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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Stalking Drone’s interaction with colorless mana sources can equate to a card advantage. In decks that can easily produce colorless mana, its ability to be consistently pumped makes it a recurring threat that opponents must deal with, potentially saving your other creatures from removal.

Resource Acceleration: This creature’s ability to convert colorless mana into a form of board presence accelerates the effectiveness of your mana resources. Instead of simply adding mana, it transforms your colorless mana into increased power, turning your lands or artifacts into potential damage.

Instant Speed: While Stalking Drone itself is not an instant, its activated ability can be used at instant speed. This allows flexibility during combat, as it can surprise an unknowing opponent during the attack or block phase, swinging combat situations in your favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The activation of Stalking Drone’s ability is contingent on discarding a card. This could potentially set you back, particularly if your hand is already dwindling. Keeping a healthy hand size is critical, and using Stalking Drone’s ability might force tough decisions when hand resources are scarce.

Specific Mana Cost: Stalking Drone requires colorless mana to activate its pumping ability. This condition not only restricts it to decks that can produce colorless mana but also competes for that asset with other colorless mana needs you may have, limiting flexibility and consistency in gameplay.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For a two-mana cost creature, the expectation is for a moderate effect or stats. However, the necessity to invest additional mana to make Stalking Drone formidable means you’re diverting resources that could potentially be used for other creatures or spells, affecting your board presence and tempo.

Reasons to Include Stalking Drone in Your Collection

Versatility: Stalking Drone slides easily into a variety of deck types, making the most of its colorless mana flexibility. It’s particularly effective in decks that focus on colorless mana sources or those looking to capitalize on the Devoid mechanic.

Combo Potential: With the ability to pump itself using colorless mana, Stalking Drone can be a key player in combos that synergize with creature strength enhancements or require formidable creatures on the board to activate certain abilities.

Meta-Relevance: Given that creature-based strategies are a constant in the MTG scene, Stalking Drone holds relevance by offering an efficient creature that can adjust to the ever-changing meta, acting as a resilient threat in the early to mid-game phases.

How to beat

Stalking Drone emerges from the Oath of the Gatewatch set as an adaptable creature card with the potential to pose a significant threat on the board. Its ability to be buffed up with colorless mana makes it a versatile attacker or blocker in the right deck. To effectively counter Stalking Drone, it’s crucial to disrupt its synergy with colorless mana. Without access to this resource, Stalking Drone loses its menacing edge and becomes a more manageable creature for opponents to face.

Utilizing removal spells that target creatures regardless of their size, such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile, can be an effective way to remove Stalking Drone from play without having to engage it in combat. Similarly, deck strategies that limit mana production, such as land destruction or enchantments like Blood Moon, can hinder an opponent’s ability to pump Stalking Drone. Lastly, overarching control strategies that reduce the effectiveness of creature strategies, in general, can keep Stalking Drone at bay, making it a less significant factor in the matchup. Understanding and anticipating your opponent’s tactics can be the key to neutralizing their Stalking Drone’s advantage.