Pointed Discussion

This and Pemmin's Aura is just silly. Seriously, exiling Lightning Bolt or some other cheap burn spell, and untapping over and over again? It's a bit fragile, but still, great card!

It's the stick on legs! Also, one of the best takes on a true wizard so far, alongside Kaho, Minamo Historian.

Oh god. So many combos, so little time. Silence would be the ultimate in control, or you could staple a Counterspell of some sort onto him...

Oh great, now people will put spells on the stick on legs. Next year, we will put legs on the spell on the stick on legs, and it's all downhill from there...

Mana dorks, Ready // Willing. Brew away.

I just noticed they introduced a new template for copied spells. Now you both "copy" and "cast" the spell, rather than just copying . This card and Chandra use the new template while the Wild Ricochet reprint uses the old template.

Fixed.

The 1/1 really kills it. If it were a 1/4 then it could at least do something when it comes into play lie block. It's horrible to have to play this, exile a Render Silent, and get him shocked right after coming into play. Maybe giving him haste somehow, and play him when you can tap him inmediately to use his effect, but then you'd need like 7 mana or so, might as well run Aetherling instead.

Cool idea, unique effect.
But harsh getting it killed after exiling.

Silence got the reprint.

Seems like a fixed Ishocron Specter that feels really bad if your opponent is able to remove it in time, but will stall the game to epic proportions if they don't.

@SamKnight: No. Copied spells are still just copied. This card and Chandra copy the card, and then cast the copy.

Can we get some official errata on this exiling split cards. The M14 FAQ said that you would have to add up both converted mana costs of each half and that is what X is equal to. So with far//away exiled, X=5.

That doesn't make sense to me though. The rules state that a split card has 2 characteristics and 2 converted mana costs everywhere other than the stack, unless it is fused. That would mean that if far//away is exiled you should get the choice of X=2 to cast far, or X=3 to cast away. This really needs official errata ASAP because I don't understand why this card would behave differently than every other imprint card that does something similar, but the official FAQ says it does. I think it's a mistake in the FAQ personally.

@emril, honestly I don't even know what to make of it now. I've dug through the comprehensive rules and individual card rulings related to split cards and I just give up. X=the sum of both halves of a split card. Sucks pretty hard.

This and Silence can give you a damn good lock if you pull them both in Draft.

An opponent at the pre-release today liked to play this, then Trollhide on him, and imprinting Fog...

In one game, he then Cloned it, and imprinted Frost Breath. It was a wicked lockdown since I had basically no removal...

Yo dawg I heard you like sticks so we put a stick on a stick

In Limited, I would guess it's terrible with Spell Blast unless you find your opponent running an inordinate amount of Accorder's Shields

@TheRealJayveezy: I agree completely. I tried to call Wizards about it yesterday, but Customer Support closed their phones at 4pm PST for some reason. I am gonna call again today.

But what about Panoptic Mirror? It's ruling states "To imprint a split card, you pay X equal to either side's converted mana cost. If the copied card is a split card, you choose which one side of it to cast, but you can't cast both sides. You can choose the other side later in the game, though." To me that is at the very least, inconsistent.

Got a response from Wizards, here is the differences between these two.

For Elite Arcanist you check the cards characteristics and get two answers, because you received two answers you pay for each answer, in other words the combined total of the two sides. However, whenever you cast a split card without paying its mana cost you only cast one side.

For Panoptic Mirror you pay a cost and then exile a card. You check to see if that card's converted mana cost is the same as that cost, a split card will return two answers and as long as one of them is correct then the card can be successfully exiled.

I came within an inch of getting locked down with Elite Archanist and Silence in the prerelease - I was able kill the Archanist by casting an enchantment with Blightcaster on the field. The Archanist left a lasting impression and I'd really like to build a deck around him.

I'm most interested in getting tons of card draw with Quicken. I'm sure it'll also be fun to play with the Charms, Shock, Chandra's Outrage, Disperse, or Lingering Souls, and I'll use a playset of Mizzium Skins to protect my Archanist. I'd like to give him haste with Ring of Valkas. I thought about Hellraiser Goblin, but that probably wouldn't work in a slow control deck; even if I could tap the Archanist before combat, the Goblin itself would die too easily. I'll need to work Young Pyromancer in there somewhere.

