Shape Anew MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Sorcery |
| Released | 2010-10-01 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Scars of Mirrodin |
| Set code | SOM |
| Number | 43 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai |
Key Takeaways
- ‘Shape Anew’ can turn an insignificant artifact into a potential game-changer, offering significant board improvement.
- By sidestepping high-mana costs, it accelerates resources, bringing costly creatures into play early.
- Instant-speed artifact creation strategies can amplify ‘Shape Anew’s’ transformative impact during gameplay.
Text of card
The controller of target artifact sacrifices it, then reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals an artifact card. That player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles all other cards revealed this way into his or her library.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: ‘Shape Anew’ has the potential to flip a low-value artifact into a game-changing creature, which can result in a significant upgrade to your board state.
Resource Acceleration: ‘Shape Anew’ can act as a form of resource acceleration by cheating a high-cost creature onto the battlefield far earlier than you normally could, bypassing the traditional mana cost.
Instant Speed: While ‘Shape Anew’ must be cast at sorcery speed, the ability to transform an artifact can be set up to occur instantly with cards that create artifacts at instant speed, allowing for surprising and potentially powerful plays.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Shape Anew necessitates the sacrifice of an artifact you control before it can be cast, which can set you back if your board is lacking in expendable artifacts.
Specific Mana Cost: This card requires both blue and generic mana to play, potentially limiting its integration into multi-colored decks that may not have a consistent access to blue mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Shape Anew might be seen as costly when compared to other artifact synergy cards, possibly slowing down your game plan in fast-paced matches.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Shape Anew offers an adaptable tool for decks that enjoy tinkering with artifacts. It provides an avenue for transforming any artifact into a surprise element from your library, breathing new life into your gameplay.
Combo Potential: This card shines in scenarios where you can control the outcome by stacking your deck with powerful artifacts. It pairs well with cheap artifact tokens, setting the stage for a game-changing artifact to enter the battlefield.
Meta-Relevance: With the shifting landscape of competitive play, Shape Anew keeps opponents guessing. In a meta heavy on removals or with fewer counterspells, it can bypass traditional defenses and turn the tides in your favor with a well-timed swap.
How to beat
Shape Anew is a unique card in the arsenal of a Magic: The Gathering player. To effectively counter it, understanding its mechanism is key—it converts an existent artifact on the field into a potentially game-changing creature. The first strategy in thwarting this transformation is by employing artifact removal options like Abrade or Shatter, targeting the player’s artifacts before they can enact Shape Anew. Since Shape Anew requires a target artifact to function, having none on the board makes it a dead card in your opponent’s hand.
Another approach is to limit the number of impactful creatures your opponent can pull from their deck. Utilizing cards that manipulate deck order, such as Lantern of Insight, combined with Codex Shredder or Ghoulcaller’s Bell, allow you to keep a close watch on your opponent’s library, ensuring that only mundane creatures are available to be cheated out by Shape Anew. Furthermore, if you’re able to maintain control over the battlefield and pressure your opponent, they may be forced to use their artifacts for other purposes, thus diluting the potential value of their Shape Anew.
The key to overcoming Shape Anew lies in preparation and control, maintaining a vigilant stance against your opponent’s artifacts while simultaneously restricting their valuable creature resources. This dual focus can neuter the effectiveness of Shape Anew, giving you the upper hand in the game.
Cards like Shape Anew
Shape Anew is an intriguing spell in Magic: The Gathering that opens up a realm of possibilities, not unlike cards such as Polymorph. Both Shape Anew and Polymorph share the theme of transforming a creature on the battlefield into something unpredictable from the deck. Shape Anew, however, requires an artifact to be sacrificed as part of its casting cost which adds a layer of deck-building strategy compared to the broader requirement of Polymorph.
Another familiar card is Indomitable Creativity, which also orchestrates a transformation. This spell intensifies the effect by allowing multiple artifacts and/or creatures to be sacrificed, escalating the potential for a game-changing play. Indomitable Creativity does have a higher mana cost but makes up for it in scalability. Transmute Artifact brings in a Blue twist to the artifact theme but with a reserved approach, directly fetching an artifact with a mana cost adjustment, which trades the surprise element of Shape Anew for more control.
Overall, Shape Anew offers a unique blend of surprise and strategy. It stands out for its requirement of an artifact, a criterion that can be cleverly manipulated for high-impact plays. Its comparison with other transformative spells underscores its potential to be a pivotal card in MTG decks centered around artifacts.
Cards similar to Shape Anew by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Shape Anew MTG card by a specific set like Scars of Mirrodin, 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 Shape Anew 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
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Shape Anew 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 Shape Anew card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2011-01-01 | If the first card the player reveals is an artifact card, they will still have to shuffle their library even though no other cards were revealed this way. |
| 2011-01-01 | If the targeted artifact is an illegal target by the time Shape Anew resolves, the spell doesn’t resolve. Nothing else happens. |
| 2011-01-01 | If the targeted artifact’s controller can’t sacrifice it (due to Tajuru Preserver, perhaps), the other effects of the spell will still happen. |
| 2011-01-01 | If there are no artifact cards in the player’s library, all the cards in that library are revealed, then the library is shuffled. (The targeted artifact remains sacrificed.) |
