I was thinking of something along the lines of splinter twin, but it is just making my head hurt. Just play critters with good tap abilities I guess.
Rhodestar1
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
play an eldrazi with this on field......nasty
Kataklyzmik
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(4 votes)
Kill your opponent's legendary creatures?
Tanaka348
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Let's see, it gives creatures psuedo-haste, and doubles any static abilites for a turn, as well as triggered abilities with the right kind of trigger. I have a feeling that if this card turns out to be good, it'll be because of the latter.
Theostratus
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Accidently killed my Kozilek at the prerelease because I forgot I had it and forgot it read "may" lol.
ClockworkSwordfish
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This never did anything for me except provide some early-game graveyard eye-candy, but someone WILL break it.
Vinifera7
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Stop with the cheesy flavor text!
anytwofactors
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@ Kataklyzmik: Only creatures you control. No legendary killing with this.
Mode
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
I think this could have been the first Clone-like one-drop. I like it certainly more than Unstable Shapeshifter - although it's restricted to your creatures, this guy has half the cost and - most of all - you may have him become a copy.
Yet I don't think that anyone is going to break this guy. There might be some Jonny decks that can make good use of this, but by the time you cast it it's just a tiny 0/1 chump blocker that cannot do any harm. And you still have to afford the regular mana of other creatures you want to duplicate.
But their cip/etb effect won't trigger, so you should possibly consider using undercosted creatures with accordant drawbacks. This way you have twice a big body but you only have to bother once with the trigger. Phyrexian Dreadnought comes to mind. Yeah, now that's a tough combo indeed. (Nevertheless i'd still prefer playing a Stiftle instead.)
But this guy has a considerable synergy with creatures with the Champion ability - copying a Lightning Crafter sounds pretty tempting.
If you have a way to bounce, sacrifice or at best flicker your Renegade there are even more things you can do: Wormfang Nightmares that get their cip-effect negated when they leave play, so Wormfang Manta for example can provide infinite turns that way. Evoke creatures like Nevermaker can also be used this way. Or even creatures with a cip-effect like Æthersnipe can be fun since this guy will turn your Doppelganger into a 4/4 body.
When playing in the current format, you'll notice that Thought Gorger also fullfills these requirements - but you won't ave any advantage from that unless you can manage to get a bunch of +1/+1 counters on this guy. Tuktuk the Explorer unfortunately won't bringt you far - unless you can make use of all the triggers caused by copying him.
coyotemoon722
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Awesome card. Put an Eel Umbra on it and call it a day.
True_Mumin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Another really stupid design. It's just dumb. And pretty weak.
Aun
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Awesome. I just found something for my extended Deck which makes Marit Lage, Protogenius und Emrakul be in fear. Awesome Card.
blindthrall
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Gentleman, why are we not thinking of putting him in an Ally deck? Magnify every ally effect by one and duplicate the casted one's effect. Not bad for two mana.
Shell_shockkun
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
This is probably the only card in the whole set besides Splitter Twin that could potentially help allies...
really kinda sad that they just decided to abandon mechanics like landfall and allies...
problem is none of the allies in blue are that awesome outside of mill >.<
Cheza
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
In my opinion, every shapeshifter should have changeling.
AJAlkaline
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This card may be better than Jwari Shapeshifter for allies decks that rely on the effects of cards like Ondu Cleric and Halimar Excavator. Unlike Shapeshifter, he can't be killed by someone sniping your only ally as you put him down. In addition, because he changes every ally you put down, he always multiplies the effects of whatever card you're playing. When you're putting down a Cleric he's a Cleric, when you're putting down an Excavator, he's an Excavator. Makes all of your subsequent allies a lot more powerful. In addition, as long as you play a creature every turn he's never useless, and he just keeps getting better as your mana curve goes up.
Also important to keep in mind, he will retain counters. So if you drop a Hada Freeblade/Kazandu Blademaster/Talus Paladin/Kazuul Warlord/whatever on top of him he'll keep the +1/+1 counters. Also, you can use him to get a Harabaz Druid or a Sea Gate Loremaster with haste.
This guy is amazing for an allies deck. He's basically better than Jwari Shapeshifter in every way.
Swordfishtrombones
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
If you've got this dude out and you throw down a venerated teacher or an acidic slime could you put 4 level counters/pop two lands?
Mustached_Stranger
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Outside of allies, I prefer minion reflector.
