"Thundercloud Shaman" is a 4/4 red giant shaman printed as an uncommon for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Lorwyn." It is one of the several cards printed in the Lorwyn block that encourage players to build around a theme of creatures. In respects to Thundercloud Shaman, one is encouraged to build around theme or "tribe" of giants. In a giant themed deck, you can find some interesting play with the Thundercloud Shaman.

The converted mana cost for the Thundercloud Shaman is five. You will need two red mana and three colorless mana to play the Thundercloud Shaman from your hand and onto the battlefield. For what the Thundercloud Shaman can do, the converted mana cost seems to be reasonable enough to pay for the most part. This is a useful card provided that you have a bunch of giant cards on the battlefield. But, that is easier said than done because giants generally have an expensive converted mana cost.

What does Thundercloud Shaman do in the first place?

As soon as it enters the battlefield, Thundercloud Shaman deals X points of damage to each non-giant creature. X is equal to the number of giants on the battlefield. If there are eight giants on the battlefield under your control, Thundercloud Shaman deals eight points of damage to each non-giant creature as soon as it enters the battlefield. If your opponents are not playing with giants, Thundercloud Shaman is a good way to get rid of those non-giant creatures. With certain combination of cards, you can milk this ability for everything it is worth.

You can combine this with the red enchantment known as "Vicious Shadows." Vicious Shadows deals X points of damage to a target player where X is equal to the number of cards in his/her hand. You can use Thundercloud Shaman's ability to take out a bunch of creatures provided you have enough giants for it. If you can kill a good number of creatures, you can target an opponent via Vicious Shadows. Your opponent will suffer much damage in the process.

On top of that, you can add in the red enchantment known as "Repercussion." Repercussion deals X points of damage to a player in which X is equal to the amount of damage dealt to the creature s/he controls. If a creature gets dealt four points of damage, its controller also suffers four points of damage. When combined with Vicious Shadows, you can take full advantage of Thundercloud Shaman.

Overall, Thundercloud Shaman is pretty interesting. However, there is one major drawback: giants take time to bring out. It will take time to bring out enough giants to make good use of the ability of the Thundercloud Shaman.

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