Augur of Bolas MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Augur of Bolas excels in filtering through your deck to find key spells. Upon entering the battlefield, its ability to look at the top three cards of your library and reveal an instant or sorcery card among them to add to your hand can significantly increase your strategic options and sustain your hand’s strength throughout the duel.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly increasing mana, the selection process from Augur of Bolas can expediently dig for the needed spells to efficiently manage your resources. By ensuring that your draw is more impactful, you effectively accelerate your game plan.

Instant Speed: This creature’s ability to synergize with instant and sorcery spells makes it a formidable force in decks built around these card types. The power to reveal and cast spells at instant speed in response to game conditions gives you a tactical edge, enhancing the overall responsiveness and flexibility of your plays.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Augur of Bolas doesn’t force a player to discard outright, the act of looking at the top three cards and having to reveal a sorcery or instant can have a similar filtering effect on one’s hand. Cards that don’t match the criteria essentially become ignored resources which may not be optimal for your strategy during gameplay.

Specific Mana Cost: The requirement of one blue and one generic mana can be a hitch for multicolored decks. This means Augur of Bolas fits primarily in blue-based or two-color decks, potentially restricting its utility in a broader range of deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing two mana might not seem too steep at first glance, but when considering its light stat line and the specificity of its reveal effect, it can be seen as a bit steep for what is primarily a deck-filtering creature. Other cards in this cost bracket may offer more impactful board presence or immediate card advantage without the conditional reveal.

Reasons to Include Augur of Bolas in Your Collection

Versatility: Augur of Bolas is a dual-purpose card that serves both as an early game defender and a card filtering tool. It’s a perfect fit for control decks and can adapt to various game plans.

Combo Potential: With the ability to dig for an instant or sorcery, Augur of Bolas synergizes well in decks that revolve around spell-based combos, enhancing the consistency of pulling off game-winning moves.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta dominated by spell-heavy decks, Augur of Bolas offers value by helping to sculpt your hand with relevant reactive or proactive spells to navigate through the game effectively.

How to Beat Augur of Bolas

Augur of Bolas offers MTG players a unique blend of creature utility and card selection that can dictate the flow of a game in its early stages. This merfolk wizard does its work upon entering the battlefield, letting you peek into your library’s top three cards to reveal an instant or sorcery card and add it to your hand. But how do you gain the upper hand against such a card that bolsters your opponent’s strategic options?

Firstly, since Augur of Bolas requires a successful cast to trigger its ability, counterspells are a straightforward answer to prevent the ability from ever occurring. Force of Will and Mana Leak stand as reliable counters to keep Augur of Bolas at bay. Alternatively, since Augur of Bolas digs for non-creature spells, shifting the balance towards creature-heavy strategies can underwhelm its effectiveness. Creatures with enter-the-battlefield effects that remove creatures, like Shriekmaw or Flametongue Kavu, can also handle the pesky wizard while developing your board state. Lastly, graveyard interaction through cards like Scavenging Ooze can disrupt the synergy of spells Augur of Bolas might be digging for, reducing its impact on the game.

Thus, understanding and preparing for the scenarios that give Augur of Bolas its strength will guide you to craft a strategy that neutralizes its advantages and propels you to victory.

BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering the battlefield in MTG goes beyond sheer power; it’s about the subtle art of card advantage and strategy. Augur of Bolas is a classic tool that sharpens this skill, sifting through your deck to bring essential spells to hand. Great for control decks and spell-heavy strategies, assessing and integrating cards like Augur of Bolas into your collection can significantly enhance your gameplay. Care to dive deeper into the intricacies of deck building and game tactics? We’ve got a trove of insights and tips to boost your performance in every match. Discover more and refine your MTG expertise with us.