Unusual Tribes 14: Dogs

Intro

Core Set 2021 looks set to shake up the game. Another powerful Teferi is on the way to terrorise the meta again, powerful cards from the past like Ugin, the Sprit Dragon and Baneslayer Angel are being reprinted and the Phasing mechanic is set to return after a 23 year long absence. Amongst all of these big alterations one small, but important, change is also occurring. Every single Hound in the game is being errated (a fancy card game term meaning ‘changed retroactively’) into a Dog. This is a small alteration, but one which Magic the Gathering’s chief designer Mark Rosewater has been campaigning for, for years. The flavour text of the card B-I-N-G-O  references this debate in its flavour text, quoting the children’s song about a Dog named Bingo but swapping the word ‘Dog’ out for the word ‘Hound’.

This shows that the great Hound/Dog debate has haunted Magic the Gathering since, at least, as far back as 2004. Now this change is finally coming to pass, and to commemorate the ‘great doggening of 2020’ this edition of Unusual Tribes will look at Dogs. We will be analysing the viability of Dogs as a create type and discussing whether it is possible to build a deck of perfect puppers, or if they are just too floofy to fight fiercely.

A History of Hounds

There are currently 89 Dogs in the game, and they are spread across all 5 colours, although they appear most frequently in white, red and green. The game even features two artifact dogs: Immolating Souleater and Leashling, with the Souleater serving as a reminder that even the Multiverse’s most malevolent terror, the Phyrexians, have a soft spot for dogs. The first dog printed in the game was Snow Hound who was released in Ice Age in 1995. Snow Hound features flavour text which is somehow simultaneously heart-warming and morbid, stating ‘If you’re starving, eat your horses, your dead, or yourself—but never eat your dog’. 

Unfortunately, many of the dogs of the Multiverse are rather forgettable. Hollow Dogs is but one of the many Dog cards in the game with bark worse than their bite, as an overcosted piece of draft chaff. Wild Dogs is another weak card and one which proves that not all Dogs are loyal by changing sides during each of your upkeeps if another player has more life than you.  The non-viability of Dogs is made all the more apparent when they are compared to their ancient rivals, Cats.

Cats have been a viable tribe in Magic the Gathering for years. Savannah Lions, was one of the game’s premier aggro cards for many years. Amonkhet block featured Cat tribal as a prominent theme, as demonstrated by cards like Pride Sovereign and Regal Caracal. Finally, Feline Ferocity a preconstructed Commander deck based around Cats, was released in 2017. Dogs, however, have not been so lucky.  This even applies to their humanoid counterparts.  The catlike Leonin are a regular presence across many planes, from Mirrodin to Theros.  The doglike, Ainok, meanwhile, have so far appeared exclusively on Tarkir.

Until very recently, neither ‘Dog’ or ‘Hound’ tribal have ever been attempted as a theme and no real synergies have ever existed to encourage you to run multiple dogs together. Core Set 2021 and Jump Start are set to shake things up though, by printing a plethora new Dogs. 

Rin, Seri, the Pack leader and Others

Upon being revealed, the card Rin and Seri, Inseparable captured  the hearts of the Magic the Gathering community. The card is widely regarded as an adorable and evocative piece of design, as evidenced by the dozens of memes which affectionately parodied it that accompanied its reveal. The card depicts a heart-warming friendship between a dog named Rin and cat named Seri. Whenever you play a Dog, you create a 1/1 Cat token and whenever you play a Cat you create a 1/1 Dog token. The card also has an activated ability which deals damage to any target equal to the number of Dogs you have in play and the heals you equal to the number of Cats you control. Rin and Seri were clearly designed to be a commander which enables you to weld both Cat and Dog tribal themes together into a single deck. The card enables you to run the feline/canine strategy of your dreams. Time will tell just how powerful this will turn out to be, and whether cat/dog decks may even see some fringe play in standard. At the very least, the card is an interesting experiment.

Pack Leader is the next innovation brough about by Core Set 2021, it’s a lord for Dogs and a powerful one at that. Pack Leader grants all of your Dogs +1/+1 and invulnerability to combat damage whilst they are attacking for a mere two mana, this is a fantastic deal and any Dog deck should run as many copies of it as they can get their hands on. The card is more powerful than most lords, which typically cost more mana and don’t grant abilities as useful as imperviousness to combat damage. This may be balanced out slightly by the relative weakness of Dogs as a tribe prior to this point.

Core Set 2021 is not the only newly released product to contain new treats for Dog decks. Jump Start contains a collection of canine cards. Trusty Retriever is a 2/3 for 4 that can either gain a +1/+1 counter or return an artifact or enchantment from your graveyard to your hand as it enters play. You can also let the dogs out by casting Release the Dogs a 4 mana spell which creates 4 1/1 white dog tokens, although unless you have some way to buff these dogs their arrival may be slightly anticlimactic.

Finally Jump Start contains a thematically appropriate plains cards featuring some Dog-based artwork, which you can use to bling out your deck, possibly alongside a Cat-based forest if you’re running a Rin and Seri deck.

A Side Note on Cerberus

Before we get to the grades, I would just like to take a quick moment to discuss how Magic the Gathering has portrayed one of the most famous dogs of Greek Mythology. Cerberus, the pet of Hades and the guard dog of the Underworld has been represented on several Magic the Gathering cards.

There are also two widely different, but equally flavourful, portrayals of Cerberus, which I feel deserve attention here. Underworld Cerberus from the original Theros can’t be blocked except by three or more creatures, demonstrating the fact that it has three heads. Underworld Cerberus also prevents cards in graveyards from being targeted by spells or abilities, showing that whilst Cerberus is guarding the gates, access to the underworld is sealed off. But when Underworld Cerberus dies, every creature in each players’ graveyard returns to play in a chaotic burst, as the souls of the dead flood back into the mortal world. Kunoros, Hound of Athreos, released in Theros Beyond Death, has an arbitrary collection of Keywords, as many modern legendary creatures often do. In addition, Kunoros prevents creatures and spells from the graveyard from being cast. An effect which was incredibly relevant in the Limited environment of Theros Beyond Death, which was based around the Escape mechanic, causing spells and creatures from the Graveyard to thematically escape from the Underworld and return to play.  A feat that can no longer be accomplished whilst Kunoros is on the battlefield.

 

Arbitrary Grades

Flavour: B

So what comes to mind when we think of dogs? A few words that come to mind are loyalty, companionship, optimism and energy. How well does Magic the Gathering convey these ideas?

The loyalty of Dogs to their owners is demonstrated in an often tragic way. Many dogs, such as Selfless Saviour and Resolute Watchdog  can sacrifice themselves in order to grant another creature indestructible, thematically these doggos are leaping in and taking a lethal blow for their master.  Companionship is demonstrated very literally through Dogs which possess the Companion mechanic such as Chakram Retriever and Pako, Arcane Retriever. Both of these Dogs can also play fetch with their companions. This is represented by Chakram Retriever untapping Chakram Slinger each time you cast a spell and Pako placing fetch counters on cards from each player’s library which you can then cast through the effect of Haldan Avid Arcanist.

Finally the optimism and energy of dogs is reflected by giving some of them a handful of abilities like First Strike and Haste, showing how they will bound towards opponents, just as real dogs bound towards their owners when they return home.

All in all, I think the Dogs of Magic are authentically portrayed. Perhaps a few more of them could have keyword abilities like Haste and First Strike as only a small amount have these flavourful energetic abilities. Furthermore, maybe loyalty could be demonstrated in new, non-lethal, ways. For example, some Dogs could be printed which cannot change controller. This would mean that they no longer to sacrifice themselves in order to prove their loyalty, as I don’t know how many more dogs forced into martyrdom my poor heart can take.

Viability: D

Awarding a grade here is slightly difficult.  It can only really be speculative, as the support which Core Set 2021 and Jump Start will provide have yet to arrive. It seems as though Rin and Seri decks will work in Commander, and possibly even in Standard, but those decks aren’t really ‘Dog Tribal decks’ as you’ll need to make use of several cats as well.

So running an independent Dog deck currently seems difficult. Core Set 2021 does represent a massive increase in support for Dog-decks and it is possible that they will become increasingly viable as time goes on. For now, however, a D seems appropriate.

Best and worst cards:    

The best Dog is difficult to determine. There have only been a few powerful and impactful Dogs in Magic’s history. Wild Mongrel is a powerful enabler of the Madness mechanic, as it enable you to discard as many cards as you need to at any given moment. Isamaru, Hound of Konda is another powerful Dog who is notable for being the only 1 mana 2/2 creature in the game with no downside, aside from being Legendary. Though the card is, as yet, unreleased  (at least outside of arena) Pack Leader is probably a contender here. None of these cards are terribly game breaking, however, and there’s definitely room for more powerful Dogs in the future.

The worst Dog, however, is a clear choice.  Filthy Cur is a 2 mana 2/2, but any damage it takes is dealt to you.  Although its stats are far from awful, it is often a massive liability, especially when you are playing against a Red deck, as their removal suite is based on effect which deal damage. A Shock or a Lightning Bolt is twice as painful if it zaps both you and your pet.

I mentioned above that Wild Dogs changes sides during each of your upkeep phases. As a 2/1, for 1 mana it definitely doesn’t have the stats to justify this deeply negative ability, it didn’t when it was printed and it certainly doesn’t now. The fact that the card can simply be cycled away, however, prevents it from being as bad as Filthy Cur, as you can just pay a bit of mana and swap it for the top card in your deck if an opponent has significantly more life than you.