Pointed Discussion

The little common that could; this innocuous card has proved ridiculously broken in Elf and Affinity decks. It's also obviously a blast in merfolk decks with all of their tappy goodness. It's also a cheap mana fixer for any deck, and its great for a deck that has lots of support creatures (Stinkdrinker Daredevil) and nothing to do with them. Bottom line: everyone should learn to play the drums :p

Really Good

Think about all those Untap symbols in that block. ;)

iondragonz has a point here, although while not playing block-constructed, i'd strictly prefer Paradise Mantle for abusing cards with .

For just 1 mana, now your every creature can be a Birds Of Paradise!!! And if you got something to untap your creatures with...

I really don't see what's so great about this card. When I first looked at it, I thought it would be really great for my main deck, which abuses {Q} abilities; however, I noticed the {T} symbol on this card, so I have no idea how you guys find this card that interesting.

Yeah, gotta go with Guest: as long as this artifact has to tap, it's really not anything special. Paradise Mantle is usually better.

If not for that tap symbol, this card would be almost as good as Earthcraft...

I have seen this card in affiniti builds. so it can be that bad^^

This card is HUGELY overrated.

Know why? Because people don't read it. Basically everyone seems to work on the false assumption that the card is broken, but they're completely ignoring that SPRINGLEAF DRUM HAS TO TAP.

That means unless you have a way of untapping your creature AND your artifact, for free, springleaf drum just gives one creature per turn the ability to tap for mana.

Now it's a good card, sure, but it's nowhere near broken and i'd say it's worse than a llanowar elf, for instance.

Yeah, people are definitely overrating this thing. Still, it's a pretty nice common which can work well in many decks.

the Drum

For decks that lack green for a Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch or Llanowar Elf etc, this is a solid first turn drop to get a little extra mana.

In formats without Paradise Mantle, this little guy is still pretty good for those that want to get some mana going fast.

This is a great common card, especially good for pauper decks or any affinity deck that needs to splash colors. Though Lotus Petal, Chromatic Star, and Terrarion come to mind as alternatives. Overall, a solid card and a very good card in the right deck. I like.

Ornithopter and Memnite become lands with this card. Don't hate. This guy is solid.

Well, this definitely doesn't seem to be as combocapable as Paradise Mantle when it comes to fat lewt mana, such as Pili-Pala + Training Grounds + Paradise Mantle.
BUT!
KNOW THIS!

Blood Pet + This + Crypt of the Agadeem + Songs of the Damned

This card truly shines in an affinity deck. It comes out turn 1, pays for itself immediately if you play a free creature, and pushes your artifact count up for affinity, ravager, and cranial plating. All in a deck that's designed with fewer lands to start with.
In short, It IS that good in affinity. Other places, not so much.

This card is mostly a synergistic card, turn one memnite land opal drum allows for a tidehollow sculler on turn one, and frankly that's what extended tempered steel was like, and then on the next turn that could be a tezzeret agent of bolas. Look into all facets of a card before saying another is better.

@Baconradar. Hahaha, you are such an idiot. Number one, it can't be targeted by creature removal, which is WIDELY prevalent in MANY competitive decks (Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Snuff Out, Diabolic Edict, etc.). Number two, it's any type of mana, not just green, which in itself does not lend access to many of the best win condition cards in the format. Number three, your mana options will be continually targeted by many decks in the format, which makes each source of varied mana critical in many decks. Every competitive control deck incorporates land control elements (such as Wasteland, Life from the Loam, Sinkhole, and Knight of the Reliquary) that make any type of mana acceleration beyond the cost of 1 completely untenable in any type of deck. And the only decks that can actually viably run mana acceleration in any significant amount are storm decks, which in themselves are hugely risky and vulnerable because they can be brought down by a single spell, like Silence, Force of Will, or Spell Pierce, for example. Number four, as opposed to Paradise Mantle, you can pay for this card in turns before you have to actually use it, as it doesn't require the creature be in play before this can be put into play and be ready for use, which can and will make the difference whether you'll be able to get your key card piece into play.

You people seem to be missing the most important thing about this card:

That lizard is beating a drum with fish.

Its solid in pauper affinity but haven't seen it great anywhere else.

It's a 1/1 On/Off switch for cards like Howling Mines and Genesis Chamber. Most people look at this card as "TRASH" I look at it and see gold within my Artifact deck that relies on tapping and untapping artifacts.

Especially for my Replica deck, as Replica's don't need to for their effects, so when you play something I could do "Tap this and a Replica and activate the Replica's effect"

I think I will make some room for this in my Replica deck, it's rather decent.

There is one thing that makes this card worthwhile, better than Paradise Mantle even: you can get one mana out of a just cast creature that you don't mind tapping (because of Springleaf Drum's wording).

In modern, turn 2:
Etherium Sculptor, free Springleaf Drum, almost any 2 CMC artifact including a possible second Etherium Sculptor.

In the correct context this card is mana acceleration, metalcraft fodder, and sacrifice fodder.

I prefer it to Paradise Mantle because it isn't locked onto a creature. I drop it once, and never have to worry 'bout it again. Paradise Mantle has a equip , which means for the same cost as this you get the same effect if you only have one creature you'll ever want to use for this. But if that's the case, you're doing it wrong. Why would you ever have a creature who's sole purpose is tapping for mana, but doesn't have a mana tapping ability itself?
What the drums do is allow you to use your early game one drops later to help fix and accelerate mana. Drop, say, a Flamekin Harbinger, and now it's no longer just a 1/1. It helps pay for whatever you decided to search for.
Also, Truebloodwolf, you can't read can you? Card clearly says creatures, not artifacts. Not sure where you were getting that in the slightest.

This card, in a vacuum, is probably a tad better than Paradise Mantle because of summoning sickness. You can use this on a creature that just came out. The same does not apply for Paradise mantle. You will also never have to pay it's cost again, unlike an equip cost.

If your looking to make a combo with untapping mechanics, then Paradise Mantle is cascadingly better. But if you, like me, are just trying to add speed to a deck this is the better card in many respects.

Dat Art.

@sirmalkn: haha, you're right

Confirmed for a reprint in Born of the Gods.

@mpit***: And it will go great with the Inspired ability in the same set.

The people saying it's better than Paradise mantle. I disagree. With Paradise Mantle. Yeah you can't use it with a creature that just came out, and you have to pay the equip cost. However you can use it to filter any number of mana to any other color. As long as you have creatures. Pay the equip cost, tap a second creature. Net gain of no mana, but you just filtered you mana, and you can do it again. This can be rather useful in decks with a lot of colors. I would say both have pros and cons. Neither are really better than each other.

I'm glad this is getting reprinted. It's a powerhouse in Metered Lines Limited. ("Tap an untapped creature you control" is perfect strong iambic pentameter.)

used to run this in my affinity deck. T1, vault of whispers, springleaf drum, ornithopter, tap for frogmite. T2, seat of the synod, cranial plating, equip thopter, swing for at least 8