Stuffy Doll Avatar MTG Card

Rarity	Rare
Type	Vanguard
Released	2003-01-01
Set symbol
Set name	Magic Online Avatars
Set code	PMOA
Number	65
Frame	2015
Layout	Vanguard
Border	Black
Illustred by	UDON

Key Takeaways

Stuffy Doll Avatar excels in pairing damage with card advantage, enhancing player resources during games.
Challenges include precise mana requirements and potential hand disruption from strategic discards.
Its versatility in the current meta makes it a worthwhile addition to collections for its unique interactions.

Text of card

: If damage would be dealt to you this turn by a source of your choice, prevent that damage. Stuffy Doll deals damage to you and target opponent equal to half the damage prevented this way, rounded up. Activate this ability only once each turn.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Stuffy Doll Avatar’s uniqueness lies in its ability to turn damage into an asset. By targeting itself with spells or abilities that deal damage, you create opportunities to draw cards or force your opponent to lose cards, effectively giving you a foothold in the battle of resources.

Resource Acceleration: While the Stuffy Doll Avatar doesn’t directly generate mana or treasure tokens, its resilience can indirectly lead to resource acceleration. As it absorbs hits that would potentially degrade your other assets, it helps maintain your board presence without additional investment, thereby saving resources for critical plays.

Instant Speed: This card’s capability to interact at instant speed cannot be overstated. It offers flexibility in your tactics, as you can opt to activate abilities or play spells that target or involve Stuffy Doll Avatar during an opponent’s turn, keeping your strategies hidden and disrupting your opponent’s plans at crucial junctures.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Stuffy Doll Avatar’s abilities often require a strategic discard from the player. This condition could potentially backfire, especially in scenarios where your hand is packed with essential cards, making the decision to discard particularly painful.

Specific Mana Cost: Stuffy Doll Avatar demands a precise combination of mana to cast, including color-specific slots that could pose a challenge to integrate into multicolored or mana-hungry decks. This limits the card’s versatility and makes it less accommodating in a wide array of deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that is above the curve for its abilities, Stuffy Doll Avatar can be considered less efficient compared to other options. Players might find that investing in the Stuffy Doll Avatar takes a substantial chunk of their mana pool, which could be dedicated to casting multiple spells or summoning multiple creatures in a single turn.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Stuffy Doll Avatar offers a unique position in various deck builds, capable of turning the tables with its curious damage redirection ability. It shines in setups that focus on dealing damage and those looking for a defensive artifact creature to deter opponents from attacking.

Combo Potential: This intriguing card pairs well with spells that deal damage to your own creatures, allowing for some creative and surprising combos. Players leveraging cards that cause widespread damage can turn Stuffy Doll Avatar into a strategic game-ender.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where aggressive tactics are the norm, this card’s potential to absorb and return damage makes it a strategic inclusion. Its presence can alter opponents’ playstyles and create opportunities for players to capitalize on the current competitive environment.

How to beat Stuffy Doll

Overcoming a Stuffy Doll on the battlefield requires a strategic approach, given its unique interaction with damage and targeting. This artifact creature can be a formidable defense, as it redirects any damage it takes to a chosen opponent. Since it’s indestructible, traditional damage-based removal spells won’t suffice. To circumvent this, focus on using cards that force the owner to sacrifice it, like Diabolic Edict, or employ exile effects with spells such as Path to Exile.

Alternatively, you can minimize Stuffy Doll’s impact by preventing it from being targeted through spells like Pithing Needle, which can shut off its ability to select a player. You can also change the game state in your favor with bounce effects, sending it back to its owner’s hand, thereby disrupting their board presence and causing them to spend their resources to redeploy it. Cards like Unsummon can be simple yet effective for this purpose.

Lastly, remember that while Stuffy Doll can be a wall against your damage plans, it can’t block multiple attackers efficiently. Overwhelming the board with numerous creatures could render Stuffy Doll less of a threat, allowing you to focus on diminishing your opponent’s life total directly.

Cards like Stuffy Doll Avatar

The Stuffy Doll card has carved a unique niche for itself in MTG as one of the notorious pain redirection tools available to players. It shares similarities with cards like Boros Reckoner, which also has the ability to redirect damage dealt to it back at an opponent. Both cards excel in strategies that focus on using damage as a resource. Still, Stuffy Doll stands alone with its ability to choose a player during its entrance on the battlefield, potentially locking onto an opponent for the remainder of the game.

Comparatively, the card Guilty Conscience forms a notorious combo with Stuffy Doll, instantly creating a loop of infinite damage aimed at the chosen player. However, Guilty Conscience lacks the standalone resilience and impact of Stuffy Doll which can act as a deterrent to attackers once it’s on the board. Additionally, Coalhauler Swine is another card that spreads damage when hurt, but it lacks the direct targeting control that makes Stuffy Doll a unique and persistent threat in many games.

Overall, Stuffy Doll’s distinct approach to damage redirection and its potential for creating deadlock states with the right enchantments or abilities, showcase its value and strategic versatility in the right MTG deck construction.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Stuffy Doll Avatar MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Avatars, 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 Stuffy Doll Avatar and other MTG cards: