Workshop Warchief MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Rhino Warrior
Abilities Blitz,Trample
Power 5
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. The card provides card advantage and accelerates resource allocation, strengthening your artifact game.
  2. Instant-speed synergy offers dynamic gameplay, though specific mana needs may limit deck inclusion.
  3. It’s versatile, with combo potential and meta relevance, yet has its counters and requires careful play.

Text of card

Trample When Workshop Warchief enters the battlefield, you gain 3 life. When Workshop Warchief dies, create a 4/4 green Rhino Warrior creature token. Blitz (If you cast this spell for its blitz cost, it gains haste and "When this creature dies, draw a card." Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Workshop Warchief provides a consistent card advantage as it allows you to potentially draw extra cards each turn you control an artifact.

Resource Acceleration: With the ability to reduce the cost of artifact spells you cast, Workshop Warchief can significantly accelerate your resource allocation, allowing you to deploy threats earlier than usual.

Instant Speed: Although not an instant itself, Workshop Warchief synergizes well with instant-speed artifacts, enabling dynamic plays and surprise interactions during any phase of the game.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Workshop Warchief necessitates that you discard another card to unleash its potential. For players running tight on their hand contents, this can create a strategic setback as it depletes the options available during crucial phases of the game.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires a specific mana combination to cast, which aligns with decks that can generate both colorless and red mana with ease. This requirement may restrict its inclusion solely to decks where the mana base supports such specific demands, potentially limiting its versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Workshop Warchief’s mana value brings into question its cost-effectiveness. With a need to invest four mana, including three colorless and one red, some players might argue that there are other card options available that bring similar or greater value for less of a mana commitment, leaving room for debate on its overall efficiency in competitive play.


Reasons to Include Workshop Warchief in Your Collection

Versatility: Workshop Warchief is a strong addition to any collection because of its flexible nature. It can easily slide into artifact-centric and red aggro decks, bolstering your board presence with its respectable stats.

Combo Potential: This card has inherent synergy with setups that capitalize on artifact synergies or need a reliable way to power up vehicles and other artifact-based strategies. Its ability to reduce the cost of artifact spells makes it a linchpin for combo-driven decks.

Meta-Relevance: Considering the pace of the current MTG landscape, Workshop Warchief offers a timely advantage, fitting comfortably into the prevailing meta. It acts as both an offensive and a strategic piece, able to hold its own against a variety of popular deck archetypes.


How to Beat Workshop Warchief

Workshop Warchief has etched a place for itself in the world of MTG as a formidable artifact creature card. Renowned for its cost reduction ability for artifact spells and its potential to turn into a colossal beater when equipped with three or more artifacts, Workshop Warchief offers a strategic edge that can sway the tide of a match. However, even the mightiest cards have their Achilles’ heel.

Managing the presence of Workshop Warchief necessitates timely removal. Artifact removal spells like Abrade or Shatter are key to dismantling the Warchief before it can assert dominance. Efficient counterplay focuses on preemptive action; thus, holding up instant-speed interaction plays a pivotal role. Additionally, it’s essential to limit the number of artifacts on your opponent’s battlefield to restrain the Warchief’s power surge. A strategy that addresses artifact accumulation while keeping pressure on the board will hold the Warchief at bay.

The crux of defeating the Workshop Warchief lies in proactive disruption and thwarting the artifact synergy upon which it thrives. Striking a balance between board control and resource management can effectively neutralize the Warchief’s advantage and lead you to victory on the MTG battlefield.


Cards like Workshop Warchief

The Workshop Warchief card is a robust addition to creature-based strategies in Magic: The Gathering. It shares functionalities with other artifact creatures like Steel Overseer, which can be a game-changer by incrementally boosting the power and toughness of your artifact creatures. However, Workshop Warchief differentiates itself by offering a more versatile skill set, enabling you to sacrifice artifacts to draw cards, thus providing both an offensive and a defensive utility.

Looking at Foundry Inspector, another card that echoes the artifact-centric theme, it helps to reduce the cost of your artifact spells, aligning with Workshop Warchief’s ability to ease casting higher-cost artifacts. Whereas the Warchief offers a draw mechanism through its sacrifice ability, the Inspector focuses solely on cost-reduction. This makes Warchief adaptable in situations where replenishing your hand is as vital as deploying threats.

Lastly, Chief of the Foundry, similar in its name and tribal leadership role, boosts other artifact creatures’ stats. While both cards strengthen your artifact presence, Workshop Warchief brings the additional benefit of card draw, especially crucial in longer games where maintaining card advantage can be the key to victory.

Each of these similar cards can be an essential cog in artifact decks, but Workshop Warchief’s utility in balancing board presence and card advantage could be a decisive factor in its favor among MTG players.

Steel Overseer - MTG Card versions
Foundry Inspector - MTG Card versions
Chief of the Foundry - MTG Card versions
Steel Overseer - MTG Card versions
Foundry Inspector - MTG Card versions
Chief of the Foundry - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Workshop Warchief MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Streets of New Capenna, 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 Workshop Warchief and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Workshop Warchief Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2022-04-29 and 2022-04-29. Illustrated by Zoltan Boros.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 997152015NormalBlackZoltan Boros
22022-04-29Streets of New CapennaSNC 1652015NormalBlackZoltan Boros
32022-04-29Streets of New Capenna PromosPSNC 165s2015NormalBlackZoltan Boros
42022-04-29Streets of New Capenna PromosPSNC 165p2015NormalBlackZoltan Boros
52022-04-29Streets of New CapennaSNC 4322015NormalBlackZoltan Boros

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Workshop Warchief has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Workshop Warchief card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2022-04-29 If a creature enters the battlefield as a copy of or becomes a copy of a creature whose blitz cost was paid, the copy won't have haste, won't be sacrificed, and its controller won't draw a card when it dies.
2022-04-29 If you choose to pay the blitz cost rather than the mana cost, you're still casting the spell. It goes on the stack and can be responded to and countered. You can cast a creature spell for its blitz cost only if you could cast that creature spell. Most of the time, this means during your main phase when the stack is empty.
2022-04-29 If you pay the blitz cost to cast a creature spell, that permanent will be sacrificed only if it's still on the battlefield when that triggered ability resolves. If it dies or goes to another zone before then, it will stay where it is.
2022-04-29 The triggered ability that lets its controller draw a card triggers when it dies for any reason, not just when you sacrifice it during the end step.
2022-04-29 You don't have to attack with the creature with blitz unless another ability says you do.