Magus of the Will – Double Masters MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Magus of the Will seems to have been designed purposely (and perhaps thankfully) to be less exploitable than some creatures with powerful abilities. For example, he exiles himself on use, so it’s hard to recur him, and his mana cost is in a place that usually makes it uneconomical to try and get him in your graveyard and reanimate him. Even so, for some decks, he does a decent impression of the sorcery he references. Barring some kind of haste-granting trick, you’ll be telegraphing the turn you use him to break the universe, so he might be less of a straight-up combo card than Yawgmoth’s Will. He might need discard effects or other ways to protect your own side of the table, rather than the Storm or Doomsday elements we associate with his ancestor; but that’s a reasonable strategy to use in a lot of casual and multiplayer settings. The advantage he generates is much the same, even if the journey to get there is a little different.

Constructed: 1/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5

Yawgmoth’s Will is widely and rightly considered one of the most powerful spells ever printed, and while its appearance on the Reserved List makes it hard to return, it does have a nice approximation in Magus of the Will. It’s not a perfect approximation: it’s six mana split over two turns, giving an opponent the chance to respond to it before it comes online, and it’s just a 3/3 body. But Yawgmoth’s Will is an absurd spell on its own, and a bargain version of it can enable many rude shenanigans all the same.

Constructed: 1.5 (tragically too slow for Legacy)
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.5 (a second shot of your best spells is good, and it can do some creature work if needed)
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.75