Draft Priority: 3
Impact: 3
Stack Status: 3
Roleplayer. It’s not great, it’s not bad… it just is.
Discussion:
Few cards in Magic history have been better-suited to a Wu-Tang Clan themed alteration than this. When it was revealed in 2011 I was pretty excited, thinking I would alter it with a big ol’ Wu logo in the background and have it feature prominently in my 60×4 Astral Slide deck as a finisher.
Well, several years have come and gone and none of that shit happened. If it hasn’t already it probably never will. Sad but true (I’ve had six unpainted creatures left in my Descent: Journeys in the Dark box for a year now, you’d think I’d paint them just to be able to say I finished the project). But the fact is that Hornet Queen is a cool card that just doesn’t really outshine anything else out there.
I wanted to like it more, but it just doesn’t do enough. Even in the Type 4 environment, no longer having to worry about it’s mana cost doesn’t really offset it’s relative lack of sting (OOOOH killem) compared to what opponents will be casting. True, it’s a defensive powerhouse, but defense is for losers so who cares about that. It’s a perfectly fine card that will give you some momentum when you cast it but won’t make everyone at the table piss their butts like Myr Battlesphere or the like might.
Overall: Three killa bees on the swarm out of five
Academy of the Infinite 