Skill Borrower MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Artifact Creature — Human Wizard |
| Released | 2008-10-03 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Shards of Alara |
| Set code | ALA |
| Power | 1 |
| Toughness | 3 |
| Number | 56 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Shelly Wan |
Text of card
Play with the top card of your library revealed. As long as the top card of your library is an artifact or creature card, Skill Borrower has all activated abilities of that card. (If any of the abilities use that card's name, use this creature's name instead.)
Cards like Skill Borrower
Skill Borrower is an intriguing card choice for players who enjoy a strategic twist in their Magic: The Gathering gameplay. Its ability to harness the top card of your deck and utilize its activated abilities offers a unique dimension similar to the flexibility seen with Experimental Frenzy. This card allows you to play cards from the top of your library, which provides a continuous flow of resources that Skill Borrower could potentially exploit. Both cards promote an innovative way of utilizing your deck outside the traditional hand-play mechanics.
Another card, Aetherworks Marvel, parallels the Skill Borrower in terms of its ability to manipulate and utilize resources in an unconventional manner. Aetherworks Marvel leverages energy counters to look at and cast a card from the top six cards of your library, which introduces unpredictability and potential advantage into the game, akin to Skill Borrower’s top-deck ability usage. Although Skill Borrower requires a specific setup and the card on top of the library to be an actionable piece, the creative deck-building it stimulates echoes the inventive playstyle that Aetherworks Marvel also encourages.
While each card has its niche, Skill Borrower presents an interesting balance of risk and reward, encouraging players to weave a tapestry of synergies within their decks to maximize the potential gains from its unique activated ability borrowing feature.
Cards similar to Skill Borrower by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Skill Borrower stands out as a unique tool for increasing your card utility. While it doesn’t allow direct card draw, its ability to play with the top card of your library revealed creates opportunities for varied plays every turn, essentially expanding your hand.
Resource Acceleration: With Skill Borrower, your deck can effectively use the abilities of artifacts, creatures, and lands from the top of the library without even casting them. This can lead to a form of resource acceleration by bypassing mana costs and timing restrictions for those abilities.
Instant Speed: The utility of Skill Borrower can be amplified at instant speed. Activating abilities as though they were in play enables surprising interactions during an opponent’s turn, aligning well with a strategy that prioritizes flexibility and response.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Incorporating Skill Borrower into your gameplay comes with a strategic caveat – it necessitates the discard of a card to activate its ability. This can impose a strain on your card economy, especially during the late game where maintaining card advantage is crucial.
Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost for Skill Borrower is particularly restrictive, requiring a precise combination of blue and generic mana. This specific mana cost can constrain deck-building options, effectively narrowing the field of decks that can efficiently accommodate Skill Borrower.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost bordering on the upper end, Skill Borrower demands a substantial mana investment before its benefits can be reaped. This can impede your early game tempo, as other cards with lower mana costs might offer immediate and more impactful effects in the formative stages of the match.
Reasons to Include Skill Borrower in Your Collection
Versatility: Skill Borrower is a unique asset for decks that thrive on adaptability. Its ability to utilize the top card of your library allows for dynamic gameplay, adjusting to the context of the current match and the composition of your deck.
Combo Potential: With its ability to borrow activated abilities, Skill Borrower can become the cornerstone of ingenious combos. It pairs well with cards that have powerful abilities but are difficult to get onto the battlefield, essentially letting you exploit these effects in a less costly way.
Meta-Relevance: Depending on the prevailing deck types and the most used cards, Skill Borrower can significantly improve your game strategy. It can adapt to meta fluctuations, making it a valuable and proactive addition to any collection aiming to stay competitive.
How to Beat
Overcoming the dynamic influence of Skill Borrower in Magic: The Gathering can be a puzzle, given its unique ability to harness the top card of your library. As an artifact creature, Skill Borrower allows players to play with the top card of their library revealed, borrowing the activated abilities of the top card if it’s an artifact, creature, or land card until the end of turn. Tactically stifling Skill Borrower demands disrupting this synergy.
To gain the upper hand, effective strategies include library manipulation effects that ensure non-relevant cards remain on your opponent’s library top, nullifying Skill Borrower’s ability utility. Using instant-speed removal when the desired card is revealed but before the ability is activated can be decisive. Consider leveraging discard effects to strip strategic cards before they can reach the library top. Additionally, keep in mind that continuous shuffling effects can disturb the library’s order, undermining Skill Borrower’s potential.
Thus, harnessing disruption and removal at precise moments aligns your gameplay to navigate around the challenge posed by Skill Borrower, ensuring its borrowed skills never turn the tides against you in the multiverse of Magic: The Gathering.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Skill Borrower MTG card by a specific set like Shards of Alara, 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 Skill Borrower 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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Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Skill Borrower 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 Skill Borrower card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-10-01 | Activated abilities contain a colon. They’re generally written “ -ost: -ffect].” Some keywords are activated abilities; they have colons in their reminder text. |
| 2008-10-01 | If an effect tells you to draw several cards, reveal each one before you draw it. Skill Borrower will momentarily gain the activated abilities of artifact and creature cards revealed this way, but you won’t be able to activate those abilities while the effect is still happening. |
| 2008-10-01 | If the top card of your library changes while you’re activating one of Skill Borrower’s activated abilities gained from that card, the ability will still be activated and will resolve normally even though Skill Borrower has lost that ability. |
| 2008-10-01 | Skill Borrower may gain activated abilities that it can’t use. For example, if the top card of your library is an artifact or creature card with cycling, Skill Borrower will have cycling. However, since cycling can’t be activated from the battlefield, this won’t have any significant benefit. The same is true for unearth. |
| 2008-10-01 | The only difference between a colored artifact and a colorless artifact is, obviously, its color. Unlike most artifacts, a colored artifact requires colored mana to cast. Also unlike most artifacts, a colored artifact has a color in all zones. It will interact with cards that care about color. Other than that, a colored artifact behaves just like any other artifact. It will interact as normal with any card that cares about artifacts, such as Shatter or Arcbound Ravager. |