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So, you read Accumulate Wisdom, huh?
The "front side" is more or less an Impulse. Okay, less. But if you have some Lesson cards in your graveyard, it's very nearly an Ancestral Recall! I mean for twice the mana, but have you read Ancestral Recall? And just last week, that very nice man MichaelJ told us all about playable Lessons we might put in our graveyards, like It'll Quench Ya!
You're a genius!
I mean, you are a genius. Good on ya! But that's not what we're going for here. Because - not discounting your genius in any way - everyone had the same thought when they saw Accumulate Wisdom. For this one we're doing something a little different: My favorite thing about Magic is to find the Gnarled Mass. The difference that makes the difference. The card that other people might overlook, but that has some application. So yes, there is a rare card in today's article, but I wanted to highlight some potential outside the obvious powerhouses.
Might any of these five sleepers might ascend us into the Avatar state?
On that note...
1. Enter the Avatar State
Comparables: Snakeskin Veil, Royal Treatment
Hear me out here: I know that you don't embiggen the target creature like you do with some of the Green comparables, but Enter the Avatar State has three amazing things going for it that might make up for a little damage.
First is a lot of damage! You might not deal one more [this turn, and potentially on future turns] but the keyword "lifelink" can go a lot farther in some contexts. Like sure, you don't deal five instead of four; but what about wiping away a future Boros Charm or Nova Hellkite to the jaw? That's a pretty big deal, and the biggest inducement to this card, for me.
Second (and arguably third and fourth) is/are the other keywords that Enter the Avatar State staples onto your target creature. This is not just a "1 mana Counterspell" for your opponent's removal spell. It's also a powerful combat trick. Your prospective Avatar doesn't get indestructible but first strike is handy if the opponent double blocks; you can potentially kill one creature and then leave them with a second blocker who is not big enough to finish the job. Or, especially when you're facing a removal-poor deck that might have quality attackers, you can "jump" into a block the opponent didn't anticipate. And, you know, eat their attacker while gaining a little life along the way.
[Actual] third is, of course, that Enter the Avatar State is a Lesson. This card is uncommon so you won't likely be able to exploit the Pop Quiz synergies we talked about last time. This card would probably be good enough to think about in Pauper, but Pop Quiz probably isn't good enough to play in formats with Mythic Rares. Nevertheless you can Enter the Avatar State all the way to three cards from the aforementioned Accumulate Wisdom, or accumulate Lessons in any number of other ways that make the sum greater than its individual parts.
2. Origin of Metalbending
Comparables: Naturalize... But also Snakeskin Veil and Royal Treatment
Rebels | Kai Budde, Winner Pro Tour Chicago 2000
- Creatures (22)
- 1 Rebel Informer
- 1 Thermal Glider
- 2 Defiant Falcon
- 2 Defiant Vanguard
- 2 Ramosian Sky Marshal
- 3 Longbow Archer
- 3 Steadfast Guard
- 4 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
- 4 Ramosian Sergeant
- Instants (4)
- 4 Wax // Wane
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Parallax Wave
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Chimeric Idol
- Lands (26)
- 16 Plains
- 2 Dust Bowl
- 4 Brushland
- 4 Rishadan Port
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Mageta the Lion
- 3 Wrath of God
- 3 Seal of Cleansing
- 4 Armageddon
- 1 Lightbringer
- 1 Defiant Vanguard
You probably already know that Kai Budde is one of the two best Magic: The Gathering players of all time. While he is probably most famous for his ridiculous streak of Sunday finishes, Kai's range is mind-boggling. Mono-Blue combo decks splashing Red, Black-Blue combo-control Psychatog decks, a greedy Covetous Dragon Wildfire way to the World Championships... And even a weird Rebels deck with exactly four Brushlands.
Brushland is a strange include, isn't it? Kai hardly played a Green card at all: Just Wax // Wane; and nothing in his sideboard.
The genius of this card was that sometimes you want a way to blow up your opponent's Parallax Wave or Saproling Burst. You might be apprehensive about starting Seal of Cleansing (because it deals no damage); but you really might want the utility to stop a key enchantment main deck.
Wax // Wane was Kai's compromise... All the way to one of his many Pro Tour wins.
Enter the Avatar State is one way to exploit the opportunity of a Snakeskin Veil with a different upside... Origin of Metalbending is a little more expensive (and arguably a little worse against Blue)... But provides an incredible level of flexibility.
To start, this card is much worse than Snakeskin Veil or Royal Treatment if all you want is the second option. You don't get hexproof, only indestructible. I'd argue that indestructible covers most of the bases in Constructed, but your creature can still have its toughness lowered below one, or just be bounced with any number of Unsummon or Boomerang variants. It's worse on that front and also twice the mana of a Royal Treatment, et al.
