Tome Shredder MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Wolf |
| Abilities | Haste |
| Released | 2021-04-23 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Strixhaven: School of Mages |
| Set code | STX |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 117 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Sam Rowan |
Key Takeaways
- Graveyard manipulation with Tome Shredder enhances strategies and hampers opponents’ plans efficiently.
- Instant speed ability allows for flexible and tactical responses during critical gameplay moments.
- Demanding mana requirements and discard costs require careful deck building and play considerations.
Text of card
Haste , Exile an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard: Put a +1/+1 counter on Tome Shredder.
"Quintorius, would you care to explain why you didn't complete your homework?" —Augusta, Lorehold dean
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Tome Shredder offers a reliable way to churn through your deck, enabling you to potentially access more of your key cards while also disrupting your opponent’s graveyard strategy.
Resource Acceleration: Its secondary ability can be harnessed to exalt key spells in your own graveyard, thus speeding up the resource advantage and enabling the casting of stronger spells sooner when strategic conditions are ripe.
Instant Speed: This card operates at instant speed, empowering you to make optimal plays at the most critical moments. It contributes to the nimbleness and flexibility of your strategy, allowing for responses to an opponent’s actions during their turn.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Engaging with Tome Shredder in your deck means you’ll have to meet its discard requirements. Each time you want to utilize its ability, a card must be tossed from your hand. This could potentially leave you at a resource disadvantage, particularly in tight games where every card counts.
Specific Mana Cost: Tome Shredder demands a certain combination of mana to cast. This particular mix might not always align with the mana you have available, making it a less versatile choice in a game where mana flexibility can be crucial to victory.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: When considering its capabilities, Tome Shredder’s mana cost can be seen as steep compared to other options in the MTG universe. Savvy players might find other cards that fulfill a similar role at a lower cost, leading to more strategic and economical deck building choices.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Tome Shredder can be a useful addition to various deck archetypes, ranging from aggressive strategies that need to manage graveyard resources to control decks interested in incremental advantage over time.
Combo Potential: This card offers synergy with strategies that capitalize on casting spells from the graveyard or leveraging the number of cards in the graveyard for added benefits.
Meta-Relevance: With a constantly shifting landscape, having a card like Tome Shredder at your disposal is important as it can counter prevalent graveyard-centric decks, making it a timely inclusion to adapt to current trends.
How to beat
Tome Shredder is a unique card that poses a challenge for many MTG players due to its ability to exile cards from graveyards and grow stronger with each turn it remains on the battlefield. However, one effective strategy for combating Tome Shredder is to limit the card’s opportunities to feed off graveyard contents. You can achieve this by utilizing cards that empty your graveyard or shuffle back into your library, thus depriving Tome Shredder of its fuel.
Additionally, instant-speed removal spells are highly effective against Tome Shredder. These allow you to wait until your opponent taps out to invest in pumping up the Tome Shredder, and then remove it before it can become a substantial threat. Furthermore, implementing graveyard hate cards can stifle the power of Tome Shredder by continuously exiling the cards from graveyards before Tome Shredder has the chance to act.
Ultimately, denying resources, planning your removals thoughtfully, and controlling the state of graveyards are key components in overcoming the challenge presented by Tome Shredder. A proactive approach to managing your own graveyard and the board will ensure that the threat of this card is mitigated effectively in your games.
Cards like Tome Shredder
Tome Shredder is a unique entry into the broad library of creature cards in MTG. It is akin to creatures like Scrabbling Claws that also interact with cards in graveyards. While Scrabbling Claws focuses on targeted graveyard hate with its ability to exile cards, Tome Shredder offers a repeatable effect. Its ability to mill a card each turn gives it cumulative value, especially in strategies revolving around graveyard manipulation.
Examining Sage’s Row Denizen, we observe it has a similar mill-focused strategy. However, it triggers upon other blue creatures entering the battlefield, favoring a more synergistic approach in the blue creature-heavy decks. On the other hand, Tome Shredder does not rely on other creatures and can be a standalone threat that grows over time. Another card for comparison would be the relentless Ghoulcaller’s Bell, which indiscriminately mills all players each turn. Though the Bell affects all players, Tome Shredder provides the leverage of targeting only the opponent’s library, avoiding potential self-sabotage.
Ultimately, Tome Shredder has its niche in MTG as a creature that both disrupts opponents and becomes a vested threat as the game progresses. Its unique set of skills makes it a noteworthy choice for players looking to craft a deck with strategic graveyard interactions.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Tome Shredder MTG card by a specific set like Strixhaven: School of Mages, 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 Tome Shredder 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 Tome Shredder has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