And in standard with Silence and Render Silent no less...
I think we'll be seeing a lot of Mr. Walking Stick in standard and edh.

It seems to be a bad version of panoptic mirror, to me.
The mirror:
- is an artifact, so you don't need colored mana
- casts the card for free each turn once it's imprinted
- allows you to imprint several cards, so that you have a choice each turn
- it's an artifact and no creature, which makes it harder to get rid of (and it's especially no 1 toughness creature)
- you can play the mirror and see if people use sorcery speed removal on it, before imprinting a card, so that you don't lose two cards at once
- works on instants AND sorceries

Sure, this guy ain't bad. Well, he is bad. But he is also very slow, and vulnerable, and risks you losing two cards at once, and is very expensive manawise. There also seems to be a huge amount of removal just in 2014 against him. The sliver that pings creatures, the giant that smashes small creatures, the black newt creature, the black -1/-1 effect, various red burn, and probably a dozen other effects.

@Ansem717
"If countered, you don't lose the spell that would have been exiled (since that's an ETB Effect)"
This applies to Scepter too

Now I hope for a Panoptic Mirror on legs!

@WytLytnn: : Put a +1/+1 counter on Elite Arcanist.

...Holy fuck.

Faith's Shield to give thing/things protection. Like your Blistercoil Weird. How does this interact with Phyrexian Mana Spells?

Jace... is that you?

I think this is an undervalued and underrated card. Sure it's subject to removal, etc. but so are all the great creatures. I think his uses have yet to be fully discovered.

What happens if you copy his triggered ability with a strionic resonator and exile another instant? can you use him to cast either (any, if you coppied strionic resonator's trigger with a rings of brighthearth) of them, or just the last one that was exiled? If the former, how, then would his activated ability interact with an illusionist's bracers equipped to him or with a rings of brighthearth? I assume the ability would be treated as if the spell copied was a mode?

burst of strength
@6Mortifier9 x is the sum of both cmc's and you can copy one none or both. it actually mentions this card in strionic resonator's erata.

This card is beautiful. The moment I saw it, I compared it to an Isochron Scepter and realized it's potential...

-Pro: It is not restricted to Mana Cost
-Pro: If countered, you don't lose the spell that would have been exiled (since that's an ETB Effect) (Edit: Yea, I'm aware that's also for Isochron Scepter as well Camu-Camu. Thanks for pointing it out, I forgot to mention it XD)
-Pro: Can be used with Training Grounds and Illusionist's Bracers.
-Pro: Can chump block, if needed, to save your life
-Pro: Can attack, if needed, to deal that last damage.
-Pro: The copied spell is casted, not just copied. This could trigger many things, one of which being cascade, for example.


-Con: Victim to Summoning Sickness
-Con: Dies to creature removal spells and burn spells
-Con: As a 4 drop, it's a 1/1. A little bit disappointing, but it's ability makes up for it, if you get time to use it.
-Con: Activated Ability also takes up a bit of mana, unless used with Training Grounds. :D
-Con: The copied spell can be countered (this applies to Isochron as well though).

I could easily say that those do provide the negative impact on this card. The Arcanist takes an entire turn to learn the spell you wish for him to cast, and in that, he may end up dying by a simple Shock. But once he's fully ready to cast your spell, pair him with an untap ability (Maybe Ral Zarek or Hidden Strings for you Izzet people, like me :D) and Training Grounds, and you've got a re-occurring instant.

@BenJarvis Great creatures don't require you to exile a powerful spell from your hand.

Well this is a highly balanced isochrons scepter. Its a 4 drop creature with only 1 toughness, and to make use you have to ditch an instant card right away. It also has summoning sickness.

Yeah if this guy ever locks a game down I am cool with that. This is high risk, high reward. Isochrons was low risk, high reward, and was a retarded mistake.

This card gets a 4.5/5 from me.
Isochrons scepter gets a .5/5 from me.

This 1 toughness really hurts my heart. I'm still will try to put him in my Azorius deck. Silence or Sphinx's Revelation whenever I want? Yes, please.

@EDIT I'm just realized something. What if you survive to turn 7, cast him and exile Render Silent? No way to kill him, unless opponent have something what can't be countered. This can be nasty in control.

Don't put a Sphinx's Revelation on this guy unless you enjoy paying 3 to tap your own creature, gain zero life and draw zero cards.

A split card's CMC is the sum of both halves, and the player must choose one side or the other to cast... but what if it's a split card with fuse?

I you can throw hexproof on this guy, he's a 5/5 in my book (Although every way I can think of giving it to him is switching out when Innistrad does) The possibilities are endless. He becomes better than the scepter because it's not restricted to two mana or less.

Without hexproof though...he's probably the biggest liability in your deck. Dies to...everything. Any burn or removal spell in standard. Now you're out a 4 drop and probably an important instant.

3/5 for potential to be a wincon

If it imprinted sorceries I would've loved this. Powerful, but not too powerful, and risky enough to create interesting decisions about when to play it.

But as it is - I just know I'm going to face some annoying draw-go deck that only ever imprints counter spells on it, and that's going to be no fun.

Silence has been reprinted. Fog has also been reprinted. Druid's deliverance. Riot control.

If it A- cost less and B- was a little bigger than 1/1 (I'd be flipping out if it was a 0/4) then I could totally make a put-it-on-a-stickish-creature deck.

i want this card to be good so bad... its just so hard to justify... i might try it in a control decks side board so that you can put it in game 2 when your opponet takes out their removal

i feel like blue got hammered as far as constructed standard goes in m14

I know they can't say "Imprint", but they really should have said imprint.

Notice how they were careful and only put "Instant", that way people can't Restore Balance for 0-mana the rest of the game :P (and other similar issues.)

If you are afraid of artifact-removal on your Isochron Scepter deck, swap Isochron with this on game-two (when they have already removed their creature removal probably)

Cerulean Wisps springs to mind. Just for the epic ": Draw a card" result.

Or, you know, just go Delay to juggle three spells that belong to your opponent in the air forever. That is possibly the only way you can make a Wizard juggle in this game, unless Unhinged is involved in some way...

Keep pulling this in drafts and constantly being disappointed. At least Kaho was a 2/2 and didn't die to shit spells like wring flesh. 0/2 would have been a little more playable, needed to be playtested some more.

used this in draft exiled disperse for recycling jaces mindseeker with warden of evos isle out im so glad he didnt get sniped before i pulled it off it was soooo good

My favourite blue card in m14 draft.

Turbo fog in a limited format? no problem. :D

I love this card. Great in my Azorius deck, if I exile a Render Silent, I can lock down my opponent's ability to summon anything and bring about a swift victory

If any of ya forgot "burst of strength" is still in standard as well as the "Illusionist's bracers" Those and the Arcanist with any mana dork will result in an inf mana combo that also yields a massive pair of creatures. otherwise you are looking at every time you opponent lets you have mana at the end of their turn you can get him stronger equal to the amount of mana you have left. Basically he is about the perfect Simic card. Truly a work of art.

With Strionic Resonator, you can put two spells on him. This forces you to pay both their CMCs, but you get both of them when you use the ability. Obviously you can do things like double Lightning Bolt for power, but you know what's really funny?

Angel's Grace + Final Fortune

I'm not even sure I should post this it's so sick :D

I recently started playing again after a very very long break, when I saw this guy while catching up on the current card rotations my cheesy abuse-o-meter shot up into the red and I started hunting around for combos to build a deck around him. My first goal was to see if I could find a way to produce an inifinite loop with this guy which meant a way to untap him and produce mana. The answer came in the form of a seemingly innocent Theros uncommon called Triton Tactics . Give 2 creatures +0/+3 and untap them for 1 blue. it was a fairly obvious leap from there to add an elvish mystic to generate the man to inifinitely cast triton tactics on the 2 creatures, but that's not ultimately useful unless you need a pair 1/2456000 blockers.

There is a way to convert this into infinite mana using Voyaging Satyr and Verdant Haven, but that's now a 4 card comnbo and you still need to add a 5th damage source, like Volcanic Geyser. but then I remebered this little guy called Zhur-Tar Druid. tap for one green, deal one damage, copy triton tactics, untap the druid and the Arcanist, Rinse repeat for your opponents life total - or 4 billion if you like...

Granted it's easy to take out, but if you keep this guy well-protected the stuff you can pull off is insane. Even in mono-blue, you have instants like Fact or Fiction, Cryptic Command, and Mindbreak Trap just to name a few. This guy will be crazy once people figure out the best ways to utilize him.

Question: If you flicker this and exile another spell does the exiled spell overwrite the first one or do they stack onto each other? If this is the case you could combo this with Otherworldly Journey to get a super crazy card with a ton of abilities.

Just gotta bite the bullet and get the colours to cast Prophet of Kruphix

@Mazakur It's a neat idea, except...

702.98a ......"Cipher" means "If this spell is represented by a card, you may exile this card encoded on a creature you control" and "As long as this card is encoded on that creature, that creature has 'Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may copy this card and you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.'"

On a nice note, that means that that both cipher cast copies and Elite Arcanist copies will activate cards such as Young Pyromancer because it is being CAST from exile, and if you're running Blue/Red you might as well throw him in there.

Azorius charm every turn? Why yes, I would like to repeatedly put your most dangerous creature back on top of your library over and over again.

And when I'm not doing that, I would very much like some more lifegain or some new cards, whereas you get none.

Oh wait, Triton tactics is calling me, allowing me to untap you and do more than one of these things each turn.

Sooo many combos.

Warleader's Helix. You're already paying 4 mana and the color needs shouldn't be hard to meet. Just remember to keep some mana open to counter removal. And for the Modern players, Training Grounds is an excellent companion to this fellow.

Combos amazingly well with Zhur-Taa Druid and Triton Tactics for an infinite loop of opponents' rage :D

Some instants can be used to great effect, but I just wish he wasn't so fragile.

Any tiny burn spell or removal that hits this guy means that you spent four mana and lost two cards while your opponent spent less mana on one card, or maybe even just an ability.

I'd like it more if the 'imprinted' instant were returned to your hand when he leaves the battlefield,
or at least put into your graveyard.

It enables several infinite mana and/or damage combos in Standard (a very rare thing these days) so it gets a high rating.

@majinara Really? This is a worst Panoptic Mirror?
Let's go through your list and point out everything wrong with that statement.

"is an artifact, so you don't need colored mana"
You're comparing a 9cmc to a 4 cmc as being easier to cast, on top of the cost required to exile the artifact?

"casts the card for free each turn once it's imprinted"
Panoptic Mirror only casts one copy per controller's turn at the upkeep. This severely limits the versatility of the ability when compared to arcanist. Arcanist's requirements to activate is a tap and a mana cost. There are more methods to untap a creature than to gain an extra upkeep, and more infinite mana combos that it can create as well. Arcanist can, more importantly, activate during the opponent(s)'s turns. Can you place a Counterspell on Panoptic Mirror? Of course. Would it be useful? Not likely. Arcanist can utilize all sorts of untap cards to combo. Panoptic Mirror cannot turn into a firebreather that keeps its boosts. Arcanist can.

"allows you to imprint several cards, so that you have a choice each turn"
Only one can be cast per turn. In addition, because of the upkeep timing, this is limited in what can be placed effectively.

"it's an artifact and no creature, which makes it harder to get rid of (and it's especially no 1 toughness creature)"
You had me until "which makes it harder to get rid of". Arcanist can easily gain indestructibility and hexproof if the deck properly supports it (with that 5 mana difference, you can attach boros and simic charm to the Arcanist with Strionic Resonator's effect. This creature trait gives Arcanist the combo potential to transform into a massive powerhouse attacker, an infinite draw/damage source, all manner things that Panoptic Mirror must work around in order to accomplish.

"you can play the mirror and see if people use sorcery speed removal on it, before imprinting a card, so that you don't lose two cards at once"
In that 5 mana difference between the mirror and arcanist, a counter or removal of the removal is more than likely to be able to be played. In addition, you're discrediting all of the flash potential that Simic Arcanist holds. Also, after that first turn is over, Arcanist can give its own weak counterspell protection.

