Explorer's Scope MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 9 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityCommon
TypeArtifact — Equipment
Abilities Equip

Key Takeaways

  1. Explorer’s Scope offers card advantage through potential incremental land plays and better draw utilization.
  2. It accelerates resources, allowing players to play bigger threats earlier and increase pace.
  3. In multi-colored decks, the specific mana cost for equipping can be a minor obstacle.

Text of card

Whenever equipped creature attacks, look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped. Equip (: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: With the repeated potential to look at the top card of your library and possibly put a land onto the battlefield, Explorer’s Scope can incrementally increase your available resources. This effect, over time, ensures you can utilize every draw to its fullest potential, maintaining or increasing your card quality advantage.

Resource Acceleration: By potentially placing a land card directly onto the battlefield, Explorer’s Scope can effectively ramp your mana without the need for an additional land drop. This acceleration allows you to play bigger threats earlier than usual, which can be crucial for outpacing opponents.

Instant Speed: Although Explorer’s Scope itself isn’t an instant, it triggers at instant speed upon the equipped creature attacking. This allows you to keep up the pace and pressure, possibly advancing your board state during the combat phase, usually a time reserved only for combat-related activities.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Although this doesn’t apply to Explorer’s Scope itself, equipping it does require a card to be in play. Therefore, if a player is required to discard cards and has limited creatures or artifacts to attach the scope to, the card’s usefulness diminishes significantly.

Specific Mana Cost: Explorer’s Scope has a generic mana cost for casting, but its equip cost demands one mana of any color. In a multi-colored deck, this can sometimes be challenging, especially if the mana base isn’t perfectly optimized for color fixing.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its low casting cost, the fact that Explorer’s Scope requires one mana to equip every time it’s moved to a new creature can add up in terms of resource expenditure. Although the initial cast is affordable, repeated equipping can act as a mana sink, detracting from the player’s ability to cast more impactful spells in the mid to late game.


Reasons to Include Explorer’s Scope in Your Collection

Versatility: Explorer’s Scope is a flexible card that can be attached to any creature. It’s particularly useful in decks that prioritize ramping up and gaining an edge in land drops.

Combo Potential: With this card, you’re able to manipulate the top of your deck and synergize with library manipulation strategies. The ability to potentially drop an extra land during combat adds surprise value to many plays.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames where quick development of your board is key, Explorer’s Scope ensures that you are maximizing your land plays and staying ahead of the curve. By fitting into both aggro and control decks, it remains a relevant card in numerous strategies.


How to beat

Explorer’s Scope is a unique accessory in the realm of Magic: The Gathering, offering an exploratory edge as you venture into the unknown territories of your library. As an artifact, it’s deceptively simple, allowing you to look at the top card of your library whenever the equipped creature attacks. If it’s a land, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped. This capability offers incremental advantage, potentially ramping up your resources round by round.

To counteract this momentum, focus on disabling the equipped creature. Targeted removal spells, such as Doom Blade or Path to Exile, can effectively neutralize the threat before accruing value, leaving the Scope without its essential companion. Another strategy is to address the artifact itself with cards like Naturalize or Shatter, disrupting the opponent’s setup directly.

It’s also important to note that Explorer’s Scope requires a creature to attack for its ability to trigger, which means that maintaining control of the battlefield or keeping creatures at bay can be crucial. Cards that create repeated impediments for attacking creatures, such as Propaganda or Ghostly Prison, can lead to diminishing returns for an opponent relying too heavily on the Explorer’s Scope for land acceleration.


BurnMana Recommendations

Embarking on your MTG journey, the Explorer’s Scope offers more than a peek at your upcoming draws; it symbolizes the endless potential to expand your play. From its subtle board advancement to the thrill of flipping a land card during combat, this artifact equips you with a tool that celebrates incremental growth and strategic foresight. Whether you’re honing an existing deck or looking to experiment with new strategies, incorporating this card can be a game-changer. Enhance your collection and elevate your gameplay with the Explorer’s Scope. Delve deeper into its versatile uses and join the ranks of players mastering the art of exploration. Deepen your MTG knowledge and tactics with us.


