Is it time for red aggressive decks to make a comeback? Kumano Faces Kakkazan could bring it back.

One of the most important things for an aggro deck is to have good one-drops. If it doesn’t attack for two, it’s usually not what you’re looking for. 

Kumano Faces Kakkazan is not exactly a two-drop creature that can attack for two the turn after you play it, but it’s useful in more different ways. 

The first chapter deals one damage to your opponent, which is not the most exciting, but every damage counts and it gives your deck a little bit more reach. Even if you draw it in the later stages of the game, it will always count for at least one damage, which is not always true about cards like Falkenrath Pit Fighter. 

The second chapter makes your next creature come into play with an additional +1/+1 counter, which is going to be a bit high variance of a payoff. it means you really want to have Kumano in your opening hand, but entering the battlefield with the extra counter instead of it being a trigger can be huge against Spikefield Hazard. It gives something like Lizard Blades a second point of toughness, which is going to make it a lot harder to kill. 

The third chapter finally gives us a creature we can attack with. 2/2 with haste and an upside that also technically added a +1/+1 counter on something else seems like reasonable numbers to me. Without haste, it would certainly be too slow, but this way we can keep the beats coming. 

Kumano alone won’t make mono-red good, but there are some other aggressive creatures like Rabbit Battery that make me excited to try it again.