It's Dark Confidant from Ravnica block, in
enchantment form! M2011 is sure giving us plenty
of cards that are great in monoblack aggro!
While I'd rather just have Phrexian Arena back,
this is a potent effect thanks to the fact that
the average deck, even with a low mana curve, is
roughly 40% lands (give or take). And it's not
hard to build a deck where the average spell has
a CMC of roughly two. Black Knight is in M2011,
right? And we've still got all those Vampires
from Zendikar block! Most black kill spells
don't cost that much mana. I smell an archetype!
I won't bore anyone on this card, as pretty much
everyone on the entire internet has been over
which old cards Dark Tutelage does or doesn't
resemble, and everyone has given an opinion on
which decks do or do not have space for this. On
a fundamental level, it's pretty easy to assess
- losing life to draw extra cards has always
been a good deal, and always will.
Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Dark
Tutelage
Welcome back readers and today's card of the day
is an enchantment version of everyone's favorite
black creature, Dark Confident aka Bob. The
ability to draw any number of extra cards can
not be underestimated. In Standard I can picture
a full play set of this card being put into a
mono black deck and it may see play at the top
tables, if mono black is to be revived this card
will play a key part in it. In Extended Dark
Confident is better as you can swing and get
some damage through or in desperate situations
block to kill it off if your life total is too
low, Dark Tutelage does not have this benefit
and can eventually kill you. It may see play in
creatureless black decks but Phyrexian Arena may
be a better choice. In casual and multiplayer
this card can kill you before giving you enough
fuel to finish opponents off and is hard to
remove I would stay away. In limited if your in
black the card advantage can put you ahead of
your opponents a worthwhile pick. Overall an
interesting addition to black flavorful and
powerful just how Black Mages like it.
Today's card of the day is Dark Tutelage which
is an enchantment version of Dark Confidant from
Ravnica. For one more mana and not being a
2/1 creature you get the same effect at the
beginning of your upkeep you reveal the top card
of your library, add it to your hand, and lose
life equal to the converted mana cost.
This is a great advantage for land or low cost
cards, but for anything big it can cost you the
game as can the inability to turn off the effect
or sacrifice the creature like the previous
version. Even with those drawbacks this is
still a good card that will likely see some
play, but in carefully constructed decks that
take advantage of the balancing act this
benefits from.
F or Limited this is a risky gambit that can pay
off quite well in a Blue and Black deck with
Library manipulation to keep the higher cost
cards from the top slot. Otherwise loading
up the deck with high cost creatures can make
playing this unwise. A difficult first
choice in Booster as it encourages a speedy
offense with lots of low cost Black and Blue
cards and removing or disrupting anything the
opponent tries to establish. Not a bad
strategy with or without Dark Tutelage, but one
that certainly benefits from the replenishment
of cards this can offer.
Keep an eye out for Child of Night as a high
priority to draft as it not only fits the early
offensive role, but can help build or replenish
life paid for Dark Tutelage. In Sealed if
you have the lower cost pool in any two colors
to support a fast game it may be worth trying
this, but if the rest your best cards seem to be
three mana or higher this may be best left in
the sidedeck.
