Pointed Discussion

Excellent art on a terrible card. A trademark of Legends.

Back when it came out, this was one of the only ways (if not THE only) to really protect your creature from being targeted.
This was before the keyword of shroud came out, youngsters.
Yes, much better stuff has come out since (even the outrageously-overpowered "troll shroud" concept), but Spectral Cloak basically invented the ability - it deserves respect for that alone.
For my part, I won a team multiplayer tourney once with a Spectral Cloaked Ali from Cairo, so the card has historic/nostalgic value.

@reaper: this was printed in the same set as Anti-Magic Aura, which cost one more mana and gave almost exactly the same protection other than "fast effects" (a funny way of saying "abilities") in exchange for being able to, you know, attack. Kudos on the Ali combo, but the other card would be more useful 95% of the time.

Alexi's cloak is usually better, but this one can be turned into a weird form of troll-shroud if tapped/untapped using freed from the real or something similar that doesn't target.

"Fast effects"? Was that a real term back in the day?

Anyway, pretty bad by today's standards.

Yes, "fast effects" was what we now call abilities.

The art is magnificient. I just adore Rob Alexanders art.

Absolutely love the art on this. One of my favorite old-school arts, for sure.

Outclassed by today's standards, but rather nasty back in the day when creatures did not come with Shroud - you had to add it to them with other cards.