So why is this a card you might consider?
Because Kai Budde won the Pro Tour with Wax // Wane. You might want a Naturalize for the price of a Naturalize. Origin of Metalbending is just better than Naturalize! Naturalize, a card that sees tons of main deck play in formats like Premodern! But also a Lesson, and also with the Plan B of a little extra damage, or even some Day of Judgment insurance for your best creature.
Not for nothing, but this card is also Common. And you know what that means.
3. Callous Inspector
Comparables: Elvish Visionary, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Snarling Gorehound
There has basically never been a format where Elvish Visionary was legal that it wasn't straight up awesome.
Thraben Inspector, similarly, is a cross-format All-Star. If they let you play eight Thraben Inspectors, by golly you tend to play eight Thraben Inspectors.
This card is not Elvish Visionary. It's not even Elvish Visionary that gives you a clue for a ping instead of just a straight draw. This card is not Thraben Inspector; it's not even the rookie version, Novice Inspector! You get a similar card advantage effect... But not automatically and not for "free" in the same 187 way.
If it were equal to those cards, Callous Inspector wouldn't be a sleeper. You wouldn't have to think about it. But you do get a little upside from Menace! If there is one knock against its comparables, they don't tend to attack very well into larger creatures. Like a Snarling Gorehound on turn one, Callous Inspector is an almost guaranteed point on turn two, and that is certainly something.
Of course, you can chump or trade and get your Clue on later in the game. But this card also provides a little extra synergy. Like Snarling Gorehound, this card has built-in synergy with self-sacrifice effects tacked onto creatures like Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel or in particular Bartolme del Presidio (who can also gobble up a free artifact if you give it to him).
Not an earth-shattering (or even Earthbending) card, maybe... But don't sleep on this one. It'll ping em before it pings ya.
4. Zhao, the Moon Slayer
Comparables: Thalia, Heretic Cathar; Blood Moon; Magus of the Moon
How about this?
We just don't play nonbasic lands.
I mean, maybe we play nonbasic lands. But if we don't, Zhao never gets us. We can certainly balance the benefit of playing some nonbasic lands; don't get me wrong. But if what you're worried about is your own lands coming into play tapped, you can avoid that entirely by building your deck in a particular way.
Have you seen some of the mana bases in Standard?
What if your lands all came into play untapped, but theirs didn't? Like all their lands were coming into play tapped, even the ones that weren't supposed to normally? Do you think you might be able to get an edge on that one? It's pretty good to imagine, right?
Three things here: First, like Callous Inspector this card has Menace. So, your opponent is probably going to be at least a little slowed down; and then they're going to be clunky on counter-play / potentially monstrous blockers. Zhao, the Moon Slayer is going to get in a couple of times in spots where a 2/2 for two mana probably wasn't supposed to be able to. That's great.
Second, to get this effect you really have to pay three mana. Zhao is only two. You do (potentially) have to pay the additional deck-building cost of having no nonbasic lands [probably mono-Mountains] but the leverage on all your lands entering untapped and most of their lands not entering untapped is kind of a worthwhile basement to brew in for only 2 mana. If they kill Zhao it's not that big a deal: You invested all of two mana... AND you now have something to do with your bonus Zhao you wouldn't have been able to play otherwise.
Third: No one really expects you to get to seven mana. But if you do, at least you won't be 100% flooded. Only 98% flooded. Wow seven is a lot. If your opponent somehow can't kill Zhao at that point, they're probably never going to be able to. Conqueror indeed.
5. Waterbending Scroll
Comparables: Treasure Map, Mazemind Tome, Jayemdae Tome
This card is so exciting to me.
Don't forget you can have whatever kind of Islands, not just basic Islands. So, if you had like a Plains Island or perhaps Island Mountain, they count for Waterbending Scroll.
For two mana you get a card that is a little worse than a Treasure Map or Mazemind Tome. But if all you do is hit your third land drop the next turn, you're already in an activation mode that is better to long-ago Vintage and current Old School format-definer Jayemdae Tome!
Is this card going to be great main deck if the format is defined by Red Aggro despite the banning of Screaming Nemesis in Standard? Probably not.
Is this card going to be an almost unbeatable sideboard card in Control mirrors?
I want you to think for a second about how many cards you might have drawn by turn six if you snuck Waterbending Scroll under a Counterspell on turn two. How many land drops did you hit? How many of them were some kind of Island (Zhao notwithstanding, obviously). Okay. It's turn six.
HOW MIUCH MANA DOES IT NOW COST YOU TO TAP YOUR WATERBENDING SCROLL?
Sleeper?
Not any more.
Sideboard?
All-Star!
LOVE
MIKE
