Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher MTG Card
2021-09-24 - Number 163
2021-09-24 - Number 296
2022-01-28 - Number 163
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Human Warrior Werewolf |
| Abilities | Daybound |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 5 |
Key Takeaways
- Tavern Smasher’s ability to draw additional cards can be a significant advantage, offering depth to your resources.
- Its transformation into a 6/5 creature presents a formidable threat that demands an immediate response from opponents.
- Manipulating game pace, Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher’s mere presence can influence opponent’s strategies.
Text of card
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
She dispatched every challenger with a sickening snap of bone.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The flipside of Tavern Ruffian, known as Tavern Smasher, provides incremental card advantage by offering you the potential to draw an additional card each turn. This can be a game-changer as you’re effectively deepening your resources while putting pressure on your opponent.
Resource Acceleration: While Tavern Ruffian itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, transforming into Tavern Smasher can be seen as a form of resource acceleration. As a 6/5 creature, Tavern Smasher requires an immediate answer, effectively buying you time to develop your board and use your mana more effectively elsewhere.
Instant Speed: Although Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher operates at sorcery speed, the threat of its transformation can impact an opponent’s decisions, making it feel as though its presence has the same strategic impact as an instant speed threat. Opponents may choose to not attack or hold back certain spells in anticipation of this transformation, which manipulates the pace of the game in your favor.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher necessitates that you discard a card to transform into Tavern Smasher. This could be a strategic setback, particularly when your hand is already dwindling, and you must forfeit a valuable card from your limited choices.
Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost anchored in red mana, this card demands a dedicated resource which can hinder its inclusion in multicolored decks. Players without a strong red mana base might struggle to play it on curve, reducing its overall versatility.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Deploying Tavern Ruffian requires a four-mana investment, which can be on the higher side for aggressive decks that strive to maximize their tempo. Within this mana range, competitors might provide more immediate board presence or game impact, rendering Tavern Ruffian less efficient in fast-paced matches.
Reasons to Include Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher in Your Collection
Versatility: Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher offers flexibility to your deckbuilding as it starts as a robust defender in early game and transforms into an aggressive creature that could turn the tides in the late game.
Combo Potential: This card’s transformation ability provides interesting interactions in decks that manipulate or take advantage of flipping mechanics, adding an extra layer of strategic depth to your plays.
Meta-Relevance: Given the nature of evolving gameplay, having a card that adapts to different phases of the game ensures relevance across a variety of situations, potentially giving your deck an edge in diverse match-ups.
How to beat
Encountering Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher on the battlefield can present a significant challenge. This double-faced card starts as Tavern Ruffian, a reasonably stout creature that can block your attacks effectively. However, its true menace emerges when night falls and it transforms into Tavern Smasher, boasting increased power that can rapidly diminish your life total. To outmaneuver this card, you’ll need to utilize clever tactics and strategic planning.
One approach is to prevent the transformation altogether. Achieving this requires you to cast at least two spells during your own turn, which keeps the card as a Tavern Ruffian and maintains a more manageable threat. Removal spells are also key; instant-speed interaction allows you to respond to the transformation trigger or take it off the board before it’s able to inflict substantial damage. Prioritizing the removal of Tavern Ruffian during the day can save you from the headache of dealing with the more formidable Tavern Smasher at night.
Furthermore, employing creatures with higher toughness or those with abilities like “indestructible” can negate the Smasher’s impact, ensuring you maintain board control. Understanding the day and night mechanic and the timing of your plays is the linchpin for turning the tide against this dual-sided card. In summary, foresight and quick reactions are essential when strategizing against the Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher in your next game.
Cards like Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher
Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher is a card that presents duality in gameplay, reminiscent of the werewolf tribe in Magic: The Gathering. When compared to Village Ironsmith // Ironfang, both cards share the transformative werewolf mechanic. Tavern Ruffian begins as a modest blocker, but once transformed into Tavern Smasher, it can overpower many creatures in combat with its increased power and toughness.
Similarly, Lambholt Pacifist // Lambholt Butcher is another werewolf card that flips under the same conditions. Although the Pacifist can’t attack unless you control a creature with greater power, its transformation into the Butcher removes that constraint. Both Tavern Smasher and Lambholt Butcher have the ability to dramatically swing the game in your favor post-transformation.
Daybreak Ranger // Nightfall Predator also follows the day and night mechanic but offers removal abilities upon transformation, making it a more versatile but potentially less aggressive option than Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher. Each of these werewolf characters exemplify how transformative abilities make them multipurpose tools, underlining the tactical adaptability that this creature type offers to players in the game.
Cards similar to Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, 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 Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher 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
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Printings
The Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-09-24 | Innistrad: Midnight Hunt | MID | 163 | 2015 | Transform | Black | Zoltan Boros | |
| 2 | 2021-09-24 | Innistrad: Midnight Hunt | MID | 296 | 2015 | Transform | Black | Michael Walsh | |
| 3 | 2022-01-28 | Innistrad: Double Feature | DBL | 163 | 2015 | Transform | Black | Zoltan Boros |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Tavern Ruffian // Tavern Smasher 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 | Before a player untaps their permanents during the untap step, the game checks to see if the day/night designation should change. |
| 2021-09-24 | Day and night are designations that the game itself can have. The game starts as neither. Once the game becomes day (or less commonly, night), the game will be exactly one of them—day or night—going back and forth for the rest of the game. |
| 2021-09-24 | Double-faced permanents with daybound transform to their nightbound faces as it becomes night. Similarly, double-faced permanents with nightbound transform to their daybound faces as it becomes day. This happens immediately and is not a state-based action. It happens any time it becomes day or night, not just during the untap step. |
| 2021-09-24 | For more information about Day and Night and the Daybound and Nightbound abilities, please see the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Mechanics atricle (https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/innistrad-midnight-hunt-mechanics-2021-09-02). |
| 2021-09-24 | If it is day, and the active player of the previous turn cast no spells during their turn, it becomes night. |
| 2021-09-24 | If it is night, and the active player of the previous turn cast two or more spells during their turn, it becomes day. |
| 2021-09-24 | If it is night, permanents with daybound that enter the battlefield without being cast will enter with their nightbound faces up. |
| 2021-09-24 | If it's neither day nor night, and a creature with daybound and a creature with nightbound somehow appear on the battlefield at the same time, it becomes day. The creature with nightbound will transform. |
| 2021-09-24 | If you cast a spell with daybound during night, that spell will be front face up (that is, daybound face up) on the stack. However, it will enter the battlefield with its back face up (that is, with its nightbound face up). It won't enter with its daybound face up and then transform. |
| 2021-09-24 | Permanents with daybound and nightbound can't transform via any means other than their daybound and nightbound abilities. Notably, older cards such as Moonmist that instruct a player to transform permanents don't affect permanents with daybound or nightbound. |
