Today's card of the day is Agent of the Fates
which is a three mana Black 3/2 with Deathtouch
and the Heroic effect of making each opponent
sacrifice a creature whenever you cast a spell
that targets Agent. This is a great card for a
mono-Black sacrifice build, or many other Black
or primarily Black designs as a source of both
repeatable removal and a decent threat in
combat. As a clear target for auras and combat
tricks this is difficult for an opponent to
block and deals high damage for the cost when
unblocked. The double Black forces the deck to
favor Black, but there are enough options in
that color to make a viable and competitive
deck. Overall this is a powerful card that is a
threat on multiple levels and will see play
across formats, particularly Multiplayer as it
impacts each opponent, and likely reach the
higher tiers of Standard as well.
In Limited this is a major threat and easy
first pick in Booster even with the double Black
in the cost. Easily triggered repeatable removal
is a game winning arrangement and even without
that this is a three mana 3/2 with Deathtouch
which is aggressive, particularly for the color.
With even moderate support, easily obtainable in
the format, this can either directly win games
or at least pave the way for victory. In Sealed
it can be more difficult to field mono-Black,
but another color with beneficial effects should
be present.
I’ve done some experimenting with this Master
of Fates. Yes, I know his name is Agent of
Fates. I accidentally called him Master of Fates
one day and it stuck in my head. 007 Agent of
Fates can be a deadly weapon against midrange
players that rely on one or two tanks to win. I
have yet to play with him in multiplayer, but
I’m sure that Agent of Fates would sting the
board. The very first time that I read this card
at the Theros Pre-Release, I popped a hofty.
Agent of Fates walked up and said, “Protect me
and I will Protect you.” How could I ignore this
powerful offer? He is a human after all and so
am I. But, he has Deathtouch, so I did not shake
his hand after agreeing to build a Standard
deck. (corny joke time) Now, since Halloween is
this week I will run Agent of Fates at FNM. It
will be the 1st time in a tourney, so it will be
fun to see how Agent of Fates stacks up against
the bomb filled world of Standard play.
The cynic in me looks at this card's heroic
ability and says it's pretty unlikely that
you'll trigger it more than about once a game.
The rest of me, however, thinks that doing so
even once could very well swing a game in your
favor - and if it's an aura or some other spell
that improves the Agent's survivability or even
saves it from a kill spell or combat, you're
even further ahead. I think this is a card well
worth experimenting with.
