Mystic Compass MTG Card

Alliances (ALL)
1996-06-10 - Number 124

Mystic Compass - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)

Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
1999-04-21 - Number 302

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact

Key Takeaways

Card advantage and resource acceleration make Mystic Compass a powerful draw and ramping tool.
Instant speed activation adds strategic flexibility, yet specific mana and discard requirements limit use.
Essential for meta-game relevance and combo potential, sits among similar mana-fixing artifacts.

Text of card

o1, oc T: Target mana-producing land becomes a basic land type of your choice until end of turn.

"And *I* say north is where I *want* it to be!" —Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mystic Compass offers a reliable means to dig through your deck, efficiently sifting to the cards you need when you need them. Its ability to manipulate your draw steps translates into a smoother playing experience and helps to maintain pressure on your opponent by ensuring a steady flow of options.

Resource Acceleration: As Mystic Compass aligns lands to your will, it intensifies your resource acceleration. By manipulating your lands, you can potentially unlock combinations or mana configurations earlier than usual, giving you an edge in ramping up to your more formidable spells.

Instant Speed: The real power of Mystic Compass comes from its instant speed activation. This not only keeps opponents guessing but also provides unparalleled flexibility allowing you to adjust your strategy on the fly based on the unfolding game state, making it a versatile tool in any player’s arsenal.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the drawbacks of Mystic Compass is that it necessitates discarding another card to activate its ability. This can put players at a disadvantage, especially when they have a limited hand size and need to maintain their resources for crucial moments in the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Mystic Compass also requires a specific type of mana for its activation. Those who do not run a deck with the required mana types may find it difficult to integrate and utilize the compass effectively, reducing its versatility across various deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The cost of Mystic Compass can be seen as high for what it offers. When evaluating the card within the landscape of available options, there are other cards that provide similar or improved utility at a lower mana investment, leading some players to opt for alternatives that are more cost-effective.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Mystic Compass offers a unique utility to any deck that battles against nonbasic lands or wishes to take advantage of land types. Its ability to manipulate land types ensures that it has a place in both casual and competitive settings, catering to various playstyles.

Combo Potential: This card shines when paired with strategies emphasizing land type advantages, such as turning lands into Islands to synergize with cards that punish or restrict specific land types. It can also become a key piece in creative deck-building, paving the way for unexpected combos and interactions.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where land-based strategies are prevalent, Mystic Compass becomes an instrumental card, granting you the power to disrupt your opponent’s land synergy. The shifting dynamics of the MTG meta ensure that this card remains a tech option worth considering for your arsenal.

How to beat

Confronted by the Mystic Compass, players of Magic: The Gathering need a reliable strategy. This artifact card becomes quite the navigational nuisance, as it grants its controller the ability to manipulate basic lands, turning them into any basic land type of their choosing until the end of turn. This can disrupt your color access and interfere with your strategy, especially if you rely heavily on specific land types.

To effectively counteract the Mystic Compass, one might consider employing swift land destruction tactics or direct artifact removal spells to prevent the opponent from altering your mana base. Spells like Naturalize or Shatter are handy as they can target and destroy artifacts with efficiency. Additionally, keeping a diverse spread of lands in your deck can mitigate the impact of the Compass, ensuring you can still cast your spells even when faced with type-changing schemes. Denying your opponent the resources to activate the Mystic Compass, through cards like Damping Sphere, further limits its influence over the game.

Ultimately, your approach to overcoming Mystic Compass should entail proactive disruption, land diversity, and artifact removal, arming you with the means to maintain control over your lands and keep your game plan on course.

Cards like Mystic Compass

Mystic Compass stands out in the catalog of mana-fixing artifacts in Magic: The Gathering. Its direct parallel is the card Journeyer’s Kite, which also serves a crucial role in guaranteeing land drops and fixing mana. However, Mystic Compass offers the unique ability to transform your opponent’s land into a different basic land type at instant speed. Journeyer’s Kite, while consistent in securing land cards, does not impact the opponent’s board.

Another analogous artifact is Prismatic Omen. It provides a blanket effect, similar to how Mystic Compass can potentially change how lands behave. Prismatic Omen, though, allows all lands you control to tap for any color of mana, without the need to target individual lands like Mystic Compass requires. On the flip side, Omen lacks the disruptive potential that Mystic Compass provides against opponents.

Lastly, examining the Liquimetal Coating card, it also alters the kind of resources available, this time by turning permanents into artifacts. While it offers a different sort of utility from Mystic Compass, including enabling artifact destruction on non-artifact targets, it lacks the direct land type manipulation that Mystic Compass is known for.

Ultimately, Mystic Compass has a niche in Magic: The Gathering as a versatile tool, capable of aiding in one’s mana consistency or disrupting the opponent’s mana base, depending on the strategic needs of the moment.

Cards similar to Mystic Compass by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mystic Compass MTG card by a specific set like Alliances and Classic Sixth Edition, 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 Mystic Compass and other MTG cards: