Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader MTG Card
2022-11-18 - Number 5
2022-11-18 - Number 20
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Mythic |
| Type | Legendary Artifact Creature — Robot |
| Abilities | Convert,Flying,More Than Meets the Eye |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 3 |
Key Takeaways
- Starscream enables card advantage and strategic flexibility with instant speed actions and transformative abilities.
- Special mana requirements and mandatory discards can hinder Starscream’s playability in some decks.
- It’s a strong meta choice, offering adaptability and combo potential to innovate and counteract prevalent strategies.
Text of card
More Than Meets the Eye (You may cast this card converted for .) Flying Whenever you draw a card, if you're the monarch, target opponent loses 2 life. Whenever one or more creatures deal combat damage to you, convert Starscream.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Starscream, Power Hungry lives up to its name by offering players an upper hand with its potential to amass significant card advantage. Its ability to draw cards or force opponents to discard ensures you are always a step ahead in the resource game.
Resource Acceleration: With Starscream, Seeker Leader, accelerating your resources becomes a tactical advantage. The card’s mechanism allows you to manipulate the battlefield by efficiently converting energy into dominance, setting you up for powerful future turns.
Instant Speed: The agility of Starscream, Power Hungry is apparent in its instant speed capabilities. This gives you the flexibility to act in response to your opponents’ moves, keeping your strategy adaptable and your turns impactful.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Players must discard a card to take full advantage of Starscream, Power Hungry’s abilities. This mandatory discard can be a hurdle, especially when your hand is already depleted or you’re holding key pieces for your game strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: Starscream, Seeker Leader requires a particular combination of mana colors to be played. Its precise mana demands can potentially restrict its inclusion to decks that can consistently provide those colors, thus reducing its versatility across various deck archetypes.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana investment needed to bring Starscream, Power Hungry into play is significant. When evaluating its cost in comparison to other options available, this transformer card may seem less appealing, particularly if a deck aims for efficiency and speed.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Starscream, Power Hungry offers a unique flexibility as a commander or part of the 99. Its synergistic nature allows it to adapt and thrive in multiple deck types. Its ability to fit into artifact-centric strategies, especially those revolving around vehicles, makes it a compelling choice for a diverse array of deck builds.
Combo Potential: With its dual capabilities of augmenting vehicle and artifact strategies, Starscream, Power Hungry has inherent combo potential. Its twin modalities as Starscream, Power Hungry and Starscream, Seeker Leader provide the tactical advantage of seamlessly shifting roles to match the evolving game state, enabling intricate play sequences and unexpected combo wins.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta that values flexibility and innovation, this card establishes itself as a formidable contender. Its transformative design can outmaneuver opponents and effectively counter widespread strategies, affirming its place in competitive play. Deck builders looking to remain ahead of the curve will find Starscream, Power Hungry a valuable and timely addition to their collection.
How to beat
Starscream, Power Hungry is a formidable card that brings unique challenges to the battlefield. Its power lies in growing stronger with each artifact you control, which means that minimizing the number of artifacts in play can significantly reduce its impact. Artifact removal spells like Abrade or Shatterstorm can swiftly disrupt the synergy Starscream thrives on. Consider incorporating these spells into your deck as they serve the dual purpose of dealing with the card itself and weakening its power source.
Alternatively, pinpoint removal spells that bypass Starscream’s potential indestructibility, such as Path to Exile or Murderous Rider’s Swift End effect, offer a direct solution to this threat. For those who favor a more comprehensive approach, board wipes that clear out multiple threats at once, like Wrath of God or Damnation, can also reset the playing field, stripping Starscream of its artifact-driven strength. By combining these strategies, you can effectively counter the advantages Starscream, Seeker Leader brings to your opponent’s game plan.
Understanding and preparing for the threats Starscream poses will give you an edge in maintaining control of the game. With the right strategy and timely responses, you can ensure that this Power Hungry mechanized menace doesn’t dominate the match.
Cards like Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader
Starscream, Power Hungry presents a unique twist as a creature spell within Magic: The Gathering. Its similarities lie with other commander cards that allow you to accumulate advantages throughout the gameplay, akin to Prossh, Skyraider of Kher. Both cards put an emphasis on player strategies that benefit from sacrificing creatures, but Starscream is distinguished by its ability to potentially transform into Starscream, Seeker Leader, thereby granting access to an alternative set of abilities and advantages.
