by Can Tran

Created on: November 09, 2009

"Body Double" is a 0/0 blue shapeshifter printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Planar Chaos." In a sense, the Body Double could be on par with the creature cards of "Clone," and "Duplicant." In any control deck that has blue cards, Body Double looks to be an interesting enough card.

The converted mana cost for Body Double is five. You are going to need one blue mana and four colorless mana to bring Body Double from your hand onto the battlefield. For what the Body Double can do, the converted mana cost is well worth it. However, you can only cast Body Double provided that there are creatures in the graveyard. But having creatures in a graveyard in general is a good thing in the case of Body Double.

What does Body Double do in the first place?

When you cast Body Double, you pick a creature that is already in the graveyard. Body Double becomes a copy of that creature. It works in the same fashion that Clone works. However, Clone is one colorless mana less than Body Double is. However, Body Double can do things that Clone cannot.

Clone only works on creatures that are already on the battlefield. It does not work on targets that have Shroud or Protection from blue. When creatures are in the graveyard, they lose their abilities unless they have graveyard abilities. This is where Body Double becomes incredibly useful.

If there is a creature with Shroud in the graveyard such as the "Inkwell Leviathan," you can copy it with the Body Double. Say that "Akroma, Angel of Fury" is in the graveyard, you can copy it as well. While Akroma, Angel of Fury is in the graveyard, it does not have its abilities anymore. Those abilities only apply when Akroma, Angel of Fury is on the battlefield.

Since Body Double can only copy creatures already in the graveyard, it has loopholes around Shroud and Protection from Blue. Due to those loopholes, Body Double is an excellent card. Also, if there is a great creature you want to copy and it is in the graveyard, there is always use of Body Double. In this respect, Body Double can do things that the Clone cannot do. While Clone cards are good, you should have a few Body Double cards in your deck just in case.

Overall, Body Double is just as good as Clone. What Clone cannot do, you simply supplement with Body Double. In this respect, it makes a good backup.

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