Desolation Twin - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Desolation Twin is a pretty exciting rare creature from Battle for Zendikar. We've had creatures that made twins before, such as Kalonian Twingrove and Armada Wurm. But never before have we gotten 20 power for only 10 mana. Token Commanders in EDH will have a field day with this powerhouse and this should be a game-ended in Limited. With something like Forerunner of Slaughter to give haste to colorless creatures for only 1 colorless mana, this guy and his twin could be attacking the turn they hit the board.

Besides the obvious inclusion in Token EDH decks such as Rhys, the Redeemed and Trostani, Selesyna's Voice, you could consider copying the Twin with the effect of the powerful Enchantment, Flameshadow Conjuring. While the copy of the Twin would be exiled at end of turn, the token that the copy creates does not - plus that copy has haste. Such a powerful effect would work with Feldon of the Third Path, who could keep making a copy of this from the graveyard for only 2R and a tap.

The only real downside to Desolation Twin is the lack of trample or any other sort of evasion. There are many ways around this, especially in Commander, but in Constructed, the Twin and his Twin will probably just get chump blocked all day. One way around this is to use the effect of Barrage Tyrant and pay 2R to fling each of these 10/10 bodies at your opponent's face. In any case, 10 mana is a lot in Constructed. However, the potential is here for some game-ending beats

---