Inventors' Fair MTG Card
2016-09-30 - Number 247s
2016-09-30 - Number 247
2020-11-12 - Number 284
2020-09-26 - Number KLD-247
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Legendary Land |
Key Takeaways
- Enhances decks by enabling artifact searches, an essential move for late-game strategy advancement.
- Subtle mana acceleration and life gain from Inventors’ Fair incrementally strengthen player defenses.
- Demands a high artifact density and significant mana to use, potentially impacting board development.
Text of card
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control three or more artifacts, you gain 1 life. : Add . , , Sacrifice Inventors' Fair: Search your library for an artifact card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. Activate only if you control three or more artifacts.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Inventors’ Fair ups the ante in your deck’s arsenal by providing the unique ability to search for an artifact. As you progress into the later game, this can be a pivotal play that tips the scales, fetching critical components to push your strategy forward.
Resource Acceleration: Besides its utility in fetching artifacts, Inventors’ Fair offers a steady, albeit subtle, form of resource acceleration. Its tap for colorless mana isn’t flashy, but every bit helps in casting those game-changing artifacts quicker. Moreover, its passive ability grants you life, a small boon that can add up over time, bolstering your resilience against aggressive strategies.
Instant Speed: While Inventors’ Fair itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, the versatility it enables in your deck cannot be understated. With the right artifacts at your disposal, you can maintain a state of readiness—responding to threats or opportunities on the fly. Its ability to seek out the perfect artifact at instant speed, when timed before your turn begins, ensures you’re well-equipped for whatever the game throws at you.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Inventors’ Fair doesn’t require a discard, but it does demand a significant artifact presence to fully utilize its abilities. Without a variety of artifacts, the Fair’s capacity to tutor for an artifact becomes less consistent.
Specific Mana Cost: While Inventors’ Fair’s activation cost is not color specific, it does require a notable investment of four generic mana alongside tapping and sacrificing the land itself, which can be a burdensome cost especially when you’re trying to develop your board presence or hold up mana for other responses.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The activation of Inventors’ Fair’s search ability is costly. This may hinder your tempo as four mana can be allocated towards other impactful plays within the crucial mid-game turns, potentially setting you back in terms of both board state and strategic advantage.
Reasons to Include Inventors’ Fair in Your Collection
Versatility: Inventors’ Fair is a unique land that offers a high level of flexibility. It can generate mana, but it also has the ability to search your deck for crucial artifact pieces. This adaptability makes it an excellent fit in a wide array of deck types, from artifact-heavy builds to decks that can benefit from a well-timed tutor effect.
Combo Potential: The ability to fetch any artifact from your deck enhances synergies and combo possibilities. Whether you’re assembling a machine-like engine of interconnected artifact parts or just looking for that one game-winning piece, Inventors’ Fair can be the linchpin that sets your strategy in motion.
Meta-Relevance: With artifacts being a perpetual part of the MTG meta, Inventors’ Fair retains its importance. Through its capacity to search for critical artifacts, the card can adapt to meta shifts, ensuring your deck stays competitive in various gameplay environments.
How to Beat Inventors’ Fair
Inventors’ Fair boasts a unique place within Magic: The Gathering as a land card that synergizes with artifact-centric decks. When aiming to counter this card, disrupting the artifact reliance of your opponent’s strategy is key. Without the critical mass of artifacts, Inventors’ Fair loses its potency, unable to activate its life-gain and search capabilities that can turn the tide in a long game.
Effective artifact removal spells like Shatterstorm or By Force can sweep the board, leaving Inventors’ Fair bereft of its supporting cast. Additionally, having control elements such as Counterspell at your disposal ensures that any attempt to activate Inventors’ Fair’s second ability can be neutralized swiftly. Since Inventors’ Fair requires a significant investment of mana and artifacts to leverage its full potential, pre-emptive plays that undercut your opponent’s resources will reduce the Fair’s impact substantially.
Maintaining pressure on the artifact axis and thoughtfully managing your disruption, you can mitigate the advantages Inventors’ Fair provides to your adversary, effectively making it a non-threat. Therefore, precise timing and a focus on artifact control are paramount in turning Inventors’ Fair from a potential problem into an inconsequential land on the battlefield.
Cards like Inventors' Fair
Inventors’ Fair is a unique land card in Magic: The Gathering that can turn the tide of the game for artifact-centered decks. Its resemblance to Academy Ruins is noteworthy, as both specialize in recurring vital pieces from the graveyard. However, what sets Inventors’ Fair apart is its capacity to directly search your library for an artifact, essentially acting as a tutor, thereby ensuring a consistent approach to obtaining key components of your strategy.
Another land card that shares features with Inventors’ Fair is Urza’s Saga. While it can also facilitate the search for certain artifacts, its method is tied to casting them directly into play, which contrasts with Inventors’ Fair’s more flexible ability to add them to your hand. This can be particularly crucial when it comes to planning and executing long-term strategies.
Lastly, we have Tolarian Academy, which is banned in several formats for its powerful mana generation tied to the number of artifacts controlled. While Inventors’ Fair doesn’t offer such explosive mana potential, it provides a valuable life-gain ability and can ensure the arrival of impactful artifacts to your hand, highlighting its strategic utility in artifact-heavy builds.
Cards similar to Inventors' Fair by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Inventors' Fair MTG card by a specific set like Kaladesh Promos and Kaladesh, 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 Inventors' Fair 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
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Printings
The Inventors' Fair Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2016-09-30 and 2020-11-12. Illustrated by Jonas De Ro.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2016-09-30 | Kaladesh Promos | PKLD | 247s | 2015 | normal | black | Jonas De Ro | |
| 2 | 2016-09-30 | Kaladesh | KLD | 247 | 2015 | normal | black | Jonas De Ro | |
| 3 | The List | PLST | KLD-247 | 2015 | normal | black | Jonas De Ro | ||
| 4 | 2020-11-12 | Kaladesh Remastered | KLR | 284 | 2015 | normal | black | Jonas De Ro |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Inventors' Fair has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Inventors' Fair card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2016-09-20 | If you control three artifacts as the ability resolves, you gain 1 life. The artifacts you control as the ability resolves don't have to be the same ones you controlled as it triggered. If you don't control three artifacts at that time, you won't gain life. |
| 2016-09-20 | No player may take actions in a turn before Inventors' Fair's triggered ability checks to see if it should trigger. If you don't control three or more artifacts, it won't trigger. |
| 2016-09-20 | When using Inventors' Fair's activated ability, the number of artifacts you control is checked only as you activate it. It's not checked again as the ability resolves. |
| 2018-01-19 | There are many important moments in the story, but the most crucial—called “story spotlights”—are shown on cards. These cards have the Planeswalker symbol in their text box; this symbol has no effect on gameplay. You can read more about these events in the official Magic fiction at http://www.mtgstory.com. |
