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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Chamber of Manipulation
Odyssey Uncommon
Reviewed July 5, 2004
Constructed: 1.8
Casual: 2.2
Limited: 2.8
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
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Card of the Day Reviews
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Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut |
Chamber isn't something that you will see
happening in constructed...and yes, I will go out
on a thick limb here...ever. Losing card
advantage for a non-permanent ability isn't one of
Blue's favorite things to do.
In limited, it could
be a stall tactic, or could be used to blast your
own creatures through. Not horrible, but I
would probably be looking for something else to
play in my deck's slot.
In casual....no.
Constructed:
1.5
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 2.5
Current Price:
Chamber of
Manipulation -
Odyssey - $0.59
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Chamber of
Manipulation
Well, last week was land week. This week is
"enchantments that go on to land
week."
Today's enchantment is a blue enchantment from
Odyssey. You can tap the land
and discard a card, and gain control of a creature
until end of turn. This
does not give the creature you gain control of
haste, however, and that is
one of the big problems of this card. That makes
this so you can only block
with the creature. Fine in limited, where you can
discard a land to either
make their fatty not attack, or take one of their
creatures as a chump
blocker. But in constructed, blocking means
totally nothing. That makes this
card unplayable.
Constructed: 1
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 2.5 |
Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Chamber of
Manipulation
This never really made
much of a dent in constructed; frankly, most
Enchant Land cards aren’t going to. A card that
borrows a creature that you can’t attack with most
of the time is not going to make you happy. Pass.
I see this having a
bit more amusement in random games when you can
run it with fun stuff like Ashnod’s Altar or
Nantuko Husk or whatever. While this doesn’t do
much of anything with Mental, it’s definitely a
bit of fun in group games. “Hey, you there with
the Akroma, gimme!”
On the other hand,
this worked out as a fantastic card in limited,
serving to pull blockers out of the way while
helping to fuel Threshold or Madness in your draft
deck. It also worked to combo with a number of
other cards in the block (like Animal Boneyard) to
do a series of bad things to your opponent’s
creatures. It was okay on its own, but it was
rather good considering the rest of the cards at
your disposal.
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 2.5
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Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
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Chamber of
Manipulation
Although I never found any use for this card in
serious constructed formats,
Chamber of Manipulation was a serviceable, if not
exciting, card in limited.
At first glance, it seems great. A land
enchantment that lets you repeatedly
grab another player's creature. Then the bad news
starts hitting you. you
are only TEMPORARILY grabbing their creature,
their creature does not untap
or gain haste when you grab it, every time you
activate this ability it
costs you a card. Finally, the use of this card
ties up a land card too.
Mostly, this card was a stall strategy used
primarily to keep you alive a
few more turns while you hopefully found an answer
for their most dangerous
creature.
CONSTRUCTED: 1.5
CASUAL: 2.0
LIMITED: 3.0
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Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer |
Chamber of
Manipulation
This card was a king
of tempo control in limited format. When this card
got played, the game ground to a halt, and every
attack became a risk. All of a sudden you had to
figure out what creature they would steal, and if
they would use it to block one of your other
creatures, giving them a two for one. Even worse,
if they had a way to sacrifice creatures, this
card became a poor man’s Wrath of God. In
constructed, the card was just to slow and
susceptible to removal to be of any good, and in
casual, well, no one wants you to steal their
creatures, so this card just puts a target on your
forehead.
Constructed:
2
Casual:
1
Limited: 4
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Jason
Chapman |
Chamber of
Manipulation can be a powerful force in
controlling the ground game. In many ways it turns
any land into a super Maze of Ith and it can allow
for some great tricks when you are able to
sacrifice the creatures you steal. In addition,
you can make use of the end-of-turn-loophole to
gain attackers during your turn. On the downside,
the card is fragile like most enchantments,
requries you to discard, and at 4 mana it isn't
good against fast aggressive decks. Still it is a
solid card and a great option for players without
money or access to similar effects.
Constructed - Solid
but the utility and efficiency isn't great - 2.5
Casual - A really
great card allowing endless hours of fun and
tricks - 3.5
Limited - Double
color mana but a solid pick for a creature based
format - 3.5
PEZ - Generally
this is too slow and not worth an Uncommon slot -
2.0
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Chase
Secret Squirrel
on the
Pojo.com
Message
Boards |
Chamber of
Manipulation
This has always been
a strange card to me. It’s always been sitting
on my card table with nothing to do. Giving up
a land for that turn, a Counterspell (for that
turn in effect for playing this), and a card
from your hand you get to steal a creature.
Stealing creatures has been cool, but never a
great idea.
Stealing whole turns is much better. :p This
never saw any play that I know of (but hey, it’s
what I know, so it might not be right) in
constructed or limited. Always a card with a
neat effect that no one ever used. Stealing a
roar token could be neat, but meh it’s only
one turn, and you had better gone first, or have
this on turn 4. Otherwise, you’d probably be
dead.
In casual, if I
wanted to steal a creature, I’d probably steal
it permanently (Confiscate).
Still this isn’t bad, just something I never
liked.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 2
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w00t |
Chamber of
Manipulation -
To start off,
Chamber of Manipulation is one of my favorite
cards in terms of uses you can make with it.
It's just a fun card to play with or build
around, now on to the review.
Constructed - Okay,
Chamber of Manipulation really isn't too hot in
Serious constructed. Its ability just isn't to
useful. Now, if it costed U less, and gave
haste, it might see some play :). But as it is,
no deck has the need for it.
Casual - I actually have a deck built around
this on MTGO. The card has many a' uses. You can
use it to steal a creature, than sacrifice it
with: Skulltap, Primal Growth, Bloodshot
Cyclops, Animal Boneyard, Dispersing Orb, or
Phyrexian Altar. Thats 1 card from each color, +
an artifact. And there are TONS more from each
color aswell. So you have another way to kill a
creature? So what. You can also use it to stop
blockers, or stop them from swinging, when you
don't draw the sac. spell needed. Even without
its helpers it has uses.
Limited - In OTJ
limited, there was only a few ways to deal with
an Iridiscent Angel. Edict.. Blood.. And
Chamber. Chamber enchants the land, and gives it
the ability. Angel doesn't have Pro Land, so its
the only sure way to stop the Angel for whoevers
combat phase it needs stopping for. Chamber is
also an okay way for slower decks to get built
up before having to lay everything out.
Constructed - 1.5
Casual - 3.0
Limited - 2.5
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