Sinuous Striker MTG Card
2017-07-14 - Number 45
2017-07-14 - Number 7
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Naga Warrior |
| Abilities | Eternalize |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 2 |
Text of card
: Sinuous Striker gets +1/-1 until end of turn. Eternalize—, Discard a card. (, Discard a card, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token that's a copy of it, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie Naga Warrior with no mana cost. Eternalize only as a sorcery.)
Understanding the Sinuous Striker’s Position in MTG
Sinuous Striker enhances MTG’s broad array of creature cards with its own distinctive twist. Sharing its adaptability trait with cards like Skyship Plunderer, it offers players the flexibility to increase its power. While the Plunderer necessitates a successful hit to place a +1/+1 counter, Sinuous Striker allows you to beef up its power willingly by spending some extra mana.
Cards like Sinuous Striker
In a deck that values versatility, Sinuous Striker stands tall. Fans might draw parallels to the likes of the Adaptive Snapjaw. Although the Snapjaw can indeed become a giant on the battlefield, its limitation lies in its dependence on evolve to increase its power. In contrast, Sinuous Striker can immediately adjust its power at will, providing a more controllable impact during gameplay. Another comparable creature is the Merfolk Thaumaturgist, which can also alter power dynamics, albeit in a different manner by swapping power and toughness of creatures. This interchangeable ability shapes the board state in surprising ways, much as the Sinuous Striker’s power boost can abruptly swing the game in your favor.
Ultimately, Sinuous Striker earns a commendable position among its peers for its ability to adapt in the ever-shifting landscape of a MTG match, giving players a reliable tool to pressure their opponents and adapt to varied game scenarios.
Cards similar to Sinuous Striker by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Sinuous Striker offers a flexible card advantage strategy, enabling you to discard nonessential cards to power up or return it back to your hand. This adaptability can keep your hand full of options, ensuring you’re never at a loss for plays.
Resource Acceleration: While Sinuous Striker doesn’t directly accelerate your resources like some ramp spells, its ability to come back from the graveyard makes it a recurring threat that can save you mana over time. Investing in it repeatedly demands answers from your opponent, effectively draining their resources instead.
Instant Speed: The true strength of Sinuous Striker lies in its ability to be used at instant speed. This provides a significant tactical advantage, allowing you to adjust its power in the midst of combat or in response to an opponent’s actions, catching them off-guard and maximizing your strategic plays.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Sinuous Striker asks you to discard a card to use its ability, which may put you at a card disadvantage if your hand is already depleted or if the discarded card is valuable to your game strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: This creature comes with a specific mana requirement that needs both blue and generic mana to cast, potentially limiting its integration into multi-colored decks where mana resources are strained or require a higher level of mana fixing to operate efficiently.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With alternative creature cards in the MTG universe that might offer a similar or better power-to-mana cost ratio, Sinuous Striker’s mana investment may not always correlate to an equal level of board impact, especially considering more mana-efficient threats or multitudes of utility creatures available.
Reasons to Include Sinuous Striker in Your Collection
Versatility: Sinuous Striker offers a unique flexibility to adapt in various game situations. Its ability to pump up its power makes it a formidable threat that can grow to match the demands of the battlefield.
Combo Potential: This card is a natural fit for decks that capitalize on +1/+1 counters or want to exploit its Eternalize ability. With the right synergies, Sinuous Striker can become a recurring element in your game plan.
Meta-Relevance: In a gaming environment where resilience against removal is prized, Sinuous Striker excels. Its Eternalize ability ensures that it can return to the field even after being dealt with, making it a persistent nuisance for opponents and an asset for players aiming for longevity in their strategies.
How to beat
Sinuous Striker is an adaptable creature card in Magic: The Gathering with the ability to elude blockers and boost its power. Often found in blue-centric decks, Sinuous Striker leverages its prowess in both offense and defense. However, despite its flexibility, players can employ effective strategies to counteract this card’s potential.
Key to triumphing against Sinuous Striker is disrupting its ability to grow stronger or become elusive. Spells that restrict activated abilities, like Pithing Needle or Phyrexian Revoker, can neutralize its power-up tactic. Creature removal spells that don’t target, like Wrath of God or Damnation, can clear Sinuous Striker without it slipping away as a result of its ability to discard a card and gain the elusive state.
Moreover, it’s critical to avoid over-committing blockers against it if you can’t ensure its removal, as this could lead to losing multiple creatures in one confrontation. Therefore, conservative gameplay paired with strategic removal and ability lockdowns can effectively neutralize the threat of Sinuous Striker, maintaining control of the game state.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Sinuous Striker MTG card by a specific set like Hour of Devastation and Hour of Devastation, 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 Sinuous Striker and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- 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
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Printings
The Sinuous Striker Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2017-07-14 and 2017-07-14. Illustrated by Svetlin Velinov.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017-07-14 | Hour of Devastation | HOU | 45 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov | |
| 2 | 2017-07-14 | Hour of Devastation | HOU | 7 | 2015 | Token | Black | Svetlin Velinov |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Sinuous Striker has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sinuous Striker card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2017-07-14 | For each card with eternalize, a corresponding game play supplement token can be found in some Hour of Devastation booster packs. These supplements are not required to play with cards with eternalize; you can use the same items to represent an eternalized token as you would any other token. |
| 2017-07-14 | If a creature card with eternalize is put into your graveyard during your main phase, you’ll have priority immediately afterward. You can activate its eternalize ability before any player can try to exile it, such as with Crook of Condemnation, if it’s legal for you to do so. |
| 2017-07-14 | Once you’ve activated an eternalize ability, the card is immediately exiled. Opponents can’t try to stop the ability by exiling the card with an effect such as that of Crook of Condemnation. |
| 2017-07-14 | Several cards have an eternalize cost that includes “Discard a card.” You can’t discard the card with eternalize to pay its own cost because the card has to be in your graveyard to begin activating its eternalize ability. |
| 2017-07-14 | The token copies exactly what was printed on the original card and nothing else, except the characteristics specifically modified by eternalize. It doesn’t copy any information about the object the card was before it was put into your graveyard. |
| 2017-07-14 | The token is a Zombie in addition to its other types and is black instead of its other colors. Its base power and toughness are 4/4. It has no mana cost, and thus its converted mana cost is 0. These are copiable values of the token that other effects may copy. |