Magic: The Gathering’s newest set, Streets of New Capenna, will focus on five three-color crime families and introduce several new, complex mechanics that ensure Standard and Pioneer will see major shakeups.
During preview season, powerful three-color spells were revealed, including devastating reanimation targets and plenty of token support. And there’s a fair share of mono-colored cards that should find homes in Magic’s many constructed formats.
The Dot Esports official preview card for Streets of New Capenna is a four-mana clone effect that works great with the plethora of strong enter the battlefield effects in Standard.
Undercover Operative
- Mana value: 2UU
- Type: Creature Shapeshifter Rogue
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 0/0
- First ability: You may have Undercover Operative enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it enters with a shield counter on it if you control that creature.
Undercover Operative is a solid card that fits into any deck that wants to use enter the battlefield triggers to win the game. Similar to Glasspool Mimic, Undercover Operative can copy a creature you control. This plays well with cards like Luminarch Aspirant, Elite Spellbinder, or Brutal Cathar in a U/W/X build.
This has several advantages over Glasspool Mimic that make it a solid upgrade. If you copy a creature you control, it gains a shield counter. Giving a creature you control protection is an excellent way to keep getting consistent value out of fragile utility creatures. There’s a lot of removal in Standard and shield counters can help creature decks fight through an opponent’s torrent of kill spells.
Flexibility is another key benefit that Undercover Operative provides. Being able to copy an opponent’s creature can be useful, especially if they have a dangerous flying threat and you need an answer. If you don’t draw into removal, cast Undercover Operative to copy their creature and trade during combat.
The two decks that can make use of Undercover Operative on day one are Bant Midrange and Dimir Theft.
Almost every creature in Bant Midrange has an ability when it enters the battlefield. Many of the lists already run Glasspool Mimic and could run one or two copies of Undercover Operative as an extra bit of redundancy. Dimir Theft looks to use Siphon Insight and Mind Flayer to use the opponent’s cards to win the game. In this shell, Undercover Operative can act as another copy of Mind Flayer.
New Capenna is set to launch on Magic Online and Magic Arena on April 28, followed by a tabletop release on April 29.
