Well, there's one way to answer a Blightsteel
Colossus! Artifacts, due to their colorlessness,
have a way of showing up in a surprising range
of decks. Practically everybody will have a
target for Master Thief's ability, even if it's
just a Manalith.
But do you really want to run a 2/2 with no
combat abilities for four mana just to steal a
Manalith? For that same mana you could have a
Solemn Simulacrum, which is just as good in
combat and at mana acceleration, but it also
thins your deck and gives you a card. And if you
use Master Thief to steal your opponent's
Simulacrum, which is likely to be what they've
got to steal, then you don't get the land it
gives you, and you likely won't get the card
draw either, since your opponent can kill the
Thief and get the Simulacrum back as easily as
he can kill the Simulacrum. So really I'd only
play Master Thief if I was fairly certain that
my opponent would have something a good bit more
threatening than a Solemn Simulacrum or a
Manalith for me to steal. Master Thief makes a
good sideboard play, especially since Scars of
Mirrodin is currently in Standard, but
maindecking it is a stretch.
To me, this card looks more like Aladdin than
the original Aladdin did. The repeatability may
be missing, and he looks fragile - but then
again, so did Sower of Temptation, and
everyone's seen what that card can do. The cost
is efficient and the kind of deck it damages
most ("2UU, take your Darksteel Colossus") may
not necessarily have a Doom Blade on hand.
There's not much not to like about this card.
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day is
Master Thief an interesting steal artifact
effect on a 2/2 rogue body. In standard this
card is highly situational but it can steal
Spellskites all day long. In modern and eternal
formats I don’t see this card making much of an
impact the fact it is a rogue could be relevant
but decks that could use this would most likely
rather use a Thada a legendary merfolk who can
steal artifacts forever but you have to pay the
mana cost. I see this is a possible sideboard
card in standard but nothing exceptional. In
modern and eternal formats there are even more
options available making this a poor choice
indeed. In casual and multiplayer this is pretty
bad you could use Confiscate or Volition Reins
and steal anything and you don’t have to worry
about those cards getting shocked. In limited
this is an ok body that can steal equipments or
in the worst case scenario a Manalith or
something similar. Overall a card that is
severely outclassed but is still flavorful and
solid although not necessarily competitively.
Today's card of the day is Master Thief which
is a four mana Blue 2/2 that gives you control
of a target artifact for as long as you control
Master Thief. Aside from requiring an opponent
to be playing an artifact to make this
worthwhile this is a solid card as you get a
temporary three for one advantage. The Thief
itself is vulnerable to removal, but Blue can
protect it with countermagic or possibly the
artifact itself may provide Shroud or Hexproof.
If combined with some sort of sacrifice engine
that can respond to any removal effort the
concern of the artifact returning to the
opponent is removed and there is little downside
to playing this against someone using artifacts.
Overall a good choice for Blue decks with proper
support or in environments, like Multiplayer,
where artifacts are sure to be available.
In Limited the pool of artifacts is fairly
small and the likelihood of having this and an
opponent's artifact in play at the same time may
not be high. Even with that stealing a card from
an opponent is a strong advantage and gives this
value even if the effect isn't guaranteed. In
Sealed a Blue deck should run this if feasible
with both mana sources and mana curve and in
Booster it can be drafted early as a gamble if
the pack is weak, but can be passed over if a
more versatile removal or secondary bomb is
available.
