Clever Impersonator
Clever Impersonator

Clever Impersonator – Khans of Tarkir -> Spiderman 

Date Reviewed:  October 2, 2025

Ratings:
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.25
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.88

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.

Reviews Below: 



David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
Instagram

Clones can be very powerful cards – some decks are very unprepared for having their own cards turned against them, and others will run out of answers if you can duplicate your best threat. Clever Impersonator helped illustrate this principle just within its own set: Siege Rhino was, for a while, the epitome of a format-defining downside-free midrange threat. The ability to copy other types of cards doesn’t always come up, but it does open up some unique lines of play, and in particular makes it much more useful in formats like Commander. If you don’t have access yourself to iconic cards like Rhystic Study, you can get in on the fun when somebody else uses theirs, and it scales well to whatever group you’re playing with.

Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.5

Nobody has yet explained to me how this particular shapeshifter is able to impersonate a god of Theros, act so much like a Time Vault that time itself plays along, or cast Elspeth’s angel magic. Perhaps nobody can!


 James H. 

  

Clone-style effects are always a bit wild in terms of their variance, either swinging games or doing nothing of value. Clever Impersonator mitigates a bit of that by being a copy of nearly anything, not just creatures; four mana to copy a prison enchantment, a planeswalker, or another potent permanent besides will usually allow you to get some leverage, whether it’s your permanent or something else entirely. Being a creature in all zones besides does also offer some interesting angles, avenues blue usually needs help to exploit, but there’s a lot of interesting ways to leverage another copy of a potent card.

Constructed: 3 (four mana is still a bit hard to negotiate as far as Clone effects go)
Casual: 4
Limited: 3 (you do need to have the right thing to leverage…or face the thing you can benefit from)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.25 



Thijs

Coming Soon

Constructed: 
Casual: 
Limited: 
Multiplayer: 
Commander [EDH]: 


We would love more volunteers to help us with our Magic the Gathering Card of the Day reviews.  If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email.  We’d be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc.   😉

Click here to read over 5,000 more MTG Card of the Day Reviews!
Daily Since 2001.