Atemsis, All-Seeing – Core Set 2020 MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Atemsis’ name and the eye design make me think she might be from Theros, although it’s hard to tell from the background. I sometimes think it’s a little unfortunate that Magic cards are so small, as the paintings have gotten a lot more detailed and some of that gets lost sometimes.

The “story”, if you like, of Atemsis seems to be using her card-drawing ability to set up her instant-win trigger. That seems kind of unreliable, though I don’t doubt that someone will pull it off at some point. I don’t know if you want to rely on her as a card-drawing engine, as there are other options that are cheaper and/or more resilient, but it’s pretty tempting to put her in a control-minded deck and gain the possibility of just stealing a win out of nowhere.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

Atemsis is the kind of card with a lot going on. Some of it interesting! You have a 4/5 with flying that can get you some cards…and with an interesting way to make an opponent lose the game, if your hand has enough going for it. It’s interesting that Atemsis only needs to damage, not just combat damage…which opens up some interesting ways to try and sneak in direct damage to try and force the “you lose the game” trigger to happen. It’s not an incidental trigger; six cards with different converted mana costs is a steep ask.

Atemsis feels like a casual and Commander star, and it does lots of work in Limited as a result of being a 4/5 with flying. But it’s a bit too slow and ponderous for Constructed formats (especially with its fairly hefty, color-intensive mana cost). You might be able to make it work as part of a control deck, but I’m unsure of if those pieces exist or if Atemsis couldn’t just be outdone by another finisher.

Constructed: 2.25
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.25
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander: 3.75