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Magic: The Gathering Card Comments Archive

Rasputin Dreamweaver

Multiverse ID: 201224

Rasputin Dreamweaver

Comments (32)

TreeTrunkMaster
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0) (4 votes)
Almost reminds me of a planeswalker the way it works with counters. Almost.
A3Kitsune
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0) (3 votes)
Since Rasputin was known as the 'mad monk', maybe he should be a cleric.
achilleselbow
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (2 votes)
I don't get the reasoning behind some of the rulings. What other cards use dream counters?
Also, I guess this could be useful for getting out huge creatures on the next turn, or squeezing seven more damage out of a Fireball.
TheSuperbloop
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (5 votes)
Remove them all for 7 colorless mana. Quite nice for legends.
Azazyel
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (3 votes)
Find a way to drop him on turn five and have 13 mana on turn six. If you don't win with that, it's your fault.
longwinded
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (3 votes)
@achilleselbow:
All the rulings just amount to "you get seven dream counters, and no amount of clever shuffling gets you around that maximum."
Gelzo
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (5 votes)
Oh god.

Proliferate. And since infect is coming to white soon...
MrPink343
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (3 votes)
It's a great feeling bringing an old guy with a stick to face down EDH decks led by dragons, giants, and zombie assassins. And then decimating them.
Pontiac
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (2 votes)
Rasputin comes into play with 7 counters that add 7 colorless mana to your mana pool

the cost to cast and use Tawnos's Coffin on Rasputin is 7 colorless mana

coincidence? I think not!

they're both in my EDH "General Zur" Deck.
prolifFTW
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (1 vote)
ra-ra-rasputin
i was seroiusly surprised when no one noticed his name lol
Mode
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0) (3 votes)
This dude ain't too shabby at all.
It's something between Priest of Gix and Llanowar Elves (and Samite Healer), except that the mana he produces is colorless. And yeah, he can also prevent a considerable amount of damage. And he slowly restores his Dream Counters.
Too bad he does have this 7 counter restriction, otherwise Gilder Bairn would have been a nice choice.
But even just turning 4WhiteBlue into 7 and getting a 4/1 body sounds alright. Add Darkwater Catacombs or Azorius Signet and you can make sure to cast more spells if you still have one of these untapped.
Since he's a Human Wizard, you can put him in a Wizard deck. Putting him into play with Cryptic Gateway sounds efficient.
And since Humans are going to be a tribal type (Green and White) in Innistrad, this might get more interesting for Legacy or Casual decks.
sonorhC
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (2 votes)
@achilleselbow: There are a number of ways another creature might end up with dream counters on it. You could move some from Rasputin onto any creature with Leech Bonder, or you could have a card become a copy of Rasputin (presumably this would require either Mirror Gallery or copying from the graveyard). If that creature stopped being a copy of Rasputin, you could then increase the number of dream counters past seven, via Proliferate or Gilder Bairn. If it then became a copy of Rasputin again, that's when those rulings would kick in.

That aside, does anyone else think that one toughness is a bit odd? The real Rasputin was notoriously difficult to kill. Yeah, he can use his dream counters to prevent damage, but that doesn't really seem like enough to match the flavor.
MtFrostM
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0) (3 votes)
well, it is legends, nothing really was fleshed out then.

Though the question is more "how does he have 4 power when he never fought/killed a single thing?" 1 toughness is quite reasonable for a mortal mystic from earth, even if it's a particularly tough mortal, he's still unarmored.

And legends is he froze to death, which means he ran out of dream counters. It all fits together.

The 4 power's still puzzling though....
imsully2
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (3 votes)
No one has mentioned that he comes into play with counters, and is in flicker colors??? Lets take the newly printed Cloudshift for example, remove 7 counters gain 7 colorless, spend one white then you have 7 more... now slap cloudshift on an Isochron Scepter and you're in business, maybe throw in a voltaic key for good measure, 9 Mana colorless (Net gain) per turn without casting anything sound good to anyone else?
Mike-C
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0) (2 votes)
This is one of, if not THE only guy I've seen that not only pays you back in full (less the fact that it's colorless) and gives you interest on top!! At worst you get yourself an almost free (less the card and turn it took to play him) guy and drew one of your opp's removal spells.. Very nice :)

@SonarHC: I think he meant as a theme, what other cards use dream counters.. Sure you could put dream counters on other cards but if they don't benefit from them, what's the point??! lol..
Caboose249
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fantastic Card. Have a lovely EDH deck meant to flicker him for ridiculous amounts of mana. Or, the shenanigans.
Arachnos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ra-Ra-Rasputin, Russia's greatest love machine! (and mana too)
Muggy8
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So um. Place this guy with Nim deathmantle and any reliable infinite sac engine (preferably artifact to make use of his innate colorless mana) and you instantly have infinite mana + infinite damage prevention. seems solid in blue white
BloodDragon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Cloudshift, Flicker, Vensor, or similar could potentially leave you with 14+ or more colourless mana just by himself.
ViashinoWizard
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (2 votes)
Summon Russia's Greatest Love Machine
NARFNra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@longwinded

I finally found a way to get more than seven dream counters, but you can't put them on him. Play Bant.

Experiment Kraj + Fate Transfer

Come up with a way to get a +1/+1 counter on Rasputin, which shouldn't be hard with Kraj around, and then Fate Transfer the counters over. Now Kraj has

Remove a dream counter from Experiment Kraj: Add 1 to your mana pool.
Remove a dream counter from Experiment Kraj: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to Experiment Kraj this turn.

But no seven counters restriction! Yeah!

Stupidly costly and probably not worth it, but finally you can target him with Vorel of the Hull Clade and Gilder Bairn and other miscellaneous counter abilities.
Traius
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (1 vote)
This looks like something a 12 year old drew..... Look at that hand! Look at that lazy background of "imagine the red is more of those weird red plants on the left, and they they of course end in blue lines for sky." Everything in this is very amateurish.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (1 vote)
Provides 7 mana next turn. Powerful old legend from legends.
MizziumSculptor444
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy really should've gotten a reprint in Commander 2013. Rubinia Soulsinger got in, and this guy has much more potential than tap-stealing does. Plus his abilities are perfectly suited for multiplayer Commander. Oh well, maybe someday.
MattLynn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
IndubitableSalmon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'd really like to see this guy reprinted.
Up-to-date art, and a cleaned-up textbox would really do him a favour, and I see no reason to keep a card that's of no use in competitive Legacy/Vintage (yet of limitless potential in casual settings) so rare that even damaged versions are valued ~30$.

As for playability, he's probably one of the most interesting and fun creatures of his manacost - quite a direct threat with a power of 4, a good blocker and relatively hard to get rid of with his damage sponge, a mana factory, a beautiful ramp to beefy colorless effects and cards, say, a Sundering Titan, and your first address for flicker-effects.
Come to think of it, a deck with the Titan, Rasputin and some blinking (Momentary Blink, Deadeye Navigator, maybe the Vensers...) would be a pretty sweet one.
Gabbalis
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Rasputin can combo out with a Nim Deathmantle and an unlimited sac outlet. Which means a significant number of Rasputin EDH games are won by black zombie Rasputins. Anyone else getting an Anastasia vibe here?
Psychrates
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The best legend from this set. It takes eight to shoot him. He can play 7 colorless mana as soon as he hits the board. He replenishes the counters which can again be used to prevent damage, and proliferate works on him. Cheat himout early andEnergy Tap and Cloudshift become his BEST FRIENDS. He's 4/1, and all this in a 6 CMC Human Wizard Legend? He belongs in any modern day set, and you'd be happy as hell to pull him.

I want THIS as a Planeswalker.

@ SonorHC: He's incredibly resistant to burn, damn near damage proof.
You won't spend 8 mana to fireball.
You won't waste 2-3 Lightning Bolts.

@WrathOfShane: Immediately, he doesn't tap for his ability.