Fleshformer – MTG Card Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

It’s the spookiest week of the year, so let’s get scary! The thing I like about Fleshformer’s art is that it looks at first glance like your standard “wizard hanging out in a laboratory” illustration, and then you notice that mass of . . . well, something that she’s doing . . . well, something with, and you start getting flashbacks to fighting fleshwarped drow creations in Dungeons and Dragons, and generally feeling a sudden urge to be in a different room.

Conflux has a five-color theme, as illustrated most clearly by its use of the domain ability, which was the reason for Fleshformer’s ability having such a specific activation cost. That also makes it somewhat restrictive in any setting. The ability to get +2/+2 and fear at will is powerful, in the abstract, and the ability to weaken or remove opponents’ creatures at will is perhaps even more powerful, in the abstract. But the cost means that few decks will be able to take full advantage of it, in either constructed or limited. It’s worth noting that there are more tools to get one mana of each color in casual play than there used to be – ranging from Guilds of Ravnica‘s Chromatic Lantern to Journey into Nyx‘s Mana Confluence to Amonkhet‘s Cascading Cataracts – so a fun theme deck is not out of the question.

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 2/5
EDH/Commander: 2/5

In honor of Halloween this week (Wednesday!), we’re looking at some vaguely spooky cards, be it in art or execution. Unfortunately, not all of them will be stars, but who cares?

Fleshformer has the issue of an overcosted body and ability. While repeated removal attached to an evasive body is nice, 5 mana is a steep ask, and Conflux has erratic mana fixing that makes it a hard card to use in draft. The payoff can be nice, but it’s hard to get through the hoops, especially since you can only use Fleshformer’s ability on your turn.

Constructed: 1.25
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 2.25
Multiplayer: 1.5
Commander: 1.75