Seer's Sundial MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 10 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeArtifact
Abilities Landfall

Key Takeaways

  1. Enhances card draw paired with land drops, crucial for maintaining hand advantage in longer games.
  2. Activation cost requires careful mana management, competing with other key four-mana plays.
  3. Artifact’s utility shines in ramp decks, offering sustained card advantage in exchange for mana.

Text of card

Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay . If you do, draw a card.

"The shadow travels toward the apex. I predict we will soon see the true measure of darkness."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Seer’s Sundial provides a consistent engine for card draw, giving you access to more cards over the course of the game. With each land drop, Seer’s Sundial lets you pay 2 mana to draw a card, thereby replenishing your hand and maintaining pressure on your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: In decks that are designed to put numerous lands onto the battlefield, Seer’s Sundial can translate into significant resource acceleration. It synergizes well with ramp strategies, ensuring that the extra lands you play fuel your progression by drawing you into more action.

Instant Speed: While Seer’s Sundial’s ability is not an instant itself, it can be activated at instant speed whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control. This flexibility allows you to best utilize your mana during opponents’ turns, keeping it open for responses and playing lands or land effects on their end step to draw cards without skipping a beat.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Seer’s Sundial doesn’t have a discard requirement but it does necessitate additional resources for activation. Each land drop demands two mana if you wish to draw a card, adding pressure to your mana pool each turn.

Specific Mana Cost: The activation cost for Seer’s Sundial is colorless, but its initial four mana to cast means it competes with other impactful cards in that mana slot, which can affect strategic deck building.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The cost of Seer’s Sundial is significantly higher when compared to other card draw engines. This can result in slower gameplay and could put you at a disadvantage against more aggressive decks.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Seer’s Sundial is a perfect fit for diverse deck builds that benefit from consistent card draw. Its ability to transform lands into potential card draw makes it a staple in land-focused strategies, ensuring you’ll almost never be card-starved.

Combo Potential: This artifact shines when combined with land ramp spells or effects that put multiple lands into play, turning what would be a simple ramp into both mana advantage and card advantage, setting you up for future turns.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where the battlefield is often in a state of flux, having a source of card draw that is difficult to interact with can be crucial. Seer’s Sundial works beautifully in a slower, more controlling environment where drawing cards over time can lead to overwhelming your opponents.


How to beat

Seer’s Sundial is a unique artifact in the world of MTG with its land-triggered card draw ability, drawing a noteworthy parallel to the popular Tireless Tracker, an iconic creature card known for its clue-generating capability upon landfall. Unlike Tireless Tracker, Seer’s Sundial doesn’t grow in power or toughness but provides consistent card draw without depending on having a creature on the battlefield.

When facing this artifact, it’s essential to evaluate its impact. Seer’s Sundial needs a steady stream of lands to maximize its card draw potential. Therefore, strategies that limit the opponent’s ability to play lands or use landfall triggers would effectively mitigate its effectiveness. One could use land destruction cards or spells that restrict land plays, such as Ghost Quarter or Aven Mindcensor, to get ahead of the Sundial’s advantage. Cards like Stony Silence can also be a hindrance since they deactivate artifacts, which Seer’s Sundial is, thus preventing its activated ability from being used to draw cards.

To summarize, Seer’s Sundial’s value hinges on a player’s ability to play lands and activate its ability. Keeping this in mind, targeting the player’s land base or the Sundial itself can be a winning strategy to reduce the card’s impact and maintain control of the game.


BurnMana Recommendations

Deepening your understanding and harnessing the full potential of MTG cards like Seer’s Sundial can transform your gameplay experience. This artifact’s land-based card draw ability is a real game-changer in decks that thrive on land placement. Enhancing your card advantage with each turn is central to outmaneuvering opponents. If you’re intrigued by the prospects of integrating Seer’s Sundial into your strategy or are simply looking to refine your deck with resourceful artifacts that keep your hand replenished, we encourage you to continue your exploration. Tap into the strategic depths of MTG and turn each play into a winning move with BurnMana’s guidance.


Cards like Seer's Sundial

Seer’s Sundial brings a unique land-based card draw mechanic to the table in Magic: The Gathering. It’s often compared to artifacts like Mind’s Eye, which similarly allows players to draw cards, but Seer’s Sundial requires a land to be played and additional mana to activate. Mind’s Eye, while passive in its trigger from opponents’ draws, demands a significant mana investment for each draw it facilitates.

