Powerstone Engineer MTG Card
2022-11-18 - Number 20
2022-11-18 - Number 2
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Human Artificer |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Key Takeaways
- Card advantage is a strong suit, turning artifacts into drawing power during prolonged matches.
- Instant speed token creation offers tactical flexibility and unexpected plays.
- Discarding to activate can be a trade-off, weighing immediate gain against future plays.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Powerstone Engineer MTG card by a specific set like The Brothers' War and The Brothers' War Art Series, 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 Powerstone Engineer 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
Text of card
When Powerstone Engineer dies, create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with ": Add . This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
"Well there's your problem—resonance leak lowering output by thirty percent. I can patch that up."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Powerstone Engineer provides ample opportunity to gain card advantage in long games. By converting artifact resources into tangible card draws, players can end up with more options in hand, ready to outmaneuver opponents.
Resource Acceleration: This card can quickly amplify your resource pool. The act of transforming nonland permanents into Powerstone Shard tokens facilitates an increase in available mana, thereby accelerating your plays and paving the way for casting high-impact spells earlier than usual.
Instant Speed: The Powerstone Engineer’s ability to create Powerstone Shard tokens at instant speed allows for flexibility in your strategy. Activate the ability at the end of an opponent’s turn, or in response to an action, ensuring you maintain a posture of readiness and the element of surprise.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Powerstone Engineer demands you pitch another card from your hand to activate its ability, which can leave you at a card disadvantage and potentially struggling for options later in the game.
Specific Mana Cost: The activation cost requires a mix of generic and colored mana, meaning it won’t seamlessly fit into just any deck. This can be restrictive when constructing mana bases, especially in multicolor decks that might run a tight mana curve.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost that’s on the higher end for its effect, the Powerstone Engineer may not always represent the best value compared to other cards that fulfill similar roles or offer more immediate board impact for the same or lower mana investment.
Reasons to Include Powerstone Engineer in Your Collection
Versatility: Powerstone Engineer is a flexible card that can slide into numerous archetypes. It excels in decks built around artifacts, and due to its ability to tap and untap permanents, it can also find a home in control and combo decks looking to maximize the use of their permanents.
Combo Potential: With the aptitude to untap or become untapped itself, Powerstone Engineer works wonders in combos. It can synergize with cards that benefit from tapping and untapping, multiplying the effectiveness of artifact-centered strategies and potentially leading to game-winning interactions.
Meta-Relevance: Given that artifact mechanics are often a staple in various metagames, the Powerstone Engineer is particularly useful. Its potential to interact with common artifacts or to serve as a tool in specialized artifact decks makes it a strong contender against a diverse set of opponents.
How to beat
Powerstone Engineer presents a unique challenge with its ability to create Powerstone tokens, which offer a versatile mana boost in Magic: The Gathering. To outmaneuver your opponent’s Powerstone Engineer, consider employing artifact removal spells that can specifically target and eliminate these tokens. Direct destruction options like Abrade allow you to dispatch the tokens before they can be used, hindering your opponent’s mana acceleration.
Disruption is also key. Cards that force your opponent to sacrifice their artifacts, such as By Force, can be exceptionally devastating, particularly if you can remove multiple tokens at once. Additionally, strategies that limit the Engineer’s activation, like creature lockdown effects from cards like Icefall Regent, can stall their plans and buy you time. On top of direct countermeasures, playing cards that capitalize on spell versatility and mana efficiency will typically give you an advantage over set strategies relying on building up tokens over time.
It’s critical to anticipate your opponent’s moves and adjust your strategy accordingly. Efficient use of resources, strategic planning, and maintaining control of the board will keep you one step ahead of Powerstone Engineer and help ensure your success on the battlefield.
Cards like Powerstone Engineer
Powerstone Engineer is a unique addition to artifact-centric strategies in Magic: The Gathering. This card draws comparisons to other artifact tap enablers like Voltaic Servant, which also untaps another target artifact. Although the Servant is limited to untapping on each of your end steps, Powerstone Engineer allows for more immediate and flexible interactions during your main phase. These distinctions offer various tactical advantages in different play scenarios.
The Engineer’s utility is echoed in Kinetic Engineer, another card that rewards players for their artifacts. While Kinetic Engineer supports casting by reducing the mana cost of spells, Powerstone Engineer offers direct interaction turning artifacts into a source of card advantage. Further paralleling Powerstone Engineer is Metalworker, a card allowing reveal of noncreature artifact cards for mana generation. Metalworker synergizes similarly with artifact-heavy decks, yet Powerstone Engineer provides a broader spectrum of possibilities by transforming any artifact, regardless of type, into potential card draw.
Evaluating these interactions reflects Powerstone Engineer’s versatility in the world of Magic: The Gathering. It holds its own by offering card advantage while still fostering significant synergy with an array of artifact strategies, ensuring it shines as a valuable tool in a deck builder’s collection.
Cards similar to Powerstone Engineer by color, type and mana cost
Printings
The Powerstone Engineer Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2022-11-18 and 2022-11-18. Illustrated by Scott Murphy.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022-11-18 | The Brothers' War | BRO | 20 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Scott Murphy | |
| 2 | The Brothers' War Art Series | ABRO | 2 | 2015 | Art series | Borderless | Scott Murphy |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Powerstone Engineer has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Alchemy | 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 Powerstone Engineer card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-10-14 | Although all the cards in The Brothers' War that create Powerstone tokens create a tapped Powerstone token, entering the battlefield tapped isn't part of the token's definition. Notably, if you create a token that is a copy of a Powerstone token, the token copy won't enter the battlefield tapped. |
| 2022-10-14 | Powerstone tokens are a kind of predefined token. Each one has the artifact subtype "Powerstone" and the ability ": Add . This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell." |
| 2022-10-14 | You can use the added by a Powerstone token on anything that isn't a nonartifact spell. This includes paying costs to activate abilities of both artifact and nonartifact permanents, paying ward costs, and so on. |