Smothering Abomination - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Smothering Abomination is an Eldrazi that potentially could become a pretty decent draw engine. He costs 2BB to cast, but is Devoid of color. The Abomination is also a 4/3 with flying that requires you to sacrifice a creature at the beginning of each upkeep. However, any time you sacrifice a creature, you get to draw a card. With the amount of Eldrazi Scion tokens that you can generate in this set, this could turn out to make sacrificing them for mana into card advantage. In Limited, this looks like it could be decent both as a flyer and as a source of card draw. Worst case, it can sacrifice itself to draw a card if you don’t have anyone else to sacrifice.

In Constructed, it depends on how much Scion tokens or other expendable creatures are used for the Abomination to be good. There are already cards in Standard, however, that synergize well with his ability, including Liliana, Heretical Healer, Grim Haruspex, and even Bloodsoaked Champion - who can serve as a repeatable sacrifice outlet. If something like Bloodghast - which comes back from the yard each time a land comes down - were in Standard, this would probably be a staple. Unfortunately, this Abomination is a bit too fragile for Modern with only 3 toughness (gets Lightning Bolted all day).

The best application for Smothering Abomination is definitely in Commander, where sacrifice outlets are plentiful, not only in Mono-Black decks, but in any deck that benefits from sacrificing creatures. The list of commanders this works well alongside is too long to list, and the card draw this guy can create is pretty sick in the format.

Still, in the right Standard deck, a one-of or two-of of Smothering Abomination could happen. Card draw is always powerful and a flyer that can hit for 4 is always welcome.

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