Sidisi's Faithful MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 1 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Naga Wizard |
| Abilities | Exploit |
| Released | 2015-03-27 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Dragons of Tarkir |
| Set code | DTK |
| Power | 0 |
| Toughness | 4 |
| Number | 74 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Lius Lasahido |
Key Takeaways
- Exploit mechanic allows targeted creature bounce, aiding in battlefield control and player advantage.
- Instant speed activation adds versatile disruption or defense, enhancing strategic gameplay.
- Complements graveyard-based strategies, turning exploit into resource acceleration tool.
Text of card
Exploit (When this creature enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice a creature.) When Sidisi's Faithful exploits a creature, return target creature to its owner's hand.
"I tire of your prattle, and your face."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Sidisi’s Faithful can be leveraged as a utility creature to help maintain control of the board. By exploiting a creature, which could include itself, you can bounce an opposing creature to your opponent’s hand, disrupting their gameplay and potentially giving you a positional advantage.
Resource Acceleration: This card’s exploit mechanic can be used strategically with various graveyard mechanics. It synergizes with strategies that benefit from having creatures in the graveyard, effectively helping to accelerate your strategy by setting up further resource manipulation.
Instant Speed: The exploit ability can be activated at instant speed, allowing you to wait for the optimum moment to disrupt an opponent’s attack or combo. This timing flexibility makes Sidisi’s Faithful a versatile tool in your lineup, capable of being used both offensively and defensively.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Sidisi’s Faithful necessitates that you exploit a creature when it enters the battlefield. This could mean sacrificing a valuable creature on your side or being unable to activate the exploit ability when no other creatures are in play, presenting a possible setback when trying to capitalize on its effect.
Specific Mana Cost: The mana cost to cast Sidisi’s Faithful is blue. This might restrict the card’s integration into multi-colored decks or those that don’t heavily feature blue mana sources, potentially limiting its versatility across various deck types.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Even though Sidisi’s Faithful might seem affordable at one blue mana, the real cost includes having another creature on the battlefield to exploit. In scenarios where you’re aiming to maximize tempo, this can be seen as a high price to pay, especially when other cards might offer creature control without such requirements.
Reasons to Include Sidisi’s Faithful in Your Collection
Versatility: Sidisi’s Faithful serves multiple roles in gameplay. As a creature with exploit, it can act as a sacrificial piece for various effects or simply be a blocker with its 0/4 body, protecting your life total from more aggressive strategies.
Combo Potential: The exploit mechanic allows you to trigger enters-the-battlefield or leaves-the-battlefield effects of other creatures. It can also strategically remove an opponent’s threat or your own creature for value, fitting seamlessly into engine decks that capitalize on such synergies.
Meta-Relevance: This card shines in environments where tempo plays are crucial. Its ability to bounce target creatures can disrupt your opponent’s board state, offering a tempo swing in your favor and disrupting your opponent’s plans. In a meta with many powerful creatures, Sidisi’s Faithful can serve as a low-cost answer to high-cost threats.
How to beat
Sidisi’s Faithful is a utility creature card in Magic: The Gathering that can play a pivotal role in battlefield control thanks to its exploit ability. While the card itself does not boast a strong combat presence, its true power lies in the strategic advantage it offers. It can, for instance, return a high-value target back to its owner’s hand, interrupting their game plan and garnering you a significant tempo boost.
To effectively counter Sidisi’s Faithful, it’s essential to mitigate its exploit trigger. This can be achieved by maintaining a lean battlefield, thus limiting potential targets for the ability, or by using creature protections such as hexproof or indestructible to shield your key creatures. Cards like Gods Willing provide a cost-efficient way to protect your creatures and can serve as a counterbalance to the forced sacrifice and bounce effect of Sidisi’s Faithful. Additionally, instant removal spells can ensure it’s eliminated before the exploit ability triggers, ensuring your creatures stay firmly in play.
Ultimately, by anticipating the necessity to safeguard critical creatures or by limiting the effects of the exploit, players can blunt the tactical edge Sidisi’s Faithful typically provides, keeping their strategy solidly on the offensive.
Cards like Sidisi's Faithful
Sidisi’s Faithful offers a unique blend of utility and versatility in the world of Magic: The Gathering. This blue creature card parallels with the likes of Man-o’-War, known for bouncing creatures back to their owner’s hand upon entry to the battlefield. Sidisi’s Faithful, with its exploit ability, elevates this mechanic by offering a targeted bounce without the need to return your creatures, provided you sacrifice another creature for the exploit.
Expulsion options continue with Aether Tradewinds, which also provides a return-to-hand effect. While Sidisi’s Faithful needs a creature on board to fully utilize its potential, Aether Tradewinds doesn’t have such a requirement. However, it does not offer the additional creature on the board that you get with Sidisi’s Faithful. Another card worth mentioning is Unsummon, offering a straightforward, low-cost creature bounce. The difference lies in Sidisi’s Faithful’s ability to impact the board by establishing a creature presence along with the bounce effect.
Each of these cards have their own place within a deck’s strategy, but Sidisi’s Faithful stands out for its synergetic potential in sacrifice-focused decks, adding both strategic depth and board control in Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to Sidisi's Faithful by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Sidisi's Faithful MTG card by a specific set like Dragons of Tarkir, 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 Sidisi's Faithful and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Sidisi's Faithful has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sidisi's Faithful card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2015-02-25 | A creature with exploit “exploits a creature” when the controller of the exploit ability sacrifices a creature as that ability resolves. |
| 2015-02-25 | If the creature with exploit isn’t on the battlefield as the exploit ability resolves, you won’t get any bonus from the creature with exploit, even if you sacrifice a creature. Because the creature with exploit isn’t on the battlefield, its other triggered ability won’t trigger. |
| 2015-02-25 | You can sacrifice the creature with exploit if it’s still on the battlefield. This will cause its other ability to trigger. |
| 2015-02-25 | You can’t sacrifice more than one creature to any one exploit ability. |
| 2015-02-25 | You choose whether to sacrifice a creature and which creature to sacrifice as the exploit ability resolves. |
