nasty card. terrorfies my friends everytime i play one of these
PrismFalcon
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Does this mean that it deals damage before combat starts? Does that count as combat damage? Or is it dealing combat damage as if it isn't blocked? I can think of a few combos based on not dealing or recieving combat damage, so I need to know which one it is.
Vinifera7
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
@PrismFalcon: When attackers are declared, Mage Slayer's ability triggers and goes on the stack. Players get priority, and finally this ability resolves. So the creature equipped with Mage Slayer deals damage from this ability even before blockers are declared. The damage from Mage Slayer's ability is not combat damage, but the creature still deals combat damage normally during the combat damage step.
orisiti
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
This card is awesome, i like to use it to boost my Petrified Wood-Kin. Does the ability trigger multiple times if more than one is equiped on a single creature?
So nasty... even if the creature bites the dust, he still hits the player for whatever he's got.
At a cost of only 1RG, this thing has the potential to be a game winner, and effectively inflicts double damage if unblocked. Throw this on a creature with double strike and watch your opponent die very, very quickly.
5/5
DlCK
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
if you've got the mana, makes your ball lightnings and groundbreakers hurt more
i just realized, with lifelink would this card steal you 2x the life?
Malnourished_Student
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
@ DlCK
Yes, you would gain the life from Lifelink. Lifelink does not specify combat damage, but any damage dealt by a creature with Lifelink will cause you to gain life (rules 118.3e & 702.13b).
Brex123
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card can NUKE opponents. This is a very welcome sight when one of my two of these comes up in my giant creature deck. Threw that on a 14/14 with trample (Thanks Mayeal's Aria!), and my opponent would have been defeated in one hit if he wasn't able to convince me at the time that deathtouch stops trample (being instakiled and all).
throw this and an armadillo cloak on uril, the mistalker and you have one hell of a creature. wrap it up with some more auras and a behemoth's sledge, and by then the game is won.
This thing has so much of my blood on it it's not funny. But I still love it.
GrimjawxRULES
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@ orisiti: Yes, if you've equipped a creature with multiple copies of Mage Slayer, they will each trigger on attack.
Mage Slayer is awesome because it makes your creatures deal damage through blockers. If Wall of Denial is stopping your RG aggro deck dead in its tracks, you should consider using this to help you bash through.
Also, Mage Slayer makes for tons of fun when equipped to a creature with Double Strike - giving creatures like Marisi's Twinclaws "Triple Strike" is really devastating if you pump them with Colossal Might or the like :D
CandlewoodValleyMan
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Deus of Calamity loves this - even if he's chump blocked, this lets him do the full 6 required to destroy a land. If he isn't blocked? Goodbye two lands!
DerStrudelkopf
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Just curious... would having Gratuitous Violence out make this deal double damage to the player?
i made a deck just for this card quill spike + devoted druid +mageslayer+thunder blust and hellspark elementals= always winning the standard tournements of the time.
TrueBloodWolf
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I must say, an interesting card... I know this isn't Mirrodin flavor, I really wish it was though D: be great in my Green/Red/White deck (Mirrodin Pure)
RPJesus
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those that call this Mage Masher, and those that haven't played Final Fantasy.
RazzmatazzTheGreat
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you're playing R/G, you've probably got access to some ramp. But let's be a little conservative, I don't like when people post ridiculous combos that will never actually happen in a real game. Anyway: Turn 2-4: Get a Mage Slayer into play sometime during these turns Turn 5: Cast Rhox Turn 6: Equip Mage Slayer to Rhox and attack - 10 damage, even if your blocked. If you happen to have anything in hand that pumps for 5 or more, that's 20+ damage right there. And depending on your ramp suite, this could easily happen a whole turn faster.
Cheza
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Some of you seem to forget that this card still has an Equip cost, so I wouldn't say it combos with Putrefax f.e. In addition, this card ought to be compared to Fireshrieker, since a Rhox doesn't really care, when the opponent is dealt damage.
So for me, it's an "ok" card, but I would have reduced the equip cost to instead.
I too wish the equip was a wee bit smaller, but this baby is still amazing on anything that has "on damage" triggers! I also enjoy putting it on creatures with double-strike, no, it is not efficient, but it does enable me to have the elusive Triple-Strike! (Cousin of Super Haste)
The obvious combo is this with Deus of Calamity, but really, you could slap it onto any creature you like and watch you opponent's life total plummet. Perfect for the R/G player in all of us.
Omnath, Locus of Mana + Mage Slayer + Mark of Sakiko (or similar) + Furnace of Rath (or similar)
Omanth is 1/1 and gets +1/+1 for each {G} in your pool (also, {G} doesn't empty from your pool as turns and phases end so that's a huge plus)
Mark of Sakiko: whenever enchanted creature deals damage to player add that much {G} to your mana pool (see where im going with this yet?)
Furnace of Rath: whenever a source would deal damage to a creature or player, it deals twice that much damage.
