Esper Sojourners MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Artifact Creature — Vedalken Wizard
Abilities	Cycling
Released	2009-04-30
Set symbol
Set name	Alara Reborn
Set code	ARB
Power	2
Toughness	3
Number	107
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	John Avon

Key Takeaways

Enhances card advantage through cycling, which broadens strategic options during gameplay.
Mana boost from cycling accelerates resource availability, essential for outpacing opponents.
Instant speed cycling offers strategic flexibility, letting players adapt quickly to changes.

Text of card

When you cycle Esper Sojourners or it's put into a graveyard from play, you may tap or untap target permanent. Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

The wilder the frontier, the greater the need for a controlling hand.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Esper Sojourners rewards players with additional cards when cycling, keeping their options plentiful and their hands ready for any situation that may arise on the battlefield.

Resource Acceleration: This multifaceted card aligns with Esper’s identity by offering not just card filtering but also a temporary mana boost, which can be pivotal in casting key spells ahead of schedule.

Instant Speed: The ability to cycle Esper Sojourners at instant speed gives players the flexibility to adapt to the evolving game state, ensuring that they make the most informed decisions with the most current information available.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Esper Sojourners necessitates the discarding of a card to unlock its cycling ability. While this can be synergistic in certain strategies, it poses a challenge when your hand is sparse, effectively forcing a choice between retaining a potentially vital card and cycling for more options.

Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost that includes white, blue, and black mana, Esper Sojourners demands a precise mana base, which can be tricky to manage, especially in faster-paced games where mana flexibility is key to deploying threats and answers efficiently.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Bearing a mana value that taps out at three, this card competes with other options within the same range that could offer immediate board impact or more substantial advantages without the need for additional cost or setup.

Reasons to Include Esper Sojourners in Your Collection

Versatility: Esper Sojourners stands out for its ability to be utilized across various deck types. With its multicolored nature, it complements decks seeking to optimize their mana base and take advantage of multiple colors.

Combo Potential: This card can also be an essential piece in combo decks. Its capacity to cycle for card draw allows players to sift through their deck quickly, while its exile feature has synergy with strategies that capitalize on card displacement.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where adaptability is essential, Esper Sojourners aligns well with the demands of fluctuating metas. Its attributes can provide an edge against certain deck archetypes that dominate competitive play.

How to Beat Esper Sojourners

Overcoming Esper Sojourners in your MTG matches can be quite the task given its dynamic playability across various deck types. This card brings a unique set of abilities to the table, allowing players to cycle for a new card, and when cycled, you can have another player discard a card. However, as with any challenge in Magic: The Gathering, there are strategies to outmaneuver this ability.

To disrupt the effectiveness of Esper Sojourners, a key strategy is to manage your hand wisely and maintain card advantage. Cards like Leyline of Sanctity provide a safeguard by granting you hexproof, preventing the unwanted discard effect triggered by the Esper Sojourners’ cycle ability. Additionally, graveyard removal spells such as Tormod’s Crypt can cleanse your graveyard to interrupt any potential recursion strategies that might involve getting Esper Sojourners back into play. Employ cards that offer instant-speed interaction to ensure you can respond adequately to your opponent’s moves, countering the cycling or negating its ramifications.

In essence, maintaining control over the flow of cards in your hand and being able to disrupt your opponent’s graveyard are key tactics. This approach will bolster your defenses against the strategic depth that Esper Sojourners may present during a game.

Cards like Esper Sojourners

Esper Sojourners serve as a multi-functional asset in the Magic: The Gathering universe. They draw a parallel with other cards that provide benefits when cycling or when they cycle. For instance, Valiant Rescuer, another card with cycling prowess, generates a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token with each cycle, enhancing the player’s battlefield presence. While Esper Sojourners do not produce creature tokens, they do allow players to probe their opponent’s hand with its unique exile feature each time you cycle another card.

Looking at more closely related cards, we come across Drannith Stinger, which deals one damage to each opponent upon cycling. This burn effect can incrementally whittle down an opponent’s health. In contrast, Esper Sojourners focus on disruption rather than direct damage, offering a strategic probing tool rather than a burn tactic. Lastly, there’s Astral Drift, which may not cycle itself, but it utilizes the cycling mechanic to flicker creatures, providing versatile defense and offense maneuverings.

Ultimately, card functionality and synergy highly depend on deck strategy, yet Esper Sojourners stand out due to their ability to disrupt while maintaining card flow – a significant asset for control and combo-driven decks.

Cards similar to Esper Sojourners by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Esper Sojourners MTG card by a specific set like Alara Reborn, 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 Esper Sojourners and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Esper Sojourners has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2008-10-01	Cycling is an activated ability. Effects that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle or Rings of Brighthearth) will interact with cycling. Effects that interact with spells (such as Remove Soul or Faerie Tauntings) will not.
2009-05-01	If you cycle this card, the cycling ability goes on the stack, then the triggered ability goes on the stack on top of it. The triggered ability will resolve before you draw a card from the cycling ability.
2009-05-01	The cycling ability and the triggered ability are separate. If the triggered ability doesn’t resolve (due to being countered with Stifle, for example, or if all its targets have become illegal), the cycling ability will still resolve and you’ll draw a card.
2009-05-01	The triggered ability acts as a cycle-triggered ability or as a leaves-the-battlefield ability, as appropriate. The player who controls the triggered ability is the player who cycled the Sojourner, or the player who last controlled the Sojourner on the battlefield.
2009-05-01	You can cycle this card even if there are no targets for the triggered ability. That’s because the cycling ability itself has no targets.