Steamflogger Boss – MTG COTD – Throwback Thursday

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

It’s taken ten long years, but we finally know what this guy’s team/s are building. And the answer, apparently, is pretty much anything you want. Since the Contraption deck as introduced by Unstable contains no duplicates, it’s apparently not the true doubling effect suggested by the Boss’ first appearance; still, one Contraption by itself causes crazy things to happen, and even one or two turns of getting two for the price of one puts you very far ahead. I’d say that Steamflogger Boss is kind of like the silver-bordered world’s answer to Dark Confidant in that regard, and getting yours to stick in the Contraption mirror match is key, but the considerations are rather different. The stakes are nowhere near as high and Contraptions are more about silliness than greatness (though both have people who pursue them at any cost). 

Casual: 5/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

King Of
Hearts

Steamflogger Boss has quite the interesting story. Originally printed in Future Sight as a joke, players have been demanding Contraptions ever since. MaRo said that he wouldn’t retire until he found a way to put them in a set, and that is pretty much how Unstable came to be.

A bit expensive for a “true” lord, Steamflogger Boss gives riggers +1/+0 and haste, and goblins love haste. The second ability is the reason to play him though. Being able to double the effectiveness of riggers makes Steamflogger Boss a must in any contraption deck. This card combined with Steamflogger of the Month is ridiculous. Again, four mana seems a bit slow as you will probably have a few riggers out already. I suppose there’s no real sense in complaining about a card that’s been around longer than I have been playing the game though.

Constructed:1
Limited: 4
Casual: 4
Multiplayer: 3
Commander (EDH): 2

The great irony: Steamflogger Boss, the biggest meme of Future Sight, came from the future of a silver-bordered set. Or so it goes. It’s somehow fitting that the original Rigger that started the Contraption craze gets reprinted in Unstable…as the one and only black-bordered card in the set. (The lands are technically borderless; loopholes, yo.)

The effect is certainly a nice one to have: Riggers in this set tend to be fairly small creatures to compensate for Contraption creation, and making them bigger is a nice start. Giving them haste also is nice, and the real ability (Contraption assembly gets doubled) is delightful. It lets you set up your Contraption catastrophe a lot faster and more reliably, and you can parley that into utter insanity for your opposition. Steamflogger Boss finally has his home, though it’s with a lot of silver at the present.

Side note: Steamflogger Boss in Unstable replaces the basic land randomly in some packs. It’s actually a free card to you if you open it.

Constructed: 1
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander: 4.5