Retro Magic (MTG) - Born of the Gods Intro Pack – Insatiable Hunger Deck Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

When the Insatiable Hunger intro pack was first released in 2014, it was “Value City” compared to most other intro decks of the time. Not only does the deck contain a Standard and Modern playable rare, Mistcutter Hydra, from Theros. But it has a lot of other goodies, as well. Is it an amazing playable deck out of the box? That’s debatable. But let’s take a look!

CREATURES
2 Cyclops of One-Eyed Pass
2 Fanatic of Xenagos
1 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Nessian Courser
2 Nessian Demolok
1 Nessian Wilds Ravager
1 Opaline Unicorn
1 Pharagax Giant
2 Reckless Reveler
1 Satyr Piper
1 Setessan Starbreaker
2 Snake of the Golden Grove
2 Swordwise Centaur
1 Thunder Brute
2 Voyaging Satyr

NON-CREATURES
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Fall of the Hammer
2 Lightning Strike
1 Messenger’s Speed
1 Mischief and Mayhem
2 Mortal’s Resolve
2 Ordeal of Nylea
1 Pinnacle of Rage
1 Searing Blood

LANDS
14 Forest
12 Mountain

The Nessian Wilds Ravager is certainly an interesting card, and it’s the cover card of this deck. A 6/6 for 4GG that has the ability to either become a 12/12 or fight a target creature is definitely powerful in Limited. It’s not exactly my idea of what a red/green aggro deck should be running, but as far as fatties go, it’s not a bad one at all. But this isn’t the Hydra you’re buying the deck for.

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Mistcutter Hydra may not look like much at first, but this little XG (X, 1 Green) creature can get out of control in a hurry. Not only can it not be countered, but it also has Haste (very important!) and protection from Blue, which is one of the best colors in Theros Block Standard. It enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it, so obviously the more you pump into it, the bigger it is.

It’s pretty much a win condition against mono-Blue decks and against blue/black control decks who have a hard time dealing with a big uncounterable creature (and even a lot of their Black creatures have Blue in their casting costs). Just having Haste makes it playable. It’s the best card in the deck.

The Intro Pack also has two copies of Fanatic of Xenagos, which is good whether or not your opponent pays for its Tribute cost. It’s either a 4/4 trampler for 1RG, or a 3/3 with Haste that becomes a 4/4 until end of the turn that it comes into play for 1RG, and it still has Trample. It’s just a valuable creature. With Xenagos, God of Revels around to give it Haste (and double the power until end of turn), this is a really good creature.

As with most Intro Packs, the rest of the creatures are sort of sub-par, most of them being Tribute creatures that are good in Limited but not aggressive enough for a typical Constructed atmosphere. Voyaging Satyr, though, which untaps lands is pretty good. Opaline Unicorn is also a cute little mana rock on a 1/2 body.

The non-creature spells aren’t bad at all, though. It has fine removal in Fall of the Hammer, two copies of Lightning Strike, and a Searing Blood. Destructive Revelry is also quite good enchantment/artifact removal. Messenger’s Speed is a passable Aura, Mortal’s Resolve is an OK combat trick, and Ordeal of Nylea helps you ramp up your basic lands. Pinnacle of Rage is a Limited-only card and Mischief and Mayhem is a bit too expensive for what you want to do with this deck, even though it has a super cool effect.

Improving the Insatiable Hunger Deck, In Context

Unlike some of the other Born of the Gods intro packs, there are ways to make the Insatiable Hunger deck better relatively inexpensively. Here’s a shot at it:

CREATURES
4 Fanatic of Xenagos
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Nessian Demolok
2 Nessian Wilds Ravager
1 Satyr Piper
4 Swordwise Centaur
1 Thunder Brute
4 Voyaging Satyr

NON-CREATURES
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Fall of the Hammer
3 Lightning Strike
1 Mischief and Mayhem
2 Mortal’s Resolve
2 Ordeal of Nylea
2 Searing Blood

LANDS
12 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Temple of Abandon

We max out the Fanatic of Xenagos, since that’s easily one of the best cards in the deck, cutting the Opaline Unicorn (as cute as it is) and the vanilla Nessian Courser. We’re also cutting the Reckless Reveler who are too situational for two more Swordwise Centaur, who are vanilla but are 3/2 for two Green and fit our aggressive strategy.

We also max out the Mistcutter Hydras and drop a lot of the more irrelevant creatures: the Setessan Starbreaker and the two Snake of the Golden Groves. The Starbreaker’s removal ability will be compensated for by another copy of Destructive Revelry later. The Snake’s tribute ability can gain you 4 life or become a 7/7 for 5 mana. While that’s not bad at all, three more Mistcutters are more efficient and have Haste, which is very important!

We next cut the Pharagax Giant (great Limited card) for another Nessian Wilds Ravager. The Giant will usually just be a 5 for 4R, so the Ravager just does a lot more work here. The Cyclops are both cut for two more copies of Voyaging Satyr, which helps the deck ramp a bit. The two Nessian Demolok can stay for now, as well as Thunder Brute for being a Trampler that can gain Haste. The Piper will also stay, as having the ability to make one of the big creatures in the deck un-blockable is a nice touch.

We cut a couple of lands since we added Temples for the color fixing, and this gave us room for another Lightning Strike and Fall of the Hammer. Mischief and Mayhem stays in for now for the surprise element, and only the Messenger’s Speed (not really too great) and the Pinnacle of Rage leave for another Destructive Revelry and Searing Blood.

The next upgrade to do with this deck is replace the Thunder Brute with a Xenagos, God of Revels, which will be your win condition. If you can afford them, you’d replace the Nessian Demoloks with Polukranos, World Eater. You could also take out the Piper for an Arbor Colossus. Also, if the Swordwise Centaurs are too vanilla for you, just swap them out for a playset of Burning-Tree Emissary or Scavenging Ooze depending on what you want to do with the deck.

Like the green/black and red/white Born of the Gods intro decks, there’s a nice shell for a good aggressive deck here. I’d give it a B for providing so many value cards in the deck to start, plus you get the two booster packs. Unlike the blue/white and blue/black decks that don’t serve as good shells or provide you with much value in the lists, the red/green deck is easily the best value for your money.

Future Value

Born of the Gods was a relatively weak set compared to Theros and Journey Into Nyx. So the booster packs aren’t worth much as those from other sets would be. But considering the Insatiable Hunger deck can be had for only about $10-12, it’s not a bad buy when you consider boosters are $3-4 each retail. So you basically get an entire 60-card deck for $5-7.

Mistcutter Hydra isn’t worth much, about $1 or so, but it is definitely a playable card. The Nessian Wilds Ravager is a bulk rare, but sees some play in Commander. An uncommon, Searing Blood, is probably the most competitively useful card in the deck, as it’s played in Modern Burn decks. Destructive Revelry also sees Modern play as artifact removal. Lightning Strike is still played in some casual decks, so it’s worth a non-zero amount, as well. So as a sealed product, it’s actually worth buying as long as you get one of the Gods, Courser of Kruphix, or Brimaz, King of Oreskos from one of your Born of the Gods boosters. A Temple tap-land is good to get, too.

All in all, for an older Intro Pack, Insatiable Hunger is a good one. Since the cards to improve this deck are pretty cheap nowadays, it’s a great pickup for casual players breaking into Magic the Gathering.

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