"works on instants AND sorceries"
The amount of instants that it can use is severely limited in combo potential and use. Is it smart to put combat tricks onto the mirror? Hell no! If a creature is buffed up at the beginning of your upkeep, that leaves predictability for when the combat step approaches and gives your opponent time to plan ahead and handle the situation, or weeny-block the buffed card. All the same, will instants that counter be useful? No. Will untap cards be useful? Highly situational. A whole plethora of spells exist that wouldn't be wise to exile simple because they can not be cast at creatures you would play during your later main phases.

Am I saying that It's strictly better than Panoptic Mirror? Of course not! A free Shivan Meteor each turn isn't that bad! I'm saying you're looking at this card the wrong way when the combo potential for it is so much greater than simply a standard version of the mirror.

Remember thus says converted mana cost, not mana cost. I used Silence and activated it at the start of every turn. as my opponent could not do anything to stop me (and it was still pretty early in the game, so he had only a few, wimpy creatures. After all, lands are spells too.

Lightning Greaves would be a good partner for this little kid...

@ goldwing8 Actually, silence doesn't work that way. You don't cast lands. You play them. Silence will not prevent your opponents from playing lands. Your opponent can also respond to your silence while it's still on the stack (i.e. counter it, or kill elite arcanist before it resolves). If they just kill him, silence will still resolve, of course. I'm not saying it isn't a strong combination, but it's not a total lockout either.

As vulnerable as it is for the cmc, it should've read something like "tap an untapped wizard, pay x" or at least "wizards you control have t, x: copy." Or at least like ability-haste (i think thats been printed before, thousand-year elixir perhaps? It would be cool if they keyworded that as a blue ability.

Anyway, as he is youre too open for getting 2-for-1'd in standard at least.

this is one of those cards where the possibilities are literally endless for almost any blue/ multicolored deck.

oh i could mill you for five cards every turn with tome scour.

or i could hit you for 5 damage every turn with lava axe.

or i could gain 7 life per turn with angel's mercy.

or my favorite murder every turn.

and preventing one creature every turn withessence scatter is awesome.

i could go on and on and on. great card 5/5

I like the idea of using this guy with Illusionist's Bracers and charm cards, even if it's not a charm of your colors. In particular, Boros Charm looks fun. 2 mana of any color to make my permanents indestructible and deal 4 damage to my opponent? I'll take it!

Adding to that craziness a little bit, Strionic Resonator to add a second charm would be fun. Adding Simic Charm would have you able to make your permanents indestructible and hexproof, deal 4 damage to an opponent, and unsummon a creature all for 4 mana of any color. Add Prophet of Kruphix to this once-in-a-lifetime not-actually-likely-to-see-it combo, and you can pretty much declare yourself the winner...

On a completely different note, pairing this card with Diabolic Tutor basically gives you a legal version of Johnny.

EDIT: Scratch that last sentence, Diabolic Tutor is a sorcery. :P

Have Voyaging Satyr out, as well as Elite Arcanist with Triton Tactics exiled.
In comes High Tide, and we have infinite mana. Throw in a bunch or draws, searches and bombs and you've got yo'self a deck.

@Sylent: Tome Scour and Lava Axe don't work since those are sorceries.

Would this work with something like evermind? Basically could become "T: Draw a card, activate abilities which trigger upon casting instants or sorceries" If it worked.

Please stop spamming combos that don't work. Read the friggin text: "Exile an INSTANT" from your hand. Read the rules before the Johnny screaming in your heads starts typing mistakes.

Lava axe is a sorcery. Most cipher cards are sorceries, like hidden strings. In fact, I think all of them are.

I had mine in an Izzet deck, but I'm thinking of relocating it into a pillowfort/control deck with stuff like Fog, Aetherize, or Krosan's grip. It's a mind game, in that you lose the element of surprise in exchange for letting your opponent know what you'll do to them. Threatening to aetherize the first person to swing at you makes people really trigger shy, and saves you from actually having to use aetherize. If you have Krosan's Grip, you can be sure that your opponents are keeping all their enchantments in their hands, which is nice knowledge to have, and can make a combo you throw out uncounterable due to split second.

Strive's biggest fan.

If you exile say fated infatuation with this guy then proceeded to copy him would the instants exiled by several other copies be available to all copies of elite arcanist you control ?

Look at this card next to Jace's Mindseeker and tell me he doesn't look like Jace