by Elton Gahr

Created on: October 25, 2009

Each color in magic the gathering has a marginally different attitude when it comes to cards in hand. Green is reasonably indifferent usually having a couple but only because they haven't been played yet, red sees them as potential damage, white tends to play out the cards quickly for an early advantage, and black tends to recognize them as a target. Blue is the most interesting though, with the vast majority of the counter spells in the game every card in a blue mages hand is a threat to everything a player casts, and because of this tends to have more cards in its hand than the other colors whenever possible. It also means that if it gets behind in the cards in hand it can be dangerous and a card that allows it to catch up could be vital.

Slithermuse a rare elemental creature from the morningtide expansion set of magic the gathering is the solution for the blue deck that gets behind in cards in hand. A 3/3 creature it costs two blue and two colorless to put into play and when it leaves play you draw cards until your hand is equal in number to your opponent's.

This is valuable for two reasons. The first is clearly that you can play cards out of your hand more freely knowing that they will be replaced, and it does not say goes to the graveyard so even if your opponent exiles or bounces the card it is still leaving the battlefield. This is especially useful in decks that combine blue with colors that like to empty their hand quickly like red.

The second value is that it makes your opponent less likely to want to kill Slithermuse. This can be used to your advantage as you can attack with it far more freely making your opponent decide if he would rather take three damage or have you draw cards. The same is true of blocking. If here is a large card discrepancy between hands you may be able to balk several creatures with this one.

If there is a weakness to this card it is that it has to die in order to give you cards, meaning that if you truly need the card you could be in trouble. But it has an evoke cost. This means that by paying one blue and three colorless you can play this card and it goes immediately to the graveyard. This makes the card that much more valuable and one that may find its way into many blue decks.

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