A-Tome Shredder MTG Card

A-Tome Shredder - Strixhaven: School of Mages

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Wolf
Abilities	Haste
Released	2021-04-23
Set symbol
Set name	Strixhaven: School of Mages
Set code	STX
Power	2
Toughness	1
Number	A-117
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Sam Rowan

Key Takeaways

A-Tome Shredder disrupts opponents’ plans while bolstering your card advantage through graveyard control.
Instant speed activation of A-Tome Shredder adds depth, requiring strategic play timing for maximum effect.
The card’s discard requirement for drawing means careful choice management to avoid losing key resources.

Text of card

Haste , Exile an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard: Put a +1/+1 counter on Tome Shredder.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: A-Tome Shredder offers a recurring way to grow your own card advantage by gradually exiling cards from your opponent’s graveyard. With each activation, you can potentially disrupt their plans while filtering through your deck to find the answers you need.

Resource Acceleration: By exiling instants and sorceries using this card’s ability, you unlock an additional payoff. Not only does this disrupt your opponent’s graveyard strategies, but it also can hasten your own game plan by letting you cast spells from your graveyard, generating a form of resource acceleration that’s difficult to replicate.

Instant Speed: The ability to use A-Tome Shredder at instant speed adds a layer of strategic depth. It allows players to wait until the most opportune moment to activate its ability, keeping up the element of surprise and making it more challenging for opponents to predict and play around your moves.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: A-Tome Shredder comes with an intrinsic downside. To harness its card-drawing ability, players must discard a card. During play, this can create a significant setback, especially when you are already struggling to maintain card advantage over your opponent. Choosing which card to discard requires strategic thinking and may result in losing a potentially game-changing resource.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost of A-Tome Shredder involves both colorless as well as specific colored mana, which necessitates a certain mana base. This can restrict the card’s inclusion primarily to decks that align with its mana requirements, potentially limiting its versatility across various deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that is on the higher side for its effects, A-Tome Shredder might not be the most mana-efficient choice within its category. Other cards may offer similar or better effects for a lower cost, making A-Tome Shredder a less appealing option compared to other cards you could play at the same stage of the game.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: A-Tome Shredder offers a strategic advantage in decks focusing on graveyard manipulation or requiring consistent self-mill. Its ability to mill a card every turn makes it a great fit for a range of strategies, particularly in delve or threshold decks.

Combo Potential: This card has synergy with spells that benefit from having a high card count in the graveyard. It can combine with other cards that tap or untap permanents to create a chain of actions, leading to significant strategic gains.

Meta-Relevance: As graveyard-based strategies often emerge in various metas, including A-Tome Shredder in your collection ensures you have a key piece that’s relevant in multiple game environments. It’s adept at disrupting opponent strategies that rely on graveyard recursion, providing a subtle yet impactful edge.

How to beat

A-Tome Shredder introduces a strategic layer in MTG, capitalizing on graveyard interactions and Lore counters. This artifact creature can be a real nuisance since it gradually exiles an opponent’s library, potentially removing key spells from their game. However, like any potent card, it has its vulnerabilities.

One effective tactic to counter A-Tome Shredder is utilizing enchantment destruction or targeted artifact removal cards. Swift responses such as Naturalize or Shatter can be used to dismantle the Shredder before it gains too many Lore counters. Additionally, since A-Tome Shredder’s ability is not instant-speed, managing your removal spells to play them when your opponent is tapped out, or during your turn right before the Shredder’s ability can be activated, ensures its removal. Also, consider cards that grant hexproof or shroud to your library to shield it from targeted exile effects.

Countering A-Tome Shredder requires foresight and prompt action. With a well-timed removal or shielding strategy, you can minimize the impact of this card, maintaining control over the match’s flow and preserving your library’s integrity against its relentless milling.

Cards like A-Tome Shredder

A-Tome Shredder has stirred interest among players for its unique place in the array of library manipulation options available in Magic: The Gathering. This card is reminiscent of Thraben Inspector, providing additional utility beyond the immediate draw effect. A-Tome Shredder allows the player to get rid of unwanted cards from the top of their library, setting up potential graveyard strategies. It diverges from Thraben Inspector by putting more emphasis on the long game, where accumulating lore counters can lead to significant card advantage over time.

Another analogue to consider is Dusk Legion Zealot. Though both cards offer card advantage, A-Tome Shredder gives repeated value, a contrast to Dusk Legion Zealot’s one-time effect and loss of life. Moreover, the self-mill strategy that A-Tome Shredder can support opens the door to synergistic deck builds that are not as easily achievable with a simple draw effect.

Examining the strategic depth and deck-building implications, A-Tome Shredder stands out amongst its peers for those strategies involving graveyard play and the long-term accrual of card advantage, marking its place in Magic: The Gathering as a versatile component in any player’s arsenal.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase A-Tome Shredder MTG card by a specific set like Strixhaven: School of Mages, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the A-Tome Shredder and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where A-Tome Shredder has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal