Pattern Recognition #38 - Spellshapers

Features Opinion

berryjon

27 July 2017

3720 views

Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying this find Thursday! I don't know if I am, as I'm writing this a couple weeks ahead of time. I'm berryjon, your resident Old Fogey, and writer of the longest series of articles here on TappedOut.net.

Today's subject came to me when I (along with my brother and his wife) were cracking open my box of Hour of Devastation. I was actually looking at the cards, having simply glossed over the visual spoilers for the most part when something jumped out at me, invoking a sense of wrong that took me a moment to place.

Oh, I also got all three Gods, but those are different, not wrong - except from an in-universe perspective. Rather, it was actually a common that gave me pause. Which one, you may now be wondering?

Well, what if I told you that Seer of the Last Tomorrow was the wrong creature type?

Now, some of you may be wondering what the heck is wrong with a creature being a Naga Cleric, and the answer to that is there is nothing wrong at all! It's just that this is the sort of wrongness that indicates being incorrect rather than the creature type being a mistake.

To everyone else who have already connected the dots, please hold your input for a moment. Actually, no, I'm going to answer your question first, then go back and make the connections for everyone else.

So, would everyone please compare Dream Twist to Seer of the Last Tomorrow?

Do you see it yet? You probably have now that I'm making it blatantly obvious, but you probably don't know that this thing is an actual thing in the game. As such, ladies and gentlemen of TappedOut, I would like to introduce you all to the Spellshaper creature type. Created for Mercadian Masques by Mike Elliot (according to Mark Rosewater), these creatures were given the theme of being someone who has developed themselves to the point where they could cast a single spell on the level of a Planeswalker. They don't have the power of real 'Walkers, but they have reached the pinnacle of their craft, enough so that Old Walkers occasionally drew inspiration for what they did from them.

Mechanically, this means that a creature like Seer of the Last Tomorrow could "cast" Dream Twist on their own (without the ability to use the Flashback aspect of it). Or how Bog Witch can effectively cast Dark Ritual, or how Devout Witness can cast Disenchant. And of course, my eternal favourite in this creature type, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage can cast Pyroblast, Incinerate and Inferno.

Now, Spellshapers replicate the effect of Instants or Sorceries, save for a cycle in Future Sight, the last time this creature type appeared. In that set, Goldmeadow Lookout, Cloudseeder, Skirk Ridge Exhumer, Sparkspitter, Llanowar Mentor and Sliversmith could all invoke their ability to summon a creature instead.

I really like Spellshapers, both as a concept, and in print. I think they are an underrated Tribe, and while not at the same power of Elves or Slivers, they have a great utility that I would put on par with Rebels (also from the same sets) or even Clerics.

But this is not to say that they are without problems. Indeed, they have some pretty huge ones. Let's start with the biggest one.

They were created in Mercadian Masques. Which is infamous for being one of the weakest sets and blocks in the history of Magic. So, these creatures were tripped up right out of the gate. They were casting spells that came from the same sets as they were for the most part, and when they weren't, they tended to be a little more expensive.

Even the cycle of Legendary Creatures from Prophecy are barely playable for the most part. Of the five, the only two I really like are Latulla, Keldon Overseer, who can cast Blaze, and Mageta the Lion, who casts Wrath of God. Other than that, the fact you have to discard two cards rather than one, plus how expensive they are as creatures in the first place makes me feel a bit let-down by them.

Another thing to consider is that Spellshapers are, by definition, creatures. And that brings to the table a whole host of means for any non-Blue deck to counter or remove the creature. I mean, taking out a Cackling Witch is so much easier to deal with than having the player in question simply cast Howl from Beyond.

So, what makes these creatures so great in my mind?

Well, let's first hit this off with the ... second most important part of the Spellshapers. When you see a deck list here on TappedOut or from another source, you may often see a case of there being a single or two copies of a card in the main deck or the side board. And then you ask yourself (as I know I have), why only that many? The answer to that is that sometimes, what you're seeing isn't one or two of a card, but rather they are numbers five and six of a card already in the deck.

Let me give you an example. Say, you see a deck with four Counterspells in it. Then you see two copies of Negate or Essence Scatter in the sideboard. In this case, you're not seeing that this deck is using the cards in the sideboard to be additional copies of Counterspell that are being boarded in to respond to whatever is the bigger threat to the deck.

By extension, what you get when you include copies of Stronghold Biologist or Stronghold Machinist (which share the same painting by the way) in your deck, is the ability to have redundant copies of whatever spell they are casting. Suddenly, you don't have just four copies of a card in your deck, you have as many as you need.

And this applies to Commander / EDH as well. As a format, you are limited to having one copy of any non-basic land in your deck. But with Spellshapers, any card in your deck is now, functionally, a copy of a spell - once the Spellshaper itself hits the battlefield, naturally.

In addition, another bonus is that you don't have to use this ability at Sorcery speed. Spellshapers move at Instant speed, which makes Mageta the Lion so amazing. It's a Wrath of God that fires off at Instant speed, wiping out the entire board, except for him.

But where I think this concept really shines is in Limited.

For up until now, I've been working with the unspoken assumption that you actually have copies of the spell you are planning on casting. But what if you don't? What if you didn't draft them, or they weren't in your pod at all? What then?

Well, you have a creature that can cast it for you! As many times as you want! You see, Spellshapers are enablers in Limited, as they can both act as a creature, and a reliable means of doing something with a card in your hand.

You see, this is the real power behind Spellshapers. With them, there are no dead draws. Much like how the Landfall mechanic rewards you for playing lands long after they cease to have any meaning for mana purposes, Spellshapers allow you to convert any card you wished you had turns ago into something that can be useful now.

They are a reliable source of versatility, if that means anything. Spellshapers allow you to expand your deck's options without limiting your card selection, and at the worst, they can be thrown into combat as a chump blocker.

If there's one thing I like in a game of Magic, it's having options. And Spellshapers allow for options. They add a degree of predictable unpredictability to the game. You, as an opponent, know that at any time, your opponent could tap one of their Spellshapers to cast a spell, and you know which spell it is. That's a known. That's predictable. What's unknown is when they can do it, or what card they will give up to do so. Will they toss away a land, or something more valuable?

There is also something that synergizes very well with Spellshapers. One that is a match made in heaven.

Madness.

I mean, if you're going to be tossing away cards to power spell-like effects, why not have those cards be spells in of themselves? It's like two spells for the price of one! And the image of Jaya Ballard, Task Mage using her Fiery Temper to invoke an Inferno is just hilarious, and quite Vorthos-y.

I really do like Spellshapers, and I enjoy seeing them when they come up - even when they have the wrong creature type. They can add to the game without adding anything, and the game looses nothing for having them. They can even refer to cards outside their set - or even those not yet in print!

I look forward to seeing more.

Here is a deck provided by one of our local residents, demonstrating how Madness and Spellshapers work together:

Damia, the mad sage!

Commander / EDH* jackmojo

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