As spoiler season for Phyrexia: All Will Be One rolls on it’s important to check out lower-rarity spells that may impact certain archetypes. These cards are the meat and potatoes of Magic: The Gathering decks. They help enable strategies through card draw, removal, or other forms of value. This is both true in Constructed and Limited.
The third day of ONE spoiler season introduced two Uncommon cards that could make an impact. One card is a variation on a common Magic ability while the other is low-cost Equipment that’s worth checking out.
Tamiyo’s Immobilizer
- Mana value: 3U
- Type: Artifact
- Rarity: Uncommon
- First ability: Tamiyo’s Immobilizer enters the battlefield with four oil counters on it.
- Second ability: Tap, remove an oil counter from Tamiyo’s Immobilizer: Tap target Artifact or Creature.
This is an interesting twist on an Icy Manipulator-style card. Four mana is an expensive cost, but for Limited the upsides should outweigh that problem. Tamiyo’s Immobilizer enters the battlefield with four oil counters on it, meaning you’re guaranteed at least four activations, which may be more than enough to build a lead. It shouldn’t be too difficult to add oil counters with the high number of cards with Proliferate in ONE.
Another solid upside is Tamiyo’s Immobilizer’s activated ability is free. This allows you to use all of your mana to further add to the battlefield, rather than rationing some off to activate this Artifact. Look to use the activated ability each turn to show down an opponent’s best creature or key Artifact.
Blue decks in Limited thrive on being able to disrupt the opponent for long enough to gain an insurmountable advantage with card advantage and evasive threats. Tamiyo’s Immobilizer should be a powerful tool for Blue decks in the format.
Prosthetic Injector
- Mana value: One
- Type: Artifact Equipment
- Rarity: Uncommon
- First ability: Equipped creature gets +0/+2 and has Toxic 1.
- Equip cost: One
This has potential as an off-kilter utility piece in the Blue-based tempo lists floating around Standard. These decks use evasive creatures backed by protection spells to chip away at the opponent’s life total and win the game through combat damage. These decks don’t typically play Equipment, but Prosthetic Injector deserves some experimentation in the archetype.
The key to Prosthetic Injector is its cheap cost. It’s a one-mana spell with a one-mana equip cost. That’s not much of an investment and allows you to keep mana open for interaction. The added toughness will help your creature dodge damage-based removal, allowing you to save resources for other threats. Toxic 1 adds another clock your opponent must contend with. They have to deal with the equipped creature because dying to poison is possible, but they still need to be mindful of their life total. It’s an effective way to attack the opponent from different angles.
MTG Players will be able to test out new brews at ONE prerelease events starting Friday, Feb. 3 followed by a global release on Friday, Feb. 10.