Gaussgoat
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Per other comments, the true power of this guy is that he starts as a small threat and gets massive as your other creatures get massive. He effectively doubles whatever you're currently playing, which can get pretty ridiculous if you drop a bomb on the table.
His biggest, and most obvious, downside is his incredibly weak power on the opponents turn. Any 1-damage ping will crush this guy. In a block with Staggershock and the like hanging around, he's very nuke-able.
4/5
Entropic_Acolyte
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Using Feral Hydra with this would be decent. At least the +1/+1 counters would stick around and this guy would be less vulnerable. Especially in a team multiplayer match!
Kryptnyt
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
hmm... probably good in that Stifle deck with Dreadnought.
JaxsonBateman
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Swordfishtrombones: no, you couldn't. While Renegade Doppleganger changes what it is thanks to the Acidic Slim/Venerated Teacher entering the battlefield, it itself did not enter the battlefield - it was already there. As such, it can't trigger any 'enters the battlefield' abilities.
ReturnToSender
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
putting 2 of these before turn 5, then casting a Nemesis of Reason the next turn, declaring copies to attack then mills for 20. Pretty much useful for allies and making Hedron Crabs before land drop imo.
Kaseladen
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Fun strat.
Play Renegade Doppleganger Play nameless level up card with a cheap level up cost. Pay to level him up a decent amount Future level-up creatures can come in with a max level copy for one turn.
BioPrince
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
if you played roil elemental then land dropped and took two creatures would the one taken with the "dopple" go back at end of turn since hes no longer a roil
BilliamQ
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I remembered my brother's wise words in a draft one night: "If you see a Renegade Doppelganger, take it. He's so good in draft." That very night, I saw two and took them both. If nothing else, he made my shiny Dormant Gomazoa actually useful, and that's no small feat. I will always love Renegade Doppelganger for giving such a terrible card a place in my deck, and for the chuckle I got when I actually pulled that combo off.
Also, how is this creature so good with allies ? Once the ally enters the Battlefield and the Doppleganger becomes a copy, how does that help ? The Doppleganger didn't enter the battlefield and therefore doesn't trigger anything, and for the casted ally it's too late to trigger Doppleganger's newfound trigger. So, again, how is this good with allies ?
n00bmag1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I use them in my white/blue leveler deck, play a one drop leveler and copy it, then a Venerated Teacher or Training Grounds pump him. After his clone effect ends, he will still get the bonus from Time of Heroes.
hexaetherion
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
As mentioned before (by Kaseladen and Noobmag1), this card is monstrous in UW levelers: by copying another leveler, you can use the level up ability and get to keep the level counters on it for future copying or to get the bonus from Time of Heroes.
Even nastier would be to have seven level counters on Renegade Doppelganger and flash summon Lighthouse Chronologist on your opponent's turn as they tap their last land: they don't even have a chance to respond to your gain of an extra turn. Or maybe flash summon Hedron-Field Purists and negate a lethal Staggershock or Lightning Bolt.
brunsbr103
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fauna shaman searching for these guys and putting vengevine in the graveyard. Then you just need to play two...
hmdguy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm clear on "enter play" effects, but does anyone know about "leaving play" effects? I.e., if I use my renegade to copy a Nevermaker, does the renegade/nevermaker "leave play" when it reverts back (/is no longer a nevermaker)? How about Roil Elemental... if the landfall ability triggers, I take control of two creatures, correct? And then, do I "lose control" of my renegade/roil elemental at end of turn (and thus, the creature I took with it) or do I keep the creature until I lose control of renegade, or do I keep control of the creature indefinitely, as I no longer have a Roil Elemental to lose control of (this last option sounds too good to be true?)?
A related question: suppose I combine the effects of renegade and Dimir Doppelganger, removing a card in a graveyard from the game with my renegade doppelganger copy of dimir doppelganger. My renegade/dimir doppelganger now becomes another creature altogether (that retains dimir doppelganger's activated ability). Is my altogether-new-creature still a renegade doppelganger as well (i.e., does it revert at end of turn)? Or, because it has transformed, does it lose its renegade doppelganger status?
Very nice intro act to T3 Royal Assassin. And sure smashed my face last night as a dredged up Vengevine. Note: definitely choose the the DoppelVine for your kill spell, cause this baby won't come back.
