Crazed Hunger – A 2/2 charge creature that turns into a 0/2 Daedra on your opponent’s turn

Crazed Hunger is among the first 6 cards revealed for The Elder Scrolls Legends Isle of Madness. It can be summoned by the 1-cost Action Madness Beckons or acquired in the story expansion Isle of Madness (once released). The card art shows a fierce Daedra that is hopping down some stairs going after a juicy Elder Scrolls Legends hero (you? your opponent?). That’s why we give him the nick name “Little Stairhopper”…

Crazed Hunger is a green 2-cost 0/2 Daedra creature with Charge that gains +2/+0 on your turn. Thus, it can push for some face damage or work nicely as creature-based removal. As a downside, though, your opponent can easily kill Crazed Hunger during their next turn without their creature being dealt any damage. They do loose one attack, in which they cannot deal damage to your face.

Let’s look at the card using Quadrant Theory to see about its various uses.

Crazed Hunger for An Explosive Opening

During game opening, as players attempt to establish board control, Crazed Hunger can deal face damage or help to remove a smaller 2-health creature of your opponent. This includes the majority of 2-costs creatures. However, without a bit of help, the Daedra struggles against purple’s 2-costs such as Barrow Stalker or Windkeep Speelsword. Anything with 3 health is a bit more challenging to remove, although there are some tricks you can pull off in the right deck with synergies (see below – synergies for House Hlaalu)

Only “Meh” at Parity

Crazed Hunger does not make much of an impact during Parity. A good use is to remove a creature that was damaged before. The Little Stairhopper is not a big body and your opponenet will easily remove it on their next turn. Alternatively, it might draw another attack onto it, which would otherwise go to your face. However, the Daedra is not really something you want as your top-deck card at Parity.

An Extra Push when Winning

When you are winning, the 2 extra reach can matter. Since there are ways to buff this up further the low-cost of Crazed Hunger does matter, as it can be much more of a threat when equipped with a great item.You probably want some other cards like items

Little Difference when Losing and a bad Turnaorund

Similarly to Parity, Crazed Hunger can function as a point removal for a smaller threat. When buffed, it might even allow you to remove one bigger creature. But usually this is not the big defensive body or mass removal action you would like to see when you are on the losing side.

Synergies for Crazed Hunger

Aggro Hlaalu, Rocket Archer or Monk Token Decks

Haunted Manor

Fifth Legion Trainer

Orc Clan Captain

Morkul Gatekeeper

Lower Canton Smith

To leverage the 2-charge attack on your turn, you might want to build a deck that can consistently buff Crazed Hunger. With Haunted Manor, House Hlaalu can turn the Daedra into a 4/4 charge on your turn. Fifth Legion Trainer can also get you an additional point for attack.

In combination with Morkul Gatekeeper you can also get 4 damage from Crazed Hunger on the same turn. With a cost of 5 magicka, this is equally expensive to a Cliff Racer, however, the stats are slightly better and spread across two bodies. In Token-ish decks, with Divine Fervor or Orc Clan Captain your opponent is potentially having to deal with even bigger threats as the game unfolds.

It’s needless to say: Little Stairhopper likes items as well. With a Steel Scimitar, maybe even from a Lower Canton Smith, you can turn the Daedra into a creature with 4 attack on your turn. Again, just 5 magicka spent on this.

If luck is on your side and you get to combine some of these effects, there is certainly some snowball potential here.

Tullius’ Conscription, Fleeting Apparition and other Tutors

Fleeting Apparition

Tullius’ Conscription

Crazed Hunger is a superb tutor-target with the aim of generating lots of face damage by using Fleeting Apparition. Check out the article about Creature Tutors to see how 8 face-damage across two turns can become a reality. With Haunted Manor (or any other buffs mentioned before) this can create an unexpected amount of damage out of nowhere.

With a cost of 2, you can also summon Crazed Hunger by Tullius’ Conscription. Similar to Shadowmere, Little Stairhopper is another creature that can either go face or remove an immediate threat directly after Conscription is played.

Falkreath Defiler

Odirniran Necormancer

Discard Pile Tutors, such Falkreath Defiler or Odirniran Necromancer easily fetch him back after your opponent has removed it. This can provide for some needed removal or reach in certain situations. Certainly not something to build an entire deck around it, but several House Telvanni decks are running the Defiler or “Odi” and it might just be option to try.

Wispmother

Altar of Despair

Another idea with interesting synergies to 2-cost creatures is Wispmother. The spirit basically summons a copy of a 2-cost creature just played into the other lane. When tutoring Crazed Hunger with Altar of Despair or Fleeting Apparition your control deck can generate some removal or reach.

Cheap Charge-Creature for Mentor’s Ring OTK

Mentor’s Ring

Another synergy exists for Mentor’s Ring. The game plan: the ring transfers Charge from Crazed Hunger to other creatures on board to allow for a one-turn-kill combo.

Usually, this is achieved by using Shadowmere or Nord Firebrands. Crazed Hunger makes this option interesting for green decks (e.g. Scout or Assassin), that usually have to rely on Shadowmere alone or Giant Bat for Mentor’s ring combos.

Summary

Crazed Hunger might find it’s home in Aggro Hlaalu or Rocket Archer decks that want an aggressive opening and provide a lot of buff synergies. Crazed Hunger can also function as a cheap removal card without having to “waste” Archer’s Gambits or Lethal creatures. The Daedra makes a direct impact on the turn it’s played and can be easily tutored by several creature or discard pile tutors. Crazed Hunger seems to be designed for use with Fleeting Apparition, which will remove the Hunger’s weakness on your opponent turn and unsummon it to your hand before this.

What’s your view on this card? Did I miss anything? What decks can you see this card in? Please let me know in the comments.

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