Swift Spinner MTG Card
Key Takeaways
- Surprise block flying attackers with Swift Spinner’s instant-speed flash ability and reach.
- Low casting cost promotes resource management, enabling larger threats sooner.
- Requires strategic hand management to maximize its flash potential effectively.
Guide to Flash card ability
Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.
Text of card
Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.) Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
Its web is woven so tightly that not even geists can avoid capture.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Swift Spinner is a green creature card designed to surprise your opponent and disrupt their calculated moves. By allowing you to flash it during combat or at the end of your opponent’s turn, it helps keep your hand fluid without losing board presence.
Resource Acceleration: While Swift Spinner itself may not directly generate mana or resources, its low casting cost and ease of use can free up mana for future turns. This subtle form of resource acceleration ensures you can deploy heavier threats or interact with the game without overcommitting resources too soon.
Instant Speed: The strongest asset of Swift Spinner is its instant speed nature, granting you the flexibility to play reactively. This can be especially advantageous when it comes to bluffing your available mana or surprising an opponent with a blocker they didn’t account for, potentially disrupting their attack phase or forcing unfavorable trades.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Diving into the drawbacks, Swift Spinner requires a precise setup to optimize its Flash ability. Unfortunately, this often means you need to hold back cards, potentially slowing down your play or forcing unwanted discards to keep your hand ready for reactionary plays. This can become a significant liability when facing an opponent adept at forcing your hand.
Specific Mana Cost: The cost of playing Swift Spinner is notably color-specific, demanding two green mana within its total cost. This restricts the card’s flexibility, as it primarily fits into green or green-centered decks. Players with multicolored decks might find the green mana requirement a challenge, particularly when mana fixing options are limited, reducing the card’s overall utility across various deck builds.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Swift Spinner can feel somewhat overpriced for its 2/3 body and reach ability. In the evolving world of Magic the Gathering where efficiency is key, investiture in a card like Swift Spinner might not stack up against similar creatures or spells that bring more to the table for the same, if not lower, mana investment. This poses a significant con for deckbuilders aiming for maximum mana efficiency and optimal play curves.
Reasons to Include Swift Spinner in Your Collection
Versatility: Swift Spinner is a flexible card that can be easily slotted into green decks that emphasize reactive play or need a surprise blocker. Its flash ability allows you to cast it at the optimal moment, often catching opponents off guard during their attack phase.
Combo Potential: As a Spider with reach, Swift Spinner can synergize with strategies that capitalize on creature types or abilities. It works well with cards that care about the number of creatures with reach you control or those that benefit from casting spells on your opponent’s turn.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta where flying creatures are prevalent, Swift Spinner can serve as an excellent defensive measure. It offers a way to handle evasive threats while still keeping up the pace with the rest of your deck’s game plan.
How to beat
The Swift Spinner card is a unique fixture in the pantheon of green creature spells in MTG. Known for its Flash ability, it allows players to cast it at any time they could cast an instant, making it a versatile combat trick. When Swift Spinner lands onto the battlefield, it can instantly become a blocker with reach, ready to thwart flying attackers.
Confronting Swift Spinner requires a strategy that negates its surprise element. Consider employing removal spells that can bypass its Flash timing, such as board wipes, which systematically clear multiple creatures irrespective of when they are played. Spells like Doom Blade or Go for the Throat also work well as they can remove it before it blocks if you anticipate your opponent holding a Swift Spinner. Ensuring a control over the battlefield with these preemptive measures can help keep Swift Spinner from turning the tide of an aerial assault in your opponent’s favor.
Essentially, countering Swift Spinner in MTG involves a blend of foresight, timing, and the right removal spells. By incorporating these elements into your gameplay, you can effectively neutralize the card’s defensive advantages and maintain aerial dominance.
Cards like Swift Spinner
Swift Spinner from Magic: The Gathering stands out as a versatile creature card, offering both a defensive and offensive edge. In comparison, cards like Spidery Grasp add a combat trick element by granting a creature +2/+4 and reach until end of turn. However, Swift Spinner uniquely combines these abilities innately as a 2/3 creature with flash and reach, allowing for immediate, unanticipated board impact.
Arachnogenesis is another related card that creates spider tokens with reach and essentially blocks and potentially trades with multiple creatures, similar to the surprise defense tactic of Swift Spinner. Yet, Arachnogenesis is a one-time spell event, while Swift Spinner remains as a creature that can repeatedly block flying threats.
Canopy Spider may also come to mind, being a low-cost creature with reach, but its 1/3 stats pale in comparison to Swift Spinner’s capabilities and instant playability. In the realm of green creatures with reach, Swift Spinner offers a unique blend of combat readiness and potential to turn the tides in aerial defense scenarios, establishing its value in MTG decks focusing on board control and surprise tactics.
Cards similar to Swift Spinner by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Swift Spinner MTG card by a specific set like Eldritch Moon and Shadows over Innistrad Remastered, 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 Swift Spinner 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
Printings
The Swift Spinner Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2016-07-22 and 2023-03-21. Illustrated by Nils Hamm.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2016-07-22 | Eldritch Moon | EMN | 173 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Nils Hamm | |
| 2 | 2023-03-21 | Shadows over Innistrad Remastered | SIR | 217 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Nils Hamm |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Swift Spinner has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