I tried this guy in my Sovereigns of Lost Alara deck. I was copying as Alara came out, when my friend pointed out that the copy allowed me to Eldrazi Cons-crption not once, but TWICE.
This guy then became a lock in my deck. Attacking with a power of 26 trample on turn 5 works for me!
looky here, a way to give your Blightsteel Colossus haste :D and using Not of This World they can't pop him with anything cause he's no longer a 0/1 :P
Hamishfox
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
How does this interact with morph cards? Can I, for example, play a morphed Fathom Seer with this guy in play and then unmorph both to draw a punch of cards?
My brain says no but my heart hopes yes.
Superllama12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I got this from a pack and was really disappointed...until I realized that it is essentially a guy who turns into an expendable hasty bomb creature...this guy with Goliath Sphinx and Distortion Strike=18 unblockable damage in 2 turns, they've only got 1 turn to remove Goliath, or it's essentially GG
After reading the (5) pages of comments, I am completely surprised how foolish everyone is. This has to be one of my favorite cards from the eldrazi set. I run this in my Shape Anew deck and it pawns. Every time. Here's the breakdown---
T1---Preordain T2---Renegade Doppel T3---Blade Splicer T4---Shape Anew --- Reveal until Blightsteel Comes into play---Renegade Dopel becomes a Blightsteel until the end of the turn. Attack with Hastey Blightsteel for a T4 Standard Deathshot!
Think of it as a really janky way of giving your creatures haste...can also be used with card with very serious drawbacks..an older example is Lord of the Pit or other cards with huge drawbacks such as Cosmic Larva...
Anubisisking
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not sure if this has been said, but if you look at a close up picture of it, it has the Knights Vs. Dragons symbol on it's head.
touchdown
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
T1 Forest, Noble Hierarch T2 Lotus Cobra, Island, Doppelganger T3 Fetchland, Sovereigns of Lost Alara, copy and swing, attaching two Eldrazi Con***ions. Game over!
cathar1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card has so much potential.
TPmanW
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Maybe if some sort of powerful creature with a ruinous etb efffect shows up before this guy rotates he'll see some play. He could also provide pseudo-haste to a big beater perhaps. That or maybe he can be used to double up static abilities (tricky to control though). I really do hope that he sees play.
ax_morph
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
He sits waiting for your opponents to play legends.
Lotusflowerful
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If I Mass Polymorph and get Renegade Doppleganger and Terrastodon they enter the battlefield at the same time. Can doppleganger enter the battlefield as terrastodon so i can destroy 6 permanents that turn?
omni8000
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
3 or 4 of these and a phyrexian dreadnaught is game, no sacs needed
Lash_of_Dragonbreath
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I saw this being played in a ninja deck, and it was pretty cool. Whenever a ninja jumped in combat, this guy became a copy of him. Other than that, this is a cool way to take further advantage of your creatures, but it requires a lot o build-around.
Sidecutte
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nice with titans
Alex343
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
looks like a pokemon battle
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Nobody states the obvious? This copies your giant Eldrazi and effectively gives them haste (by becoming one that is ready to attack.) This means you cheat a hand of emrakul into play T3 or something and blargh into the enemy real quick. Doesn't matter if they kill the real hand, as you'll probably drop another giant next turn, doing this again.
Many neat uses when looked at like that. Look to sacrifice effects, or effects that are simply too powerful if the creature had haste and you then have a creature that plays well with this guy. Cheat in anything big with Apprentice Necromancer and you'll have 2 big dudes to play with.
Say
T1: Dark ritual, Putrid Imp, Apprentice Necromancer T2: this guy, attack for 2 (if you can get away with it.) T3: Discard fatty (demon of death's gate?), attack for 18 flying trample.
Burningsickle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
neat card like yall said, but the flavor text is priceless! Yet another awesome line from the world of fantasy
Comments (56)
I like it certainly more than Unstable Shapeshifter - although it's restricted to your creatures, this guy has half the cost and - most of all - you may have him become a copy.
Yet I don't think that anyone is going to break this guy. There might be some Jonny decks that can make good use of this, but by the time you cast it it's just a tiny 0/1 chump blocker that cannot do any harm. And you still have to afford the regular mana of other creatures you want to duplicate.
But their cip/etb effect won't trigger, so you should possibly consider using undercosted creatures with accordant drawbacks. This way you have twice a big body but you only have to bother once with the trigger.
