Salvage Slasher MTG Card


Salvage Slasher - Conflux
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeArtifact Creature — Human Rogue
Released2009-02-06
Set symbol
Set nameConflux
Set codeCON
Power 1
Toughness 1
Number52
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byAnthony Francisco

Key Takeaways

  1. Power grows as artifacts amass in graveyard, making it a scaling threat throughout the game.
  2. Low mana cost aids quick plays and synergizes with artifact-based strategies for efficient deck function.
  3. Instantaneous ability activation allows for strategic surprises, enhancing both offensive and defensive plays.

Text of card

Salvage Slasher gets +1/+0 for each artifact card in your graveyard.

Esper artificers never imagined that one day their scraps would be pressed against their soft and fragile throats.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Salvage Slasher’s power increases for every artifact card in your graveyard, giving you an edge as the game progresses and the graveyard fills up. This mechanic can turn a seemingly weak creature into a formidable threat that your opponent cannot ignore.

Resource Acceleration: While Salvage Slasher doesn’t directly generate resources, its low casting cost allows for rapid deployment, enabling you to allocate mana to other strategies and plays. In artifact-heavy decks, this card synergizes well with cards that populate the graveyard, bolstering your battlefield presence without a hefty mana investment.

Instant Speed: Although Salvage Slasher itself isn’t an instant, its passive ability activates at instant speed. This means that any artifact card hitting the graveyard instantly beefs up Salvage Slasher, regardless of the phase or turn, keeping opponents on their toes and enabling surprise blocks or attack boosts.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Salvage Slasher’s power depends on the number of artifact cards in your graveyard, often requiