Legerdemain MTG Card
1997-10-14 - Number 72
2015-05-06 - Number 57
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Sorcery |
Key Takeaways
- Trading permanents with Legerdemain can disrupt opponents and improve your board status.
- It requires specific mana and a card discard, which can limit its use.
- The card is versatile and can enable powerful combos, albeit at a higher mana cost.
Text of card
Permanently exchange control of target artifact or creature for control of target permanent of the same type.
Squee tucked the warm ball in his pocket and slipped a pebble in its place. 'Glok,' he mumbled, and hid.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Legerdemain is a spell that lets you trade permanents with your opponent, which can tilt the balance of board presence in your favor. This can effectively disrupt your opponent’s strategy while bolstering your own resources, leading to a potential advantage in card utility and value.
Resource Acceleration: By exchanging a low-value permanent such as an expendable token or land for a higher-value asset from your adversary, you accelerate your resource quality. This exchange can be likened to ramping up the potency of your assets on the battlefield without spending additional mana.
Instant Speed: While Legerdemain operates at sorcery speed, its impact on the game is immediate and profound. It disrupts the opponent’s plans on your turn, allowing you to maintain the element of surprise and make more informed decisions based on the evolved board state.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing Legerdemain demands a card to be discarded on top of its mana cost. This can be a sizeable drawback during gameplay, particularly in moments when card advantage is crucial, and you’re managing a slim hand size. Letting go one of your assets might not always be beneficial.
Specific Mana Cost: Legerdemain’s need for both blue mana can sometimes constrain its integration into a multi-colored deck. Players who run decks that don’t prioritize blue mana sources might find it challenging to meet Legerdemain’s casting requirements without affecting their mana base’s stability and flexibility.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Legerdemain sits at a noticeably higher point on the curve compared to other cards with similar swap or control effects. Considering this, its cost-effectiveness is often brought into question, especially when options that require less resource investment or provide additional benefits are available within the same, or adjacent, mana range.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Legerdemain, with its distinctive ability to exchange permanents, seamlessly integrates into various deck builds, particularly those that look to capitalize on the tactical advantages of asset swapping.
Combo Potential: The exchange mechanic of Legerdemain can be harnessed to create incredible combos, setting the stage for unforeseen plays and interactions by swapping potential threats or benefitting from opponents’ more powerful permanents.
Meta-Relevance: In a game climate where the battlefield often gets cluttered with a mix of diverse and powerful permanents, Legerdemain could serve a key role in disrupting opponent strategies and turning the tide in your favor.
How to Beat
Legerdemain is a unique card that can be quite the thorn in a player’s side, allowing someone to exchange control of two nonland permanents. Playing against this card requires careful strategy. To navigate around this card, it’s best to manage permanents that are less crucial to your strategy or have detrimental effects for the opponent if they take control. Asymmetric board states where you have less to lose from an exchange are ideal.
Moreover, employing instant-speed removal or bounce spells in response to Legerdemain can disrupt the swap. Take advantage of the fact that Legerdemain is a sorcery and prepare your moves for when you can react quickly. Targeted removal like Disenchant or even general-purpose cards like Doom Blade can also be a safety net, allowing you to remove either the threat being targeted or the permanent you’d receive before the exchange happens. Always remember, being proactive and maintaining card advantage is key to outmaneuvering the cunning playstyle that Legerdemain encourages.
In essence, combat Legerdemain by prioritizing valuable permanents, and keep reactive spells handy. This will help you retain the upper hand and minimize the impact of this trickery-infused card on your overall game plan.
Cards like Legerdemain
Legerdemain from Magic: The Gathering offers a unique twist within the pool of blue sorcery cards. With the ability to exchange control of two nonland permanents, it opens up diverse strategic plays. Comparable to this in the art of swapping is the card Switcheroo, which also involves trading creatures between players. However, Legerdemain provides a broader scope, allowing any nonland permanents to be exchanged, not just creatures.
Then there’s Cultural Exchange, that shares the theme of exchanging control but operates on a larger scale, potentially swapping a multitude of creatures at once. The versatility of Legerdemain is narrower in comparison to this wider affecting swap effect. Conversely, it is the simplicity of the two-permanent exchange of Legerdemain that can sometimes offer more precision and control in certain in-game scenarios.
From a strategic standpoint, Legerdemain’s pinpoint swap mechanism can be key to disrupting opponent’s combos or turning the tide by seizing a critical permanent. While it might not have the sweeping impact of Cultural Exchange, its calculated exchange approach grants it a distinctive position among MTG’s control-altering spells.
Cards similar to Legerdemain by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Legerdemain MTG card by a specific set like Tempest and Tempest Remastered, 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 Legerdemain 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
Printings
The Legerdemain Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1997-10-14 and 2015-05-06. Illustrated by Daren Bader.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1997-10-14 | Tempest | TMP | 72 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Daren Bader | |
| 2 | 2015-05-06 | Tempest Remastered | TPR | 57 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Daren Bader |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Legerdemain has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Legerdemain card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-04-01 | You can’t cast Legerdemain unless both targets share a type at that time. It will also check to make sure they share a type as it resolves. If they no longer do so, the exchange will not occur. |