Phyrexian Dreadnought comes to mind. Yeah, now that's a tough combo indeed. (Nevertheless i'd still prefer playing a Stiftle instead.)
But this guy has a considerable synergy with creatures with the Champion ability - copying a Lightning Crafter sounds pretty tempting.
If you have a way to bounce, sacrifice or at best flicker your Renegade there are even more things you can do:
Wormfang Nightmares that get their cip-effect negated when they leave play, so Wormfang Manta for example can provide infinite turns that way.
Evoke creatures like Nevermaker can also be used this way. Or even creatures with a cip-effect like Æthersnipe can be fun since this guy will turn your Doppelganger into a 4/4 body.
When playing in the current format, you'll notice that Thought Gorger also fullfills these requirements - but you won't ave any advantage from that unless you can manage to get a bunch of +1/+1 counters on this guy.
Tuktuk the Explorer unfortunately won't bringt you far - unless you can make use of all the triggers caused by copying him.
really kinda sad that they just decided to abandon mechanics like landfall and allies...
problem is none of the allies in blue are that awesome outside of mill >.<
Also important to keep in mind, he will retain counters. So if you drop a Hada Freeblade/Kazandu Blademaster/Talus Paladin/Kazuul Warlord/whatever on top of him he'll keep the +1/+1 counters. Also, you can use him to get a Harabaz Druid or a Sea Gate Loremaster with haste.
This guy is amazing for an allies deck. He's basically better than Jwari Shapeshifter in every way.
His biggest, and most obvious, downside is his incredibly weak power on the opponents turn. Any 1-damage ping will crush this guy. In a block with Staggershock and the like hanging around, he's very nuke-able.
4/5
probably good in that Stifle deck with Dreadnought.
Play Renegade Doppleganger
Play nameless level up card with a cheap level up cost.
Pay to level him up a decent amount
Future level-up creatures can come in with a max level copy for one turn.
Also, how is this creature so good with allies ? Once the ally enters the Battlefield and the Doppleganger becomes a copy, how does that help ? The Doppleganger didn't enter the battlefield and therefore doesn't trigger anything, and for the casted ally it's too late to trigger Doppleganger's newfound trigger. So, again, how is this good with allies ?
If you add Leyline of Anticipation to that mix, you can flash summon levelers during combat like Beastbreaker of Bala Ged or Nirkana Cutthroat while this already has a large number of level counters to massacre your opponent's blockers or attackers.
Even nastier would be to have seven level counters on Renegade Doppelganger and flash summon Lighthouse Chronologist on your opponent's turn as they tap their last land: they don't even have a chance to respond to your gain of an extra turn. Or maybe flash summon Hedron-Field Purists and negate a lethal Staggershock or Lightning Bolt.
A related question: suppose I combine the effects of renegade and Dimir Doppelganger, removing a card in a graveyard from the game with my renegade doppelganger copy of dimir doppelganger. My renegade/dimir doppelganger now becomes another creature altogether (that retains dimir doppelganger's activated ability). Is my altogether-new-creature still a renegade doppelganger as well (i.e., does it revert at end of turn)? Or, because it has transformed, does it lose its renegade doppelganger status?
drop an Avenger of Zendikar while it is out, then either dropping a land or better yet harrow
Leyline of Anticipation for beefy surprise defense.
This guy then became a lock in my deck. Attacking with a power of 26 trample on turn 5 works for me!
My brain says no but my heart hopes yes.
T1---Preordain
T2---Renegade Doppel
T3---Blade Splicer
T4---Shape Anew --- Reveal until Blightsteel Comes into play---Renegade Dopel becomes a Blightsteel until the end of the turn. Attack with Hastey Blightsteel for a T4 Standard Deathshot!
(Protect yourself with a 1cmc Turn Aside)
T2 Lotus Cobra, Island, Doppelganger
T3 Fetchland, Sovereigns of Lost Alara, copy and swing, attaching two Eldrazi Con***ions. Game over!
I really do hope that he sees play.
Many neat uses when looked at like that. Look to sacrifice effects, or effects that are simply too powerful if the creature had haste and you then have a creature that plays well with this guy. Cheat in anything big with Apprentice Necromancer and you'll have 2 big dudes to play with.
Say
T1: Dark ritual, Putrid Imp, Apprentice Necromancer
T2: this guy, attack for 2 (if you can get away with it.)
T3: Discard fatty (demon of death's gate?), attack for 18 flying trample.
5/5