Platinum Emperion MTG Card
2010-10-01 - Number 193
2018-12-07 - Number 233
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 8 |
| Rarity | Mythic |
| Type | Artifact Creature — Golem |
| Power | 8 |
| Toughness | 8 |
Key Takeaways
- Platinum Emperion secures life totals, altering deck compositions and in-game decisions in MTG.
- Its mana cost is high, yet it provides a unique edge, challenging opponents to adapt quickly.
- Emperion stays relevant, affecting various meta scenarios and enabling powerful combinations.
Text of card
Your life total can't change. (You can't gain or lose life. You can't pay any amount of life except 0.)
It ignores such insignificant forces as time, entropy, and death.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: While Platinum Emperion itself doesn’t directly allow you to draw cards, its presence can indirectly lead to card advantage by negating the need to play other life-stabilizing cards. This leaves more room in your deck and hand for other synergistic cards.
Resource Acceleration: Playing Platinum Emperion in decks that manipulate life totals can act as a form of resource acceleration. By not having to invest in life-gaining spells, you’re effectively accelerating your game plan to deploy threats or answers that interact with the board or your opponent directly.
Instant Speed: Though it’s not an instant, the near-immediate impact of Platinum Emperion on the game can be considerable. Its ability to shut down life total changes the moment it hits the battlefield means that your strategies involving life payments or life gain are secured, allowing you to operate at full efficiency without the worry of losing life.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One constraint of Platinum Emperion is that it can necessitate alteration in hand composition, often forcing players to keep specific cards to efficiently cast it without risk of discarding valuable pieces in the process.
Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost for Platinum Emperion includes a hefty sum of colorless mana, demanding a substantial energy reserve, which could stifle its deployment in mana-sensitive decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an eight mana expenditure, Platinum Emperion requires a significant investment, a potentially cumbersome obstacle when compared to other creatures or effects available at a lower cost threshold.
Reasons to Include Platinum Emperion in Your Collection
Versatility: Platinum Emperion stands out for its ability to thrive across various deck archetypes. Whether you are piloting a control-oriented build or a high-power casual deck, its impact on game dynamics by preventing your life total from changing can be a game-changer.
Combo Potential: The card pairs exceptionally well with effects that cause life payment for massive benefits, making for some explosive plays. The Platinum Emperion can be the cornerstone of combos that might otherwise be too risky, enabling dramatic shifts in board state and player advantage.
Meta-Relevance: With a dynamic and ever-shifting competitive environment, Platinum Emperion maintains relevance by challenging traditional deck strategies, particularly those that rely on quick life reduction. Its presence on the battlefield necessitates an answer from opponents, affirming its continued significance in diverse meta scenarios.
How to beat
Platinum Emperion is a formidable presence in the MTG arena, known for its game-altering ability to maintain your life total. Facing this eight-mana juggernaut can feel daunting due to its ability to lock your life points, but the card is not insurmountable. To tip the scales in your favor, focus on strategies that don’t involve life loss. Utilize removal spells such as Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile, which are adept at exiling creatures, getting around Emperion’s ability.
Another angle is to employ artifact destruction cards like Abrade or Shattering Spree, specifically targeting the Emperion directly to remove it from the board. If these options are outside of your colors, consider universal answers like Universal Solvent or Scour from Existence that can handle any permanent. Don’t forget that forcing your opponent to sacrifice their creatures bypasses Platinum Emperion’s protection, so cards like Diabolic Edict or Liliana of the Veil can prove invaluable. Dismember can also lower its toughness enough to destroy it, despite not altering your life.
Additionally, battle strategies like infect or commander damage can circumvent the life total aspect entirely, securing you a victory. By tailoring your deck with these countermeasures, you can effectively dismantle the threat of Platinum Emperion and take control of the match.
Cards like Platinum Emperion
Platinum Emperion stands as a titan in Magic the Gathering’s array of heavyweight creatures, bearing a resemblance to other high-impact cards in terms of casting cost and game-altering abilities. One such card is Blightsteel Colossus, which shares the eight-mana slot and also presents a game-ending threat with its infect prowess and indestructibility. However, while Blightsteel Colossus leans towards aggressiveness, Platinum Emperion emphasizes player protection by preventing life total changes.
Another comparable card is Avacyn, Angel of Hope, offering a different kind of defense with her legendary capacity to grant indestructibility to other permanents you control. Although Avacyn doesn’t shield your life total directly like Platinum Emperion, she is an enabler of sweeping board control. Serra Avatar also dances in this league, boasting a life-based power and toughness metric, yet it lacks the staying power provided by Platinum Emperion’s unique static ability.
In the greater scheme, Platinum Emperion may not be as immediately game-ending as Blightsteel Colossus or as widespread in its protection as Avacyn, but its specific niche in safeguarding player life totals carves out a distinctive role that can be pivotal in matches where maintaining a life buffer is crucial.
Cards similar to Platinum Emperion by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Platinum Emperion MTG card by a specific set like Scars of Mirrodin and Ultimate Masters, 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 Platinum Emperion 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 Magic products
Printings
The Platinum Emperion Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2010-10-01 and 2018-12-07. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2010-10-01 | Scars of Mirrodin | SOM | 193 | 2003 | normal | black | Chris Rahn | |
| 2 | 2018-12-07 | Ultimate Masters | UMA | 233 | 2015 | normal | black | Igor Kieryluk |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Platinum Emperion has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Platinum Emperion card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2018-12-07 | Abilities that trigger whenever damage is dealt to you will still trigger because that damage is still dealt, even though your life total doesn’t change as a result. |
| 2018-12-07 | Effects that replace an event with having you gain life (like Words of Worship’s effect does) or having you lose life will end up replacing the event with nothing. |
| 2018-12-07 | Effects that would replace having you gain life with some other event won’t be able to be applied because it’s impossible for you to gain life. |
| 2018-12-07 | If a cost would include causing you to gain life (like the alternative cost of an opponent’s Invigorate does), that cost can’t be paid. |
| 2018-12-07 | If an effect says to set your life total to a certain number, that part of the effect won’t do anything. |
| 2018-12-07 | If an effect would cause you to exchange life totals with another player, the exchange won’t happen. Neither player’s life total changes. |
| 2018-12-07 | In a Commander game, the damage dealt to you by commanders will still be counted, even if that damage doesn’t cause you to lose life. |
| 2018-12-07 | Platinum Emperion’s ability doesn’t prevent damage. Rather, it changes the results of that damage. For example, if a creature with lifelink deals damage to you, you won’t lose any life, but its controller will still gain that much life. Similarly, if a creature you control with lifelink deals damage to another player, that player will lose life but you won’t gain any life. |
| 2018-12-07 | Spells and abilities that would normally cause you to gain or lose life still resolve, but the life-gain or life-loss part simply has no effect. |
| 2018-12-07 | You can’t pay a cost that includes the payment of any amount of life other than 0 life. However, you can choose to be dealt damage, even though that damage won’t result in your life total changing. |
