Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



This Space
For Rent

Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day
Daily Since November 2001!

Abuna Acolyte
Image from Wizards.com

Abuna Acolyte
Scars of Mirrodin

Reviewed December 6, 2010

Constructed: 1.40
Casual: 1.70
Limited: 2.60
Multiplayer: 1.50

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Abuna Acolyte

This card is basically Samite Healer, except that if the creature you want to protect happens to be an artifact creature, you can prevent an additional 1 damage. That's got to make it better, right?

Well, Samite Healer never did all that much. Sure, sometimes in Limited it could complicate combat math and vex burn spells, but it never brought anyone anywhere closer to winning. A 1/1 for two mana needs to do something impressive if it wants to see play, and this doesn't. In draft or sealed play, you might have enough artifacts and enough trouble finding enough playables to justify adding this in, and it might do something good for you, but you have to be short on good cards to consider it.

Constructed- 1.25
Casual- 1.1
Limited- 1.75
Multiplayer- 1


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Abuna Acolyte
 
Samite Healer hasn't been in core sets for a while now, but its legacy lives on. While the boosted damage prevention for artifact creatures can make life difficult for an opponent, there's not often space for this kind of effect in 60-card decks. It's worth noting, though, that if you do try it out there, you're no longer limited to just silver-framed creatures now that Esper's cards are in circulation.
 
Constructed: 1/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 1/5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Abuna Acolyte which is pretty much a strictly better Samite Healer if you ever run any artifact creatures.  The main benefit of a card like this is negating Infect or tap for damage creatures like Prodigal Pyromancer.  Even with that it is really unlikely a card like this will see much play in serious constructed deck as the effect is purely reactive.
 
For Limited the ability to counter Infect is a very nice ability and a two mana 1/1 isn't that bad when there aren't many one mana 1/1 options available.  In Sealed this is a fairly easy card to include in a White build while in Booster this may be overlooked allowing it to be drafted later than the actual usefulness it provides.
 
In Multiplayer there is an added benefit of being able to control the battlefield to your liking by keeping creatures alive.  Also, having a creature like this on the board will generally not be seen as a threat yet promote attacking some other player to deal additional damage. 
Depending on the mentality of the table it may become a target, but overall it can be both fun and effective as a stalling or control mechanism in the right situation.
 
Constructed: 2.0
Casual: 2.0
Limited: 3.0
Multiplayer: 2.5


Copyright© 1998-2010 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.