Painter’s Servant – Shadowmoor
Date Reviewed: October 31, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.13
Casual: 3.25
Limited: 2.13
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander [EDH]: 3.63
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Painter’s Servant is such an innocent-looking card; maybe not the art, but certainly the game text. It even feels like it “does nothing”, in the Null Rod sense or otherwise. Yet just as many of Shadowmoor’s threats are things you don’t see, the real danger from a card like this comes from unseen interactions. People immediately began searching the archives for cards that cared about color, and it turns out that those become a lot stronger when you can paint the world for the low cost of two mana. Cards like Light of Day and Compost never needed much help, but this card gave them even more of a boost regardless – and then you have the biggest beneficiary, Grindstone. That is a win-on-activation combo, and Legacy and Vintage were never the same again. Of course, it also turns out there are plenty of less cutthroat interactions too, and that fact makes Painter’s Servant into a real multi-purpose all-star (assuming your casual group doesn’t mistake it for a Grindstone or Light of Day combo and make you the Archenemy!).
On a non-gameplay note, its flavor text is curiously optimistic for the Shadowmoor set. I think we all need to read things like that now and then, because they remind us of a home truth; perhaps the kithkin equivalent of the proverb about lighting a candle instead of cursing the darkness. I feel like a lot of Magic players need to think more in those terms right now in particular.
Happy Halloween!
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 2
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.5 (I still think it’s funny how much Magic’s premier casual format relies on unstoppable infinite combos, but since it does, you need ones that are efficient)
Simple and sweet for Halloween, Painter’s Servant fits the bill by both being a thematic inclusion (scarecrows have some Halloween association) and by bring horrifying. On its own, it’s nothing too special, and the color-changing ability feels like a gimmick…but cards rarely exist in a vacuum, and that certainly is true for the instant-kill combo with Grindstone. A two-card combo that can kill as early as turn three ((if not sooner with a bit of help) definitely is terrifying alone, and it’s ensured Painter’s Servant has been among the most-played Scarecrows of all time.
That said, while Grindstone is its main weapon, there are other uses for it, especially if things care about particular colors (like various free “pitch spells”) and evasive abilities like intimidate and fear. Both of these are leas of a major attraction…but they do exist, and while the Painter’s Servant/Grindstone combo is this card’s most efficacious trick, it can still serve a fairer deck’s purposes with the right tools.
Constructed: 4.25 (the Grindstone combo has long been a threat in Legacy (and Vintage), and I doubt that will change anytime soon)
Casual: 3
Limited: 2.25 (Shadowmoor had some color shenanigans, but not enough to justify this little toy, and it was even less useful when it showed up in Kaladesh Limited as a Masterpiece)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.75 (the combo only kills one at a time, and the color-changing can backfire…but it does kill one at a time, and that counts for a bit)
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