Cards like Explorer's Scope

Explorer’s Scope in Magic: The Gathering finds its place within the realm of artifact equipment. Drawing a comparison with other cards, we might consider Prying Blade as a close relative. While Explorer’s Scope allows for a potential land card to be placed onto the battlefield when the equipped creature attacks, Prying Blade instead provides an extra Treasure token, which can be a versatile resource. Prying Blade’s effect, however, is guaranteed upon damage to a player, whereas Explorer’s Scope requires a card reveal and hence adds a layer of unpredictability.

Another comparable card is Trailblazer’s Boots, which has a different approach to enhancing a creature’s impact in the game. The equipped creature gains nonbasic landwalk, allowing it to become unblockable as long as the opponent controls a nonbasic land. While not directly nurturing your mana base like Explorer’s Scope, it targets gameplay tactics and strengthens offensive capabilities.

Ultimately, whether players opt for the variable ramp potential of Explorer’s Scope, the resource supplemental prowess of Prying Blade, or the strategic edge of Trailblazer’s Boots, each card holds its own within its niche, highlighting how varied equipment artifacts cater to diverse gameplay strategies in Magic: The Gathering.

Prying Blade - MTG Card versions
Trailblazer's Boots - MTG Card versions
Prying Blade - Ixalan (XLN)
Trailblazer's Boots - Zendikar (ZEN)

Cards similar to Explorer's Scope by color, type and mana cost

Glasses of Urza - MTG Card versions
Wooden Sphere - MTG Card versions
Sol Ring - MTG Card versions
Iron Star - MTG Card versions
Library of Leng - MTG Card versions
Black Vise - MTG Card versions
Urza's Chalice - MTG Card versions
Ivory Cup - MTG Card versions
Brass Man - MTG Card versions
Mana Vault - MTG Card versions
Soul Net - MTG Card versions
The Rack - MTG Card versions
Helm of Chatzuk - MTG Card versions
Obelisk of Undoing - MTG Card versions
Feldon's Cane - MTG Card versions
Throne of Bone - MTG Card versions
Meekstone - MTG Card versions
Crystal Rod - MTG Card versions
Thran Foundry - MTG Card versions
Cursed Scroll - MTG Card versions
Glasses of Urza - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Wooden Sphere - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Sol Ring - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Iron Star - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Library of Leng - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
Black Vise - Revised Edition (3ED)
Urza's Chalice - Masters Edition (ME1)
Ivory Cup - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Brass Man - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Mana Vault - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Soul Net - Fifth Edition (5ED)
The Rack - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Helm of Chatzuk - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Obelisk of Undoing - Rinascimento (RIN)
Feldon's Cane - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
Throne of Bone - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Meekstone - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Crystal Rod - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Thran Foundry - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
Cursed Scroll - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Explorer's Scope MTG card by a specific set like Zendikar and Conspiracy, 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 Explorer's Scope and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Explorer's Scope Magic the Gathering card was released in 8 different sets between 2009-10-02 and 2024-03-08. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12009-10-02ZendikarZEN 2022003normalblackVincent Proce
22014-06-06ConspiracyCNS 1982003normalblackVincent Proce
32015-08-28Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. EldraziDDP 282015normalblackVincent Proce
42020-11-20Commander LegendsCMR 4612015normalblackVincent Proce
52021-07-23Forgotten Realms CommanderAFC 2052015normalblackVincent Proce
62022-12-02Jumpstart 2022J22 7662015normalblackVincent Proce
72023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 3802015normalblackVincent Proce
82024-03-08FalloutPIP 7592015normalblackMichał Miłkowski
92024-03-08FalloutPIP 2312015normalblackMichał Miłkowski

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Explorer's Scope has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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