Dear Kitchen Finks, 

<3

Writing about Treetop Village yesterday made me remember this other card I really, really love: you, Kitchen Finks. You were a Death Cloud staple. You were an iceberg stopping every aggressive deck out there. And you remained in play after a Death Cloud thanks to your persist ability. You were a perfect Magic card to me ever since you were printed, my multicolor Eternal Witness, Flickerwisp, Vampire Nighthawk, Man-o’war. 

I loved it when Luiss Scot Vargas made top 8 with you playing you in a Black and White tokens list, combining Ajani Goldmane together with both you and your persist brother Murderous Redcap. A great synergy getting those -1/-1 counters removed and resetting you guys. Later you became an absolute Modern staple in the Birthing Pod and Melira, Sylvok Outcast combo decks. At that point in time you were a 15 euro/dollar uncommon, absolutely insane. My personal favourite play pattern with you was resetting you time and time again with Oran-Rief, the Vastwood in my Death Cloud decks. 

You have been a Cube staple since the beginning, and have been in my Peasant Cube since day one. You are also part of my 2009 Power Cube. But in both Cubes you are not a combo piece. You are a strong creature for any deck, a flexible pickup because of your hybrid mana cost. Aggressive decks like you because control decks have to solve you twice. Control decks love you because you an iceberg than gains 4 life. Midrange decks love you because you fulfil both roles. The perfect flexible card us Cube designers love. I’m ok with that you are not a combo piece in any of my Cubes. Because I never loved you as a combo piece, I loved you just the way you are. And maybe sometimes I love getting those incremental advantages by just removing that -1/-1 counter every now and again. 

With love, 

Hanjo