Gaint Turtle: 'the most obscure card in old school'.

“See the TURTLE of enormous girth! On his shell he holds the earth. His thought is slow but always kind; He holds us all within his mind. On his back all vows are made; He sees the truth but may not said. He loves the land and loves the sea, And even loves a child like me--Stephen King, The Dark Tower

 "I feel this is the most obscure card in old school mtg. I have never even seen one in person and old school magic is my main hobby."--Joseph Freshwater

 

Today's card is a suprisingly obscure common from Legends. Giant Turtle. Early magic has it's fair share of 'giant' creatures: Spiders, badgers, albatross, and not one, but two turtles (well one is a tortoise). While I was a kid, I was a big fan of his blue cousin, the green one never really caught my eye, until Joseph up there made a comment about it.I guess in some ways, 'giant X' is an easy fantasy trope, that is versatile, but somewhat realistic, and it works. This one has a flavor different from it's cousin however.

 

Art: First we have to start with the art. Jeff A. Menges always pleases, and this is of no exception. The only difference here is, the look of American Legends cards. I always said, the faded technique on them just didn't do the art justice. 

 

Here is an example: 

 

On the left, we have the Italian print. While it does lack flavortext, which is a shame, it shows the art better, thanks to a generic bright hue. It's an honest issue I have with all American Legends cards. However, I also enjoy being able to read my cards, which in itself is pretty good. It makes it difficult in choosing which to play, because of the clear differences in color.

Just take the full art for example:

Nom nom nom.

It's certainly more memorable with it's full color. Plus the 'oh shit' look is amazing.

The art itself is memorable, showing a humous seen of two vagabonds running as a giant turtle comes from submergement. It's actually a really well done piece, and I feel it didn't get it's just due from Legends.

Art 4/5

Yes I know this is already here.

Playability. Honestly, in a time where a 2/2 for 3 is actually considered decent, a 2/4 for 3 is good. The 4 toughness keeps at bay a large number of weenies, the color green makes it not worry about protection. It can survive most damage based removal, being immune to bolts. X would cost a minimum of 5. While it's two power makes it a weak option again other midrange creatures, it's toughness plays it more like a wall that can occasionally attack. Its drawback is actually fairly minor, with it only being able to attack every other turn. While it can hurt a beat down strategy, it's still not as bad as other drawbacks in the format.

 However, he's not the best midranger out their, since for one more you get Erhnam. However, that's not a fair comparison. I feel they ultimately serve better goals. Instead, it's better to look at the turtle that can occasionally attack.

 Playability 3/5. It gets the job done.

Flavor: The idea is simple, a turtle that's giant should be as strong as an elephant, but much tougher. The shell however, is very straining to carry, and it must take a turn to rest before it can attack again. With this, the card makes complete flavor sense. Simple but efficient, what we love about old school.

Flavor 5/5.

Overall: An easy overlooked card, probably worthy to be experimented in. I can't honestly say it's good, but it's worth a try. 

12/15=4/5.

I wanted to talk about the flavor text. This card has one of only three flavor texts from the modern era (post WW1). 

 "The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks/ Which practically conceal its sex./ I think it clever of the turtle/ In such a fix to be so fertile."--Ogdan Nash, "The Turtle".

 

Ogdan Nash was a comedic poet, famous for his light and distinct rhyming style. He wrote over 500 poems, and died in 1971. Numerous poetry compilations of his work exists, and in his heyday, his name was known far and wide. He also appeared on numerous talk shows and radio shows in his day.