Merchant Ship MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Human
Released	1993-12-17
Set symbol
Set name	Arabian Nights
Set code	ARN
Power	0
Toughness	2
Number	17
Frame	1993
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Tom Wänerstrand

Key Takeaways

Merchant Ship’s card advantage provides players consistent strategic options for deck maneuvering.
Its ability to offer resource acceleration without extra mana is a subtle game leverage.
Deck specificity and other options may affect Merchant Ship’s inclusion in some strategies.

Text of card

If Merchant Ship attacks and is not blocked, you gain 2 life. Merchant Ship cannot attack unless opponent has islands in play. Merchant Ship is destroyed immediately if at any time you have no islands in play.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Unique among naval-themed cards, Merchant Ship has the potential to provide substantial card advantage over time. Its ability to draw you an extra card each turn if it successfully deals damage to your opponent can be a consistent source of new options, keeping your hand replenished for the strategic play ahead.

Resource Acceleration: Merchant Ship can act as a form of resource acceleration, as it generates additional benefits without the need for mana investment each turn. Once on the field and attacking successfully, the card can, in a sense, “pay for itself”, leaving your mana resources free to deploy other threats or answers.

Instant Speed: Though not an instant itself, Merchant Ship can synergize well with cards that operate at instant speed. By keeping up the threat of drawing cards, opponents must be wary of their defenses, potentially leaving them open to instant speed interactions and tricks to ensure Merchant Ship delivers its cargo and lucrative card draw.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Merchant Ship necessitates a discard to activate certain abilities. Depleting your hand could be detrimental, especially if you’re banking on building a substantial presence on the board.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s activation cost is exclusively blue mana. This specificity can pose deckbuilding challenges, limiting it to blue-centric or blue-inclusive decks, potentially reducing its versatility across various deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that is somewhat steep for its effect, Merchant Ship competes with other cards that might provide superior value or impact for the same or lower cost. This could deter players from including it in their deck in favor of more cost-effective options.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Merchant Ship fits into a variety of blue-based strategies, serving as a reliable source of life gain in decks that may otherwise lack such options.

Combo Potential: This card’s ability to repeatedly gain life with no mana investment can be exploited in combination with cards that benefit from life gain or use life as a resource.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where aggro decks are prevalent, having Merchant Ship can provide a consistent life buffer, making it a practical inclusion in your toolbox.

How to beat Merchant Ship

Merchant Ship, a reserve list card in Magic: The Gathering, presents an unusual tactic with its ability to produce life points during the upkeep as long as no creatures are blocking its path. Although its 0/2 stats may not appear intimidating, its inherent value lies in its consistent life gain, often flying under the radar and providing its controller with an advantage over the course of a match.

Neutralizing Merchant Ship efficiently involves understanding that its power is directly linked to the absence of blockers. Introducing creatures with flying or those that can’t be blocked can restrict the Ship’s effectiveness. Additionally, employing removal spells allows you to navigate around its passive life gain buff, ensuring that the ship’s journey comes to an abrupt halt. Cards like Path to Exile or Fatal Push, provide a straightforward solution to the Ship’s deceptively simple but potentially advantageous mechanic.

To summarize, defeating Merchant Ship requires a mix of unblockable creatures or a robust suite of removal spells. By recognizing and disrupting its capabilities, players can mitigate its long-term presence and eliminate the incremental life gains that could otherwise steer their opponent towards victory.

Cards like Merchant Ship

When exploring the unique aspects of Merchant Ship, a rare card from Magic: The Gathering’s early sets, it becomes clear how this card set sails apart from others in its class. Merchant Ship can be seen navigating in similar waters as Armada Wurm or Callow Jushi, which also have a relationship with thematic sea-faring or trade elements prevalent in their design. Armada Wurm brings a significant presence to the board with its worm tokens, while Merchant Ship offers a life-gaining feature that’s more subtle but can be just as valuable in the long run, especially in formats where life gain is strategic.

Considering Ith, High Arcanist or Rishadan Cutpurse, which delve into the control aspect of gameplay, Merchant Ship’s utility takes a different route. It doesn’t control or pose an immediate board threat; instead, it highlights endurance and incremental advantage through its ability to gain life during the upkeep, assuming it attacked and wasn’t blocked. It’s a gentle reminder of MTG’s vast exploratory design space, where even a humble card like Merchant Ship can find its place under the sun, or rather, across the tides of enchantment and strategy.

Despite its narrower path to utility compared to its flashy counterparts, Merchant Ship provides a noteworthy addition with its unique ability to affect life totals. This creates opportunities for players to brew around and capitalize on this unassuming but potentially game-altering vessel.

Cards similar to Merchant Ship by color, type and mana cost

Merfolk of the Pearl Trident - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Merchant Ship MTG card by a specific set like Arabian Nights, 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 Merchant Ship and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Merchant Ship has restrictions

Format	Legality
Oldschool	Legal
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Merchant Ship card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2013-04-15	An ability that triggers when something “attacks and isn’t blocked” triggers in the declare blockers step after blockers are declared if (1) that creature is attacking and (2) no creatures are declared to block it. It will trigger even if that creature was put onto the battlefield attacking rather than having been declared as an attacker in the declare attackers step.