Search the Premises MTG Card


Generates card advantage with Clue tokens every time an opponent summons creatures. Allows for seamless integration with artifact strategies and instant speed actions. Requires strategic hand management due to discard effects inherent in its mechanic.
Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment
Abilities Investigate

Text of card

Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, investigate. (Create a Clue token. It's an artifact with ", Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.")

"To halt these lurid practices, Geralf must be found and made an example of." —Inquisitor Delmund


Cards like Search the Premises

Search the Premises is an intriguing card from Magic: The Gathering, offering a distinct approach to controlling the board. It stands in line with comparable enchantments that provide ongoing benefits, such as Smothering Tithe, which has become a staple in white decks that focus on resource advantage. Both cards excel in generating tokens—Search the Premises creates Clue tokens whenever a creature attacks, while Smothering Tithe produces Treasure tokens when opponents draw cards.

Analogous to Search the Premises is Ghostly Prison. Although it doesn’t offer token generation, it hinders opponent attacks by imposing a mana cost. Ghostly Prison affects the game’s tempo directly, reminiscent of how Search the Premises indirectly can by forcing opponents to think twice before swinging with a full team. Court of Grace, on the other hand, provides a consistent token production mechanism and can also produce an evasive threat while increasing the monarch mechanic’s value in the game. While Search the Premises offers more immediate board interaction every combat, Court of Grace gradually amasses value over time.

Ultimately, choosing Search the Premises or its counterparts depends on deck strategy and desired board impact. It particularly shines in decks aimed at deterring attacks and scaling up card advantage over time, demonstrating its place in the roster of control-focused enchantments in Magic: The Gathering.

Smothering Tithe - MTG Card versions
Ghostly Prison - MTG Card versions
Court of Grace - MTG Card versions
Smothering Tithe - MTG Card versions
Ghostly Prison - MTG Card versions
Court of Grace - MTG Card versions

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Angelic Voices - MTG Card versions
Seeker - MTG Card versions
Drought - MTG Card versions
Justice - MTG Card versions
Divine Transformation - MTG Card versions
Field of Souls - MTG Card versions
Light of Day - MTG Card versions
Opal Titan - MTG Card versions
Ivory Mask - MTG Card versions
Parallax Wave - MTG Card versions
Worship - MTG Card versions
Diversionary Tactics - MTG Card versions
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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Search the Premises offers a consistent way to build card advantage each time your opponent plays a creature. With every creature’s arrival on your opponent’s side, you’ll get a Clue token which can be cashed in for card draw, ensuring you’re never falling behind in the resource game.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly producing mana, the Clue tokens generated can be sacrificed not only for card draw but also can synergize with other cards that benefit from artifacts entering or leaving the battlefield, indirectly accelerating your resources.

Instant Speed: The ability to create Clue tokens occurs at instant speed with each creature’s appearance, which meshes perfectly with the flash and instant elements of your deck. This ensures your mana is efficiently used across both your turn and your opponent’s, keeping you poised for the right moment to respond or gain value.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The innate mechanic of Search the Premises necessitates a strategic approach to hand management. While its ability can benefit your game plan, it is essential to note the potential necessity to discard from your hand, which can put you at a disadvantage, especially if you’re already low on cards.

Specific Mana Cost: Search the Premises has a mana cost that includes white mana, making it a potentially exclusive option for only certain deck archetypes. Decks not running white mana—or those that struggle with color fixing—might find it challenging to integrate this card effectively.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that requires four mana, including two white, some players might consider Search the Premises to be on the higher end of the mana curve for its effect. This can be particularly consequential in faster-paced games where efficiency is key, and there might be alternatives that achieve similar outcomes at a lower cost.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Search the Premises offers a unique mechanism to control the flow of the game by generating Clue tokens. This card can be integrated effectively into decks that thrive on additional draw opportunities or require specific triggers whenever artifacts come into play.

Combo Potential: The Clue tokens created by this card have inherent synergy with decks that capitalize on artifacts. They can fuel strategies focused on sacrificing artifacts for gain or enhance combos by providing an engine for card draw.

Meta-Relevance: In formats where games tend to be drawn out and interactions are key, Search the Premises provides steady advantage by deterring opponents’ attacks and turning them into potential card draw, ensuring relevance across various metas.


How to beat

Search the Premises is a unique enchantment in MTG that can be quite tricky to play against. It activates when a creature attacks and creates a Clue artifact token, which the defending player can later sacrifice for card advantage. This mechanism encourages a slow, control-based game, rewarding the player each time their opponent initiates combat.

To effectively counter this card, consider minimizing the number of attacks to limit the generation of Clue tokens. Direct removal spells that can target enchantments, such as Disenchant or Mortify, allow you to bypass this passive strategy. Another approach is to increase the potency of your own attack to overwhelm your opponent’s defenses, rendering their incremental card advantage less effective in the face of decisive, powerful strikes. Additionally, employing effects that strip cards from your opponent’s hand could diminish the value gained from those clues, even before they’re cracked open for extra cards. Therefore, with the right strategy and a well-constructed deck, overpowering the passive benefits of Search the Premises can be achieved, paving the way to victory.


BurnMana Recommendations

Considering the insights gained from the analysis of Search the Premises, we see the card’s potential to shape gameplay. By incorporating this card into your MTG collection, you harness its ability to generate value and adapt to a variety of metagame scenarios. Whether its role is to maximize your card draw from the Clue tokens or to synergize with artifact-centric strategies, Search the Premises can be an asset in your deck-building arsenal. Understanding both its strengths and limitations is key to leveraging its effects for optimal play. Eager to explore more about this card’s place in your MTG endeavors? Dive deeper with us and enhance your collection with strategic choices that could define your next victory.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Search the Premises // Search the Premises MTG card by a specific set like Modern Horizons 2 Art Series and Modern Horizons 2, 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 Search the Premises // Search the Premises and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Search the Premises // Search the Premises Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2021-06-18 and 2024-02-09. Illustrated by Matt Stewart.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12021-06-18Modern Horizons 2 Art SeriesAMH2 7s2015Art seriesBorderlessMatt Stewart
22021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 292015NormalBlackMatt Stewart
32021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 3322015NormalBlackMatt Stewart
42021-06-18Modern Horizons 2 Art SeriesAMH2 72015Art seriesBorderlessMatt Stewart
52021-06-19Modern Horizons 2 PromosPMH2 29s2015NormalBlackMatt Stewart
62024-02-09Murders at Karlov Manor CommanderMKC 812015NormalBlackMatt Stewart

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Search the Premises has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PennyLegal