My musings on stonehands

Enchant Creature spells were in a weird place in early Magic, as they kept trying to one up them for additional mana. Holy Strength got favorable destiny, the wards got the scarabs, and Firebreathing got Stonehands.

When I decided the deck would be a 95 deck (bad idea, Dwarven Traders weren't worth it), but this meant I could replace my Firebreathing with Stonehands, a little known three drop enchant creature spell from Ice Age that gave the firebreathing mechanic as well as an additional +0/+2. In theory, that's great, a format with tons of burn based removal, two additional points of toughness can make a threat. Plus it even fits the theme better, showing dwarves utilizing their magic over the earth.

That's where the issue comes in. With the exception of the Lieutenant and Shivan Dragon, every dwarf in the deck had one toughness which meant they were still well in Lightning Bolt range. Shivan Dragon obviously doesn't need the +0/+2, which leaves only the Lieutenant, which already has it's own, more expensive, but more versatile version of the mechanic. Then there was the cost. Three mana is a lot more then one. Even in a deck running multiple mana flares. Since the primary goal was to make my dwarves unblockable with the Warriors, it was a noble goal, but three additional power, even temporary is probably better than +1/+2.

I guess at the end of the day, this isn't a bad aura, so much as its bad in my deck. I can see it working well in something stronger, like a troll deck, or even orcs. However, the Lollipop Guild is just a little to weak.