by Can Tran

Created on: November 08, 2009

"Shimian Specter" is a 2/2 black specter printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Future Sight." Like the rest of the specters printed in Magic the Gathering, the Shimian Specter has an interesting ability that can really mess up an opponent's momentum. However, Shimian Specter has one ability that could really cripple an opponent throughout the game depending on the type of format.

The converted mana cost for the Shimian Specter is four. You are going to need two black mana and two colorless mana to bring Shimian Specter from your hand onto the battlefield. For what the Shimian Specter can do, the mana cost is well worth it. That is if you can bring Shimian Specter onto the battlefield early in the game. In most of the non-standard formats, it would not hurt to have two or three of those cards in your deck.

What does Shimian Specter do in the first place?

The first ability of the Shimian Specter is that it has Flying. Should you attack with the Shimian Specter and your opponent has no creatures with Flying or Reach, s/he is going to be taking two points of combat damage. But, this is not the main ability of the Shimian Specter.

The second and main ability of the Shimian Specter allows you to look at your opponent's hand if and when it deals combat damage. Unlike most of the other specter creatures, Shimian Specter does not make an opponent discard a card. However, Shimian Specter does have a more interesting ability.

Instead of making the opponent discard a card from his/her hand, you get to look at it. You pick a nonland card from his/her hand. Then, you get to search the hand, library, and graveyard for all cards of the same name. Afterwards, those cards are Exiled from the game. The player then shuffles his/her library afterwards.

In this respect, the main ability is like a built-in "Lobotomy." By constantly dealing combat damage, you can "lobotomize" your opponent's library and graveyard. Not only do you cripple your opponent, you end up decimating his/her library in the process. This is one of the alternative methods to winning instead of opting to win by dealing damage.

This ability makes the Shimian Specter a great card for a black control deck. However, do not try this in Singleton or EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander) format. Neither of those formats allows doubles of a card. Other formats that are non-standard seem to be all right.

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