like any other creature, but that’s the only common removal spell (that we know of right now) that’s going to do that. So on average I imagine Sheoldred will live at least until the opponent’s turn and I wouldn’t be surprised if most players couldn’t kill her at all.

So overall, Sheoldred seems very comparable to Siege Rhino while just being in one color, so where does that leave us?

Rakdos Midrange

by DoggertQBones

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Standard

Midrange

best of 1

9 mythic

26 rare

6 uncommon

19 common

0

1

2

3

4

5

6+

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Planeswalkers (4)

4

Liliana of the Veil

$55.96

Creatures (15)

4

Tenacious Underdog

$1.96

4

Bloodtithe Harvester

$1.40

4

Graveyard Trespasser

$3.96

3

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

$239.97

Instants (6)

4

Voltage Surge

$1.40

2

Infernal Grasp

$4.58

Sorceries (4)

4

Invoke Despair

$2.36

Enchantments (6)

2

The Meathook Massacre

$79.98

4

Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

$79.96

Lands (25)

1

Mountain

$0.35

11

Swamp

$3.85

4

Sulfurous Springs

$7.16

4

Haunted Ridge

$35.96

3

Tramway Station

$1.05

1

Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

$12.99

1

Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance

$5.99

60 Cards
$538.88

VERDICT

Sheoldred looks somewhat innocuous, but seems very powerful overall. Since it’s monocolored, Sheoldred is going to slot into a lot of Black decks as there’s no real downside to playing her. Furthermore, this is both hard to kill and a must kill as letting this live for too long is going to make the game spiral out of control. I expect to see a lot of Sheoldred moving forward, especially in conjunction with Liliana of the Veil.

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