Players also consider Horizon Spellbomb when evaluating land-related draw options. Though this card provides less repeated value than Seer’s Sundial, the lower activation cost and ability to fetch a basic land may offer a more immediate impact. However, this is a one-time effect, unlike Seer’s Sundial’s ongoing potential. Additionally, Ghirapur Orrery is another artifact that enables extra land drops and draws, but it extends benefits to all players, which can be a double-edged sword unlike the controlled advantage that Seer’s Sundial offers an individual player.

When deciding on an optimal card draw engine, particularly in land-focused decks, Seer’s Sundial may stand out for its consistent, albeit mana-intensive, source of card advantage, contributing steadily to a player’s hand and overall strategy within the realm of Magic: The Gathering.

Mind's Eye - MTG Card versions
Horizon Spellbomb - MTG Card versions
Ghirapur Orrery - MTG Card versions
Mind's Eye - Mirrodin (MRD)
Horizon Spellbomb - Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)
Ghirapur Orrery - Kaladesh Promos (PKLD)

Cards similar to Seer's Sundial by color, type and mana cost

Jayemdae Tome - MTG Card versions
Juggernaut - MTG Card versions
Dancing Scimitar - MTG Card versions
Grinning Totem - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Processor - MTG Card versions
Patagia Golem - MTG Card versions
Lodestone Myr - MTG Card versions
Krark-Clan Ironworks - MTG Card versions
Ur-Golem's Eye - MTG Card versions
Jester's Cap - MTG Card versions
Bottled Cloister - MTG Card versions
Rod of Ruin - MTG Card versions
Gnarled Effigy - MTG Card versions
Scrapbasket - MTG Card versions
Magnetic Mine - MTG Card versions
Icy Manipulator - MTG Card versions
Eye of Doom - MTG Card versions
Well of Lost Dreams - MTG Card versions
Tower of Fortunes - MTG Card versions
Coercive Portal - MTG Card versions
Jayemdae Tome - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
Juggernaut - Collectors' Edition (CED)
Dancing Scimitar - Revised Edition (3ED)
Grinning Totem - Mirage (MIR)
Phyrexian Processor - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Patagia Golem - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Lodestone Myr - Mirrodin (MRD)
Krark-Clan Ironworks - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Ur-Golem's Eye - Commander 2014 (C14)
Jester's Cap - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
Bottled Cloister - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Rod of Ruin - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Gnarled Effigy - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Scrapbasket - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Magnetic Mine - Mirrodin Besieged (MBS)
Icy Manipulator - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Eye of Doom - Commander 2013 (C13)
Well of Lost Dreams - The List (PLST)
Tower of Fortunes - Commander 2013 (C13)
Coercive Portal - Conspiracy (CNS)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Seer's Sundial MTG card by a specific set like Worldwake and Commander 2013, 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 Seer's Sundial and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Seer's Sundial Magic the Gathering card was released in 10 different sets between 2010-02-05 and 2020-11-20. Illustrated by Franz Vohwinkel.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12010-02-05WorldwakeWWK 1302003normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
22013-11-01Commander 2013C13 2562003normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
32014-11-07Commander 2014C14 2672015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
42015-08-28Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. EldraziDDP 292015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
52015-11-13Commander 2015C15 2642015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
62017-06-09Commander AnthologyCMA 2272015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
72018-06-08Commander Anthology Volume IICM2 2142015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
82018-08-09Commander 2018C18 2212015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
92020-09-25Zendikar Rising CommanderZNC 1192015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel
102020-11-20Commander LegendsCMR 4702015normalblackFranz Vohwinkel

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Seer's Sundial has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2010-03-01 The landfall ability triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control for any reason. It triggers whenever you play a land, as well as whenever a spell or ability (such as Rampant Growth) causes you to put a land onto the battlefield under your control. It will even trigger when a spell or ability causes another player to put a land onto the battlefield under your control (as can happen with Yavimaya Dryad's ability, for example).
2010-03-01 When a land enters the battlefield under your control, each landfall ability of the permanents you control will trigger. You can put them on the stack in any order. The last ability you put on the stack will be the first one that resolves.
2010-03-01 You choose whether to pay as the ability resolves. You may pay only once per resolution.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks