A 5/5 flyer for six mana is a good deal. But of
course, Thopter Assembly isn't really a 5/5 for
six mana, it's five 1/1 flyers for six mana.
Your opponent really needs to not let you untap
with this in play, because then you're going to
have a small army of flyers that one kill spell
can't cope with. Meanwhile, the original
Assembly comes back in your hand, ready to be
re-cast if the tokens die, or if they don't and
you want a 5/5 flyer to go alongside your 1/1's.
If your opponent doesn't have the kill spell in
that one-turn window, Thopter Assembly can keep
spawning Thopter tokens, one batch at a time. Of
course, that's only if there are no other
Thopters out. If there are, then... you get a
5/5 flyer. Either way, well worth six mana. To
say nothing of the fact that this is one of the
few cards that can give you metalcraft all by
itself (Myr Turbine and Myr Battlesphere being
others).
I wonder why now is the time we see Thopter-related
cards that just get the heck out of hand.
Thopter Foundry from Alara Reborn was nuts in
any setting, and the Assembly has lots of
potential too. Add anything that triggers when a
creature or artifact comes into play, or
anything that wants you to sacrifice creatures
or artifacts, and you're in business. What to do
at the end of it all I leave to you, but you get
maximum points if you say "Thopters . . .
assemble!" in a deep, booming voice as you do
it.
Today's card of the day is Thopter Assembly
which is a six mana 5/5 with Flying that
produces five 1/1 Flying tokens if you control
no other thopters. The slow speed of this
makes it somewhat defensive in nature with the
cost, upkeep activation, and lack of haste which
may keep it out of most Constructed decks.
Going beyond that it is an efficient two turn
six mana source of five 1/1 Flying tokens that
can be a serious annoyance with any kind of
support or sacrifice engine. If played in
the right deck this certainly has potential and
could become a surprise threat in artifact
builds going forward.
In Limited this can stall out Infect before
turning into tokens and returning to play which
makes it an easy first choice in Booster and
inclusion for any Sealed build. Flying is
always strong in the format and there is no real
drawback to Thopter Assembly to be seen.
Welcome to another card of the day here
at pojo.com. Today’s card is the Thopter
Assembly from Mirrodin Besieged. This amazing
artifact costs only six mana for a 5/5 flier.
That sounds like a rough bargain, but then the
Assembly has a special ability that makes it
well worth the mana spent. At the beginning of
your turn, if Thopter Assembly is the only
Thopter you control, return it to your hand and
put five 1/1 Thopter creature tokens with flying
into play.
Now in standard, I can certainly think of
plenty of things to do with five tokens. For
starters, Mortarpod, and then of course there is
the Throne of Geth. There are just tons of
things that can be done with all these tokens.
The new Battle Cry ability would certainly
benefit from an instant army.
But it is as is usually the case, that
vintage has itself another winner. There is a
combo so devastating I think it may get one of
the cards involved either restricted or banned.
Combo this with Time Sieve, and it might as well
be the swan song for your opponent. At the start
of your turn, you return the Thopter Assembly to
your hand, and then get the tokens. You then
sacrifice the tokens to the Sieve, and recast
the Thopter Asembly. And the process repeats at
the start of each of your turns. Eventually, you
will have enough extra mana to cast the spells
needed to end your opponent, or pull the one
card you need to end the game, or just build up
enough of an army that you swamp your opponent
out right. Either way, the game is over once the
engine gets rolling. And yet of course the other
honorable mention whenever dealing with a token
producer is of course Doubling Season. With
Doubling Season in play the first time the
Thopter Assembly bounces it earns you
TEN thopters. Has Coat of Arms
written all over that, doesn’t it? At that
point, drop a little ol’ Ornithopter for a
10/12, and then each of the tokens themselves
would be 11/11’s. I smell a new deck brewing,
don’t you?