Furthermore, we can draw parallels to the card Edgar, Charmed Groom, which also has a duality in terms of its transformation quality. It functions as a creature that provides value even after being destroyed, much like Starscream can offer in the right conditions. However, Starscream’s capability to transform back into Power Hungry after certain requirements shifts its comparison to another level, blending versatility with recurring value.
These examples showcase that while there are similarities between Starscream, Power Hungry and other transforming commanders, it upholds a unique identity with the remedial potential of its abilities. The ability to toggle between forms offers MTG players exciting gameplay strategies, making it a noteworthy addition to decks centered around transformation and creature sacrifice.
Cards similar to Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader MTG card by a specific set like Transformers and Transformers, 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 Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader 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
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Printings
The Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2022-11-18 and 2022-11-18. Illustrated by Volta Creation.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022-11-18 | Transformers | BOT | 5 | 2015 | Transform | Black | Volta Creation | |
| 2 | 2022-11-18 | Transformers | BOT | 20 | 2015 | Transform | Borderless | Volta Creation |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-10-14 | "Living metal" means "As long as it's your turn, this permanent is an artifact creature in addition to its other types." |
| 2022-10-14 | "More Than Meets the Eye -ost]" means "You may cast this card converted by paying -ost] rather than its mana cost." It functions in any zone from which the spell can be cast. |
| 2022-10-14 | A spell cast this way enters the battlefield with its back face up. |
| 2022-10-14 | Any triggered ability of another card that triggers whenever a permanent transforms will also trigger whenever a permanent converts. |
| 2022-10-14 | Converting a permanent doesn't affect any Auras or Equipment that are attached to it. Similarly, any counters on the permanent will remain on that permanent after it converts. Any continuous effects from a resolved spell or ability will continue to affect it. Any spells or abilities on the stack that target a permanent continue to do so after that permanent converts. |
| 2022-10-14 | If a static ability of another permanent applies only to noncreature permanents, that ability applies to a Vehicle with living metal only during your opponents' turns. For example, if you control Arcee, Acrobatic Coupe and March of the Machines, Arcee will be a 2/2 artifact creature during your turn and a 3/3 artifact creature (because its mana value is 3) during each opponent's turn. |
| 2022-10-14 | If combat damage dealt to the monarch causes that player to lose the game, the triggered ability that causes the controller of the attacking creature to become the monarch doesn't resolve. In most cases, the controller of the attacking creature will still become the monarch as it is likely their turn. |
| 2022-10-14 | If the monarch leaves the game during another player's turn, that player becomes the monarch. If the monarch leaves the game during their turn, the next player in turn order becomes the monarch. |
| 2022-10-14 | If the triggered ability that causes the monarch to draw a card goes on the stack and a different player becomes the monarch before that ability resolves, the first player will still draw the card. |
| 2022-10-14 | If you copy a permanent spell cast this way, the copy has the characteristics of the card's back face, even though it isn't itself a double-faced card. |
| 2022-10-14 | Similarly, an ability of another card that instructs you to "transform" one of these cards will cause you to convert it, even if that ability doesn't use the word "convert." |
| 2022-10-14 | The convert keyword action functions the same way as the transform keyword action found on some other cards; to convert a permanent on the battlefield, turn it over so that its other face is up. |
| 2022-10-14 | The cost is an alternative cost, so it can't be combined with any other alternative costs. It can be combined with any applicable additional costs. |
| 2022-10-14 | The game starts with no monarch. Once an effect makes one player the monarch, the game will have exactly one monarch from that point forward. As a player becomes the monarch, the current monarch (if any) ceases being the monarch. |
| 2022-10-14 | The mana value of a converted permanent on the battlefield is equal to the mana value of the card's front face, no matter which face is up. |
| 2022-10-14 | There are two inherent triggered abilities associated with being the monarch. These triggered abilities have no source and are controlled by the player who was the monarch at the time the abilities triggered. The full texts of these abilities are "At the beginning of the monarch's end step, that player draws a card" and "Whenever a creature deals combat damage to the monarch, its controller becomes the monarch." |
| 2022-10-14 | To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a More Than Meets the Eye cost) you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of a spell cast using More Than Meets the Eye is determined by the mana cost on the front face of the card, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was. |
| 2022-10-14 | When you cast a spell using its More Than Meets the Eye ability, the card is put onto the stack with its back face up. The resulting spell has all characteristics of that face. |
| 2022-10-14 | While it's a creature, the Vehicle has its printed power and toughness. |