Duelcraft Trainer MTG Card
2021-09-24 - Number 16
2022-01-28 - Number 16
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Human Soldier |
| Abilities | Coven,First strike |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 3 |
Key Takeaways
- Duelcraft Trainer ensures a robust board presence, increasing the likelihood of maintaining game lead.
- Boosts creature-based tactics, giving an edge by enabling faster achievement of winning conditions.
- Demands specific mana types and high casting cost, which could hinder its effective play.
Text of card
First strike Coven — At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you control three or more creatures with different powers, target creature you control gains double strike until end of turn.
"It's all in the follow-through."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Duelcraft Trainer enhances your ability to widen your battlefield presence by potentially deploying additional creatures or reinforcing your existing ones, ensuring a more formidable board state which can translate into maintaining or extending your lead in the game.
Resource Acceleration: As a versatile addition to your deck, Duelcraft Trainer can offer indirect resource acceleration by empowering your creature-based strategies, enabling you to achieve your game-winning conditions more swiftly.
Instant Speed: The option to cast Duelcraft Trainer at instant speed provides strategic flexibility, allowing you to react swiftly to the shifting tides of the game. React to your opponents’ moves by enhancing your creatures at a moment’s notice, potentially turning the outcome of combat in your favor.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Duelcraft Trainer requires the discarding of a card to trigger its ability. This can lead to a decrease in hand advantage, making it a risky play for those with an already depleted hand.
Specific Mana Cost: This card demands both white and red mana, necessitating a commitment to those colors in your deck. Players relying on a different color combination might find Duelcraft Trainer incompatible with their strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a more significant investment required to cast Duelcraft Trainer, players may find it challenging to maintain tempo, especially when faster, lower-cost options could provide a more immediate impact on the game.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Duelcraft Trainer offers a significant boost to creature-based strategies. Its ability to bolster your team makes it a fit for various formats and deck builds, from aggressive to midrange.
Combo Potential: Harnessing the power of equipment and auras, Duelcraft Trainer ups the game for synergistic decks. It can be the linchpin in strategies that revolve around maximizing the effectiveness of equipped creatures, triggering powerful enter-the-battlefield effects.
Meta-Relevance: In a playing field where combat plays a deciding role, Duelcraft Trainer can tip the scales in your favor. Its capacity to empower creatures provides a practical edge against popular creature-focused metas.
How to beat
Duelcraft Trainer is a card in MTG that can shift the balance of power on the battlefield with its ability to bolster knight creatures. To counteract this powerful effect, it’s crucial to disrupt the synergy it tries to create. Removing the Duelcraft Trainer before it can establish a board presence is your best bet. Utilizing removal spells that can target creatures before the combat phase ensures that your opponent can’t take advantage of any tactical buffs or protections. Watch for spells like Murder or Doom Blade as they can be cast in response to the Duelcraft Trainer’s activation, negating its influence before it begins.
Countering creatures can also be effective. Hold onto a spell like Counterspell or Essence Scatter when you sense the Duelcraft Trainer may come into play. Another strategy involves limiting Knights’ ability to benefit from the Trainer’s effect. Cards that change creature types, like Amoeboid Changeling or cards that restrict combat potential, such as Meekstone, can render the Trainer’s impact negligible. In games that go beyond creature combat, maintaining control of the board and keeping up card advantage will typically undermine the Trainer’s strategic value.
Understanding how and when to remove key creatures like Duelcraft Trainer from the field, managing your opponent’s threats proactively, and disrupting their synergies are essential tactics to master in MTG.
Cards like Duelcraft Trainer
Duelcraft Trainer is an intriguing creature card that can shape the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. Comparable to seasoned tacticians like Veteran Swordsmith, Duelcraft Trainer also bolsters your fellow warriors, granting them a considerable boost during combat. Standing out with its ability to provide double strike to your attacking warriors, it gives your creatures the edge to potentially deal lethal damage more swiftly.
Another card that echoes this martial prowess is Chief of the Edge. While Chief of the Edge increases the power of Warrior creatures, providing a more aggressive stance in early game, it lacks the double-strike capability that makes Duelcraft Trainer a formidable force in later stages of the match. There’s also the renowned Lovisa Coldeyes, who empowers Warriors in addition to other creature types, but again, without the crucial double strike advantage.
Even though each card has its own niche in MTG, Duelcraft Trainer earns its place in decks that favor aggressive warrior-based strategies, capitalizing on the swift and potent double strike ability to turn the tides of combat in a player’s favor.
Cards similar to Duelcraft Trainer by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Duelcraft Trainer MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Double Feature, 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 Duelcraft Trainer 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 Duelcraft Trainer Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by John Stanko.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-09-24 | Innistrad: Midnight Hunt | MID | 16 | 2015 | Normal | Black | John Stanko | |
| 2 | 2022-01-28 | Innistrad: Double Feature | DBL | 16 | 2015 | Normal | Black | John Stanko |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Duelcraft Trainer has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Duelcraft Trainer card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-09-24 | "Flashback -ost]" means "You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying -ost] rather than paying its mana cost" and "If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack." |
| 2021-09-24 | A spell cast using flashback will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, is countered, or leaves the stack in some other way. |
| 2021-09-24 | Duelcraft Trainer's triggered ability checks to see if you have three or more creatures with different powers both when it triggers and as it tries to resolve. If you don't have three creatures with different powers as it tries to resolve, it will be removed from the stack. |
| 2021-09-24 | If a card with flashback is put into your graveyard during your turn, you can cast it if it's legal to do so before any other player can take any actions. |
| 2021-09-24 | To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a flashback cost) you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was. |
| 2021-09-24 | You can cast a spell using flashback even if it was somehow put into your graveyard without having been cast. |
| 2021-09-24 | You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions, including those based on the card's type. For instance, you can cast a sorcery using flashback only when you could normally cast a sorcery. |
