All the copies of True Believer that I own say
“you cannot be the target of spells or
abilities.” By the way, I got a fortune cookie
once that said the same thing! Nowadays, the
text of True Believer says “you have Shroud”. I
can just imagine that AOL voice announcing that
I have Shroud the same way it announces that I
have mail. Jokes aside, True Believer is a good
card for constructed white weenie decks and
there really wasn’t anything wrong with him for
sealed deck or booster draft either, except that
as a rare, you didn’t see him very often. In
constructed, he appears in deck lists most often
in the sideboard, where he can come in against
opponents who play effects targeting you.
It seems like this should be a decent defense
against burn spells, right? Not so much-- they
just target the Believer instead of you. It's
nothing but a speed bump there. The next thing
to think about is discard spells that target a
player. But dedicated discard decks can usually
force this out of your hand before you can drop
it, and less dedicated decks can usually kill
the Believer. Ironically, being a creature makes
it worse than Ivory Mask, as opposed to Ronom
Unicorn, which is better for being a creature.
Constructed- 2.5
Casual- 3
Limited- 2
Aethereal
Thursday - True Believer
Ivory Mask on legs. I would play Ivory Mask over
this if it was legal, because it is much harder
to get off the board. Unfortunately, Ivory Mask
wasn't reprinted in Tenth, so you'll have to use
this. However, I probably wouldn't bother unless
some kind of wicked combo deck emerges. You
could play it in white weenie, but there are
better card choices for that.
However, this guy is more useful than Ivory Mask
in limited. He's a
2/2 for 2, and the effect may come in handy, but
it's still not a top pick by any means.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 2
Limited - 2.5
David Fanany
Player since
1995
True Believer
True Believer isn't quite like Ivory Mask -
creatures are probably the easiest type of
permanent to get rid of, whereas enchantments
may be the hardest. It's a little more fair on
the red decks, though, and I'm a big advocate of
the "all colors should be equally powerful" and
"no one card should shut down a whole color."
It's seen play in older formats against storm
combo decks, as it demands to be removed before
they can go off. It may yet see play again in
Standard, if Perilous Storm or a similar deck
re-emerges.
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 2/5
Arcane
True Believer
Constructed: As I said yesterday most players
love creatures that double with effects because
it can provide you with an on field presence
that can swing at your opponent while doing its
thing. True Believer though (for me at least)
fall into an exception to the rule, where I
would much rather play the alternative and not
have a body. True Believer provides you with the
same effect as Ivory Mask, shielding you from
pesky burn spells or whatever your opponent
might want to throw at your head. Ivory Mask
does this well as both Red Fireballs and Black
Consume Spirits will stare at it with a shaking
fist and do nothing in their owner’s hand. True
Believer on the other hand sits right out in the
crosshairs of black and red decks with a blatant
target that says kill me with pretty much every
piece of removal you have at your disposal. A
2/2 body is not nearly as good as an enchantment
(that are nigh-impossible for Black or Red Mages
to deal with). I’m even willing to pay the extra
mana to get Imperial mask in the current
standard just because of the push that Lorwyn is
making on creatures thus putting all decks into
a creature killing mindset. I’d rather have a
five mana enchantment that thumbs its nose at
Shriekmaw, than a small 2/2 that dies saying
“sorry I didn’t do my job.”
Casual: Again, stick to the enchantment. More
players means more removal and creatures are a
commodity that do not really stay in play for
that long. Enchantments on the other hand are
much harder to deal with and players usually
have less answers to them in their deck. 2/2s
are usually horribly underpowered in this kind
of setting unless you’re trying to do a quick
overrun with cheap aggro creatures which is
usually better done in Elves or Goblins as they
have the staying power to recover from wrath
effects.
Limited: Unless you see a great deal of discard
effects of maybe a big flashy X spell from your
opponent in game one I would leave him in the
board. The disadvantage to any WW creature is
that they want to come down as soon as possible,
which while easy in constructed decks with fine
tuned mana bases and money lands can do, is much
harder in limited when you have 2-3 colors. The
body isn’t going to be very impressive losing to
or, at best, trading with our opponent’s average
creature. I’m very unimpressed with the card,
but I might be in the minority here.
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 1
Necro
nomikron
MTG Rules Advisor
True Believer:
Very solid card again. White weeny that doesn't
intend to cast spells on the player running the
deck can even pack this guy in the mainboard.
Very solid against any deck running burn.
Very good in the mirror match if running a Boros
deck.
In casual/multi, this guy is pretty decent. He
keeps your opponents from directly burning you,
and creates a situation where someone has to
take this guy out first before turning on you.
In limited, this is a bear, for the most part.
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 2.5/5
PsychoAnime
#1
Magic Noob in Canada since 2002
True Believer
There's very little that targets players right
now so it's definitely not very useful. It's
also not a very supported tribe right now.
There's better stuff to put in the sideboard
too. It's decently efficient though so it could
play a big role later on. For example, if
Dragonstorm for some reason gets revived,
playing this out will save you for that turn.
In casual, it's pretty much the same.
In limited, it has a heavy white requirement.
Not the best, especially white in Tenth edition
isn't that strong.
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 2/5
Meb9000
True Believer
Here is a card that I am quite glad was
reprinted in Tenth Edition. True Believer
originally came to us in Onslaught Block, but
has made a timely reappearance. Not to mention,
it is just cool to see the text, "You have
Shroud" lol.
True Believer is at is best in a meta full of
Burn or Discard decks, which fortunately seems
to be the case right now, with Tarmorack and
various RG or B/R burn decks running rampant.
True Believer just says no to them until it is
dealt with. I'd say this card is best as a
sidedeck choice, and it has the most potential
in a U/W/x Fish build.
Constructed: 4/5
Limited: 2/5
Swordmaster13
Thursday's
card is True Believer, a card reprinted in
Tenth. Clerics themselves are all about making
themselves really hard to kill, True Believer
makes you hard to target with spells or
abilities. The Believer itself is fragile, but
I've played a guy who built the most irritating
Cleric deck known to man and Believer could've
saved him from some pretty nasty things that he
couldn't prevent like Life Drain(I ran a Bleeder
Style Green/Black spirit deck when Kamigawa was
legal). True Believer puts a bulls-eye on
itself but makes you pretty hard to kill while
it's around.