So... Bring out the Furnace for 4, bring out Omnath for 3, and enchant him with Mark of Sakiko for 2, then attach Mage slayer for 3, and swing, then tap 2 floating {G}... your little, non-intimidating 1/1 Omnath deals a total of 25 damage in a single attack...
so cheap to get out for a properly made R/G deck
smb379
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So, I have a question, that I can't seem to find the answer to anywhere else. During one of my games, I had a 20/23 (or some such power... it was at least 20) Forgotten Ancient. I had equipped him with Mage Slayer and declared him as an attacker. The opponent I was attacking had 20 life, and responded by using Unsummon on my creature.
The game consisted of multiple players, and I'm 100% positive that he would not have used Unsummon if I had attacked another player. So, since the Unsummon was a response to me attacking, would Mage Slayer's effect have triggered (since the creature was attacking) therefore killing my opponent before Unsummon resolved?
I didn't really think about it at the time, so we just went with the fact that my creature was unsummoned, and therefore did no damage. But when I was reading about how the ability triggers during the declare attackers step, I wondered if I would've taken out that player.
Anyway, thanks for your help and responses. :)
JacG
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@smb379 Yeah, your opponent died. Your triggered ability went on the stack, then his unsummon went on the stack. His unsummon resolves and your creature goes back to your hand, then your Mageslayer trigger resolves and he dies. My girlfriend uses this in her Mayael the Anima EDH deck. Whenever she gets this on a Hamletback Goliath, everyone at the table groans.
Dragonshoredreamz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Awesome golok. The art is bad-ass. 5/5
Fenizrael
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This bad boy is going into my Xenagos EDH deck. Hohohoho. Oh boy people will hate me...
Comments (47)
When attackers are declared, Mage Slayer's ability triggers and goes on the stack. Players get priority, and finally this ability resolves. So the creature equipped with Mage Slayer deals damage from this ability even before blockers are declared. The damage from Mage Slayer's ability is not combat damage, but the creature still deals combat damage normally during the combat damage step.
At a cost of only 1RG, this thing has the potential to be a game winner, and effectively inflicts double damage if unblocked. Throw this on a creature with double strike and watch your opponent die very, very quickly.
5/5
i just realized, with lifelink would this card steal you 2x the life?
Yes, you would gain the life from Lifelink. Lifelink does not specify combat damage, but any damage dealt by a creature with Lifelink will cause you to gain life (rules 118.3e & 702.13b).
When'd you get a Mage Slayer!?
Mage Slayer is awesome because it makes your creatures deal damage through blockers. If Wall of Denial is stopping your RG aggro deck dead in its tracks, you should consider using this to help you bash through.
Also, Mage Slayer makes for tons of fun when equipped to a creature with Double Strike - giving creatures like Marisi's Twinclaws "Triple Strike" is really devastating if you pump them with Colossal Might or the like :D
I know this isn't Mirrodin flavor, I really wish it was though D:
be great in my Green/Red/White deck (Mirrodin Pure)
Turn 2-4: Get a Mage Slayer into play sometime during these turns
Turn 5: Cast Rhox
Turn 6: Equip Mage Slayer to Rhox and attack - 10 damage, even if your blocked. If you happen to have anything in hand that pumps for 5 or more, that's 20+ damage right there. And depending on your ramp suite, this could easily happen a whole turn faster.
So for me, it's an "ok" card, but I would have reduced the equip cost to
Instead cast Spinebiter, and maybe a Giant Growth, or a Mutagenic Growth.
Mmm. 10 unblockable poison counters. Tasty.
Omnath, Locus of Mana + Mage Slayer + Mark of Sakiko (or similar) + Furnace of Rath (or similar)
Omanth is 1/1 and gets +1/+1 for each {G} in your pool (also, {G} doesn't empty from your pool as turns and phases end so that's a huge plus)
Mark of Sakiko: whenever enchanted creature deals damage to player add that much {G} to your mana pool (see where im going with this yet?)
Furnace of Rath: whenever a source would deal damage to a creature or player, it deals twice that much damage.
So... Bring out the Furnace for 4, bring out Omnath for 3, and enchant him with Mark of Sakiko for 2, then attach Mage slayer for 3, and swing, then tap 2 floating {G}... your little, non-intimidating 1/1 Omnath deals a total of 25 damage in a single attack...
so cheap to get out for a properly made R/G deck
The game consisted of multiple players, and I'm 100% positive that he would not have used Unsummon if I had attacked another player. So, since the Unsummon was a response to me attacking, would Mage Slayer's effect have triggered (since the creature was attacking) therefore killing my opponent before Unsummon resolved?
I didn't really think about it at the time, so we just went with the fact that my creature was unsummoned, and therefore did no damage. But when I was reading about how the ability triggers during the declare attackers step, I wondered if I would've taken out that player.
Anyway, thanks for your help and responses. :)
Yeah, your opponent died. Your triggered ability went on the stack, then his unsummon went on the stack. His unsummon resolves and your creature goes back to your hand, then your Mageslayer trigger resolves and he dies.
My girlfriend uses this in her Mayael the Anima EDH deck. Whenever she gets this on a Hamletback Goliath, everyone at the table groans.
5/5