Lighthouse Chronologist MTG Card

Lighthouse Chronologist - Rise of the Eldrazi

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Mythic
Type	Creature — Human Wizard
Abilities	Level Up
Released	2010-04-23
Set symbol
Set name	Rise of the Eldrazi
Set code	ROE
Power	1
Toughness	3
Number	75
Frame	2003
Layout	Leveler
Border	Black
Illustred by	Steven Belledin

Key Takeaways

Lighthouse Chronologist excels in providing extra turns, greatly enhancing card and resource advantage.
It requires a dedicated blue mana base, limiting deck diversity and risking mana issues.
Fully leveled, it’s a formidable threat, necessitating swift removal to prevent game dominance.

Text of card

Level up (: Put a level counter on this. Level up only as a sorcery.) LEVEL 4-6 2/4 LEVEL 7+ 3/5 At the beginning of each end step, if it's not your turn, take an extra turn after this one.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Lighthouse Chronologist provides you with major advantages by enabling you to take extra turns after leveling up. This means more draw phases and potential plays, further solidifying your card advantage over the opponent.

Resource Acceleration: With the possibility of extra turns, Lighthouse Chronologist accelerates your resource accumulation. Not only do you get more land drops, but you also have additional opportunities to utilize your mana and cast more spells than your opponent.

Instant Speed: Although the leveling-up ability itself does not happen at instant speed, once fully leveled, the impact is felt immediately and can disrupt your opponent’s strategy at crucial turns. This capability allows you to optimize the timing of gaining extra turns, often catching opponents off guard and leading to significant tempo swings.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Lighthouse Chronologist does not require you to discard directly, it prompts a need for hand replenishment due to its level up ability. Ensuring you have a card to play each turn can be taxing on your hand, leading to instances where the Discard Requirement of other spells become more burdensome.

Specific Mana Cost: Lighthouse Chronologist has a very particular mana requirement of two blue mana in its casting cost. This specificity necessitates a strong commitment to blue Mana sources in your deck, potentially limiting the diversity of your deck’s color scheme and making it more susceptible to color screw.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The initial investment of two mana for a one-level creature might seem modest, but to fully harness the Chronologist’s potential, a substantial amount of mana is required to level it up. Taking into account the total mana that needs to be expended to reach the ultimate level, the cost is distinctly high when compared to other cards that can provide immediate impacts on the board state.

Reasons to Include Lighthouse Chronologist in Your Collection

Versatility: Lighthouse Chronologist is not bound to a single strategy, seamlessly integrating into decks that aim to take extra turns or benefit from manipulating time. It’s a blue card which means it pairs well with control and combo-style play.

Combo Potential: This card’s ability to level up and eventually grant you additional turns provides numerous synergies, especially in decks that focus on proliferate mechanics or with cards that untap permanents to generate extra value.

Meta-Relevance: As player turns can dictate the pace and outcome of a game, Lighthouse Chronologist holds its ground in environments where gaining the upper hand in turn sequences is crucial—making it a formidable card against various deck archetypes.

How to beat

Lighthouse Chronologist is a unique card in MTG due to its ability to level up and grant its controller extra turns once fully leveled. This can often swing the game in favor of the player that manages to maximize its potential. To combat this powerful card, swift removal is key. Cards that can deal with creatures both on and off the battlefield are crucial in preemptively managing the Chronologist before it becomes a major threat.

Counterspells are also effective since they can stop the Chronologist from hitting the board in the first place. If the game progresses and it does become a formidable force, board wipes or targeted removal spells capable of bypassing its level-up mechanic become necessary. Consider instant-speed interaction to disrupt your opponent’s strategy during their turn, minimizing the chance for them to accumulate extra turns. It’s essential to keep pace with the card’s level progression and disrupt it before it overwhelms you with an unstoppable chain of turns.

Remember, a proactive approach in resource management and control, alongside maintaining removal options in your hand, will ensure you’re prepared to counter the temporal dominance that Lighthouse Chronologist aims to establish in MTG.

BurnMana Recommendations

Enhancing your MTG collection and gameplay involves a strategic balance and understanding the nuances of cards like Lighthouse Chronologist. Its ability to shift the tides of time by granting extra turns can be a winning attribute in control-focused deck strategies. To make the most of this compelling card, consider incorporating synergistic pieces that protect and maximize its leveling potential. If you’re looking to adjust the tempo of your matches and gain a unique edge, delve into the myriad strategies that this card can unlock. Ready to explore the full potential of Lighthouse Chronologist and other time-warping cards? Visit us for insights that could redefine your approach to the game.

Cards like Lighthouse Chronologist

Lighthouse Chronologist stands as a unique fixture in the realm of Magic: The Gathering level up cards. It shares the stage with other level up creatures like Enclave Cryptologist. Both cards provide progressive value as more mana is invested into them. While Enclave Cryptologist progresses from a looter to an unconditional card draw engine, Lighthouse Chronologist skips straight to the late game potential, offering extra turns once fully leveled up.

The comparison doesn’t end there. Lighthouse Chronologist is often judged against another turn manipulator, Time Warp. Although Time Warp offers an immediate extra turn for five mana, it lacks the recurring ability that fully leveled Lighthouse Chronologists boast. This makes the Chronologist a potential game finisher in longer matches. Echo Mage is another contender with its ability to copy instant and sorcery spells. Although a formidable ability, it still doesn’t promise the recurring game dominance of a maxed-out Chronologist.

When evaluating the strategic advantages, Lighthouse Chronologist encapsulates a formidable threat when given enough time to level up. Its singular focus on accruing extra turns provides an unrivaled tactical edge in longer, control-focused matches, making it a standout among level up and extra-turn creatures alike.

Enclave Cryptologist - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lighthouse Chronologist MTG card by a specific set like Rise of the Eldrazi, 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 Lighthouse Chronologist and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lighthouse Chronologist has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Lighthouse Chronologist card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2010-06-15	A creature’s level is based on how many level counters it has on it, not how many times its level up ability has been activated or has resolved. If a leveler gets level counters due to some other effect (such as Clockspinning) or loses level counters for some reason (such as Vampire Hexmage), its level is changed accordingly.
2010-06-15	Effects that modify a leveler’s power or toughness, such as the effects of Giant Growth or Glorious Anthem, will apply to it no matter when they started to take effect. The same is true for counters that change the creature’s power or toughness (such as +1/+1 counters) and effects that switch its power and toughness.
2010-06-15	Effects that set a leveler’s power or toughness to a specific value, including the effects from a level symbol’s ability, apply in timestamp order. The timestamp of each level symbol’s ability is the same as the timestamp of the leveler itself, regardless of when the most recent level counter was put on it.
2010-06-15	If another creature becomes a copy of a leveler, all of the leveler’s printed abilities — including those represented by level symbols — are copied. The current characteristics of the leveler, and the number of level counters on it, are not. The abilities, power, and toughness of the copy will be determined based on how many level counters are on the copy.
2010-06-15	In a four-player game, if you have a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist and there are no other extra-turn effects, the game will proceed like this (with extra turns in brackets): your turn, opponent A’s turn, -our turn], opponent B’s turn, -our turn], opponent C’s turn, -our turn], your turn, opponent A’s turn, and so on. The same principle applies to a multiplayer game with a different number of players.
2010-06-15	In a multiplayer game, if multiple players each control a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist, extra turns may sometimes be created faster than they can be taken. Keep track of them carefully. If multiple Chronologist’s abilities trigger during the same turn, the player whose turn would show up sooner in the natural turn order will get the first extra turn. For example, say Players B and C each control a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist. Player A takes a turn. The game will proceed like this (with extra turns in brackets): Player A’s current turn, -layer B’s turn], -layer C’s turn], -layer B’s turn], -layer C’s turn], and so on. Because Players B and C will each add another extra turn after the other player’s extra turn, Player A will not take another turn as long as both level 7 Lighthouse Chronologists remain on the battlefield.
2010-06-15	In a two-player game, if you and your opponent each control a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist, they’ll essentially cancel each other out and you’ll alternate turns. Since all the turns you’d be taking are extra turns created by these abilities, make sure you know whose normal turn is supposed to be next in case one or both of the Lighthouse Chronologists leaves the battlefield.
2010-06-15	In a two-player game, if you have a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist and there are no other extra-turn effects, the game will proceed like this (with extra turns in brackets): your turn, your opponent’s turn, -our turn], your turn, your opponent’s turn, -our turn], your turn, your opponent’s turn, and so on.
2010-06-15	The abilities a leveler grants to itself don’t overwrite any other abilities it may have. In particular, they don’t overwrite the creature’s level up ability; it always has that.
2010-06-15	The effects of multiple level 7 Lighthouse Chronologists are cumulative. If you control two of them in a two-player game, you’ll take three turns for each turn your opponent takes.