The Timmy/Tammy persona has been a source of inspiration for Magic design for many years now. I found this article by Mark Rosewater, dating back to 2013, where Mark tells the story of Timmy's/Tammy's inception back during Tempest design. The card he was describing was Verdant Force, a massive 7/7 creature that continuously provides its controller with more creatures each turn.

Fast forward to today, and you'll find that Wizards of the Coast still designs cards to excite the imaginative, fantastical player.

This week, I am going to explore the biggest, splashiest, most expensive (mana value) creatures from Wilds of Eldraine. Incidentally, there aren't as many gigantic creatures as I would have expected, making the most expensive creatures stand out from the rest even further!

Mana Value Six

When I sat down at my desk and researched creatures for this article, I started with a search for all Wilds of Eldraine creatures with mana value seven or higher. I was admittedly surprised when this yielded just two matches! We just finished drafting Modern Horizons 3, where there are 17 creatures with mana value seven or greater. Of course, when you have a set filled with Eldrazi creatures, this is going to happen. I was just surprised at how sparse huge creatures were in Wilds of Eldraine.

Then again, Bloomburrow has just two as well. Maybe that's the norm?

In any event, I expanded my Wilds of Eldraine search to include creatures with mana value six, and this yielded a more robust list to explore. In fact, there are nine creatures with mana value six in the set:

• Stormkeld Vanguard
• " href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/Realm-Scorcher Hellkite">Realm-Scorcher Hellkite
• Ogre Chitterlord
• Malevolent Witchkite
• Horned Loch-Whale
• Hearth Elemental
• Gruff Triplets
• Beluna's Gatekeeper
• Archive Dragon

I drafted my share of Wilds of Eldraine while it was the premier set on Arena, so I recognize a handful of these cards. One that immediately triggers an emotional reaction is Gruff Triplets--this heavy-hitter had the highest game in hand win rate on 17lands.com out of the entire set! That's right: if someone drew this card in a Limited game of Magic, they had a 69.0% chance of winning based collected data.

What makes the card so powerful in Limited? Just look at it!

At first glance, a six-mana 3/3 creature is extremely underwhelming. The catch, though, is that the creature enters the battlefield with two token copies! You aren't getting a 3/3 for six mana, you're getting three creatures with combined stats 9/9 for six mana! What's more, when one of the triplets dies, you put +1/+1 counters on the other copies of the card, making it really punishing to kill just one or two of the triplets but not all three!

This card was a nightmare to play against in Limited, and it remains one of WOE's most intimidating, troublesome creatures to see on the other side of the battlefield.

If you look at the 17lands screenshot I captured above, you'll find another six-mana creature in the top five: Horned-Loch Whale.

This creature is a little less splashy than Gruff Triplets (figuratively speaking...literally, I'd argue a whale is more splashy if you'll forgive the pun). A 6/6 creature with flash and ward 2 for six mana is solid, but it's the added Adventure on the card that makes it so versatile. Lagoon Breach allows you to slow down your opponent's attack for a turn or more, giving you more time to play the whale. It's a classic one-two punch!

Speaking of one-two punch, check out the rare Ogre Chitterlord. It reminds me of a lighter, rat-friendly version of Grave Titan.

For six mana, you get a 6/5 menace creature and two 1/1 Rats. Granted, the Rats can't block, but if you have a couple others in play already (or you attack with Ogre Chitterlord to get a couple more), then all your Rats get pumped for the turn as well. This has the potential to put a lot of power on the board by itself, making it a real force to be reckoned with!

The last card I want to mention at the six-mana tier is Realm-Scorcher Hellkite because who doesn't love a giant, splashy, mythic rare Dragon?

Gone are the days where Shivan Dragon was the finisher of choice, that's for sure! For the same casting cost as Shivan Dragon, you get a 4/6 flying, haste creature that has the ability to ping anything for just two mana. What's more, if you pay the bargain cost, you also get four mana back, effectively making this a two mana creature of sorts. If you don't have anything to do with the four mana, you can always use the Hellkite's activated ability to ping something for two!

When it comes to top end creatures from Wilds of Eldraine, not much can top the dragon. Realm-Scorcher Dragon had the seventh highest game in hand wind rate in WOE Limited, according to 17lands data.

Mana Value Seven

There is only one creature in Wilds of Eldraine with mana value seven, and it's a common!

Despite being printed with a seven casting cost, many times Hamlet Glutton hit the battlefield earlier, for two less mana, because of its bargain ability. In play, this was a massive 6/6 trampler that also padded your life total. It's no Gruff Triplets, but the card still boasted a solid 57% game in hand wind rate on 17lands, a respectable spot for a common. That puts Hamlet Glutton as the 86th-best card and 11th-best common to draft from Wilds of Eldraine. That's pretty good for a common creature with such a high casting cost.

Mana Value Eight

That brings us to the most expensive mana value creature in the entire set. With a name like Moonshaker Cavalry, you might expect something huge. The mythic rare does not disappoint.

A 6/6 flying creature in White is absolutely massive! We're used to seeing giant Red dragons flying around in Magic, but only the most expensive White flying creatures can get this large!

That's not all you get, of course! Check out this creature's ability: when it enters the battlefield, Moonshaker Cavalry grants flying to the rest of your board and pumps them for each creature you control! All this card asks of you is to get to eight mana and play creatures in your deck, and it basically wins you the game.

In a game of Limited, that casting cost is a bit too prohibitive for Wilds of Eldraine, making it an underwhelming pick in Draft. This card had a below-par game in hand wind rate as a result. The format just couldn't support eight mana bombs with three White pips in their casting cost.

That being said, in a casual game of Commander, where it's not uncommon to get to eight mana at an accelerated rate, this creature is tremendous! It's no wonder that this creature shows up in over 42,000 deck lists on EDHREC--I have to imagine it's a Timmy/Tammy favorite from Wilds of Eldraine! Since it's not legendary itself, you're most likely to see Moonshaker Cavalry show up in Commander decks that include White and many creatures, such as Galadriel, Light of Valinor and Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir.

Wrapping It Up

There you have it: the most expensive creatures in Wilds of Eldraine, by mana value.

It's worth noting that a few cards showed up on Gatherer because they were creatures with expensive Adventure spells. This includes Galvanic Giant (Storm Reading) and Bramble Familiar (Fetch Quest), both smaller creatures with a seven mana Adventure spell attached. I didn't include these because the creatures themselves weren't expensive.

All in all, Wilds of Eldraine didn't have as many flashy, expensive creatures as I would have expected. I guess in a faerie tale world, you wouldn't expect too many gigantic creatures floating around. The same goes for Bloomburrow, where you have mostly small, anthropomorphized critters running amok. That said, Wizards of the Coast always provides at least a couple heavy hitters to excite the Timmy/Tammy players out there. This has been part of their design strategy for over 27 years, and it's likely to continue for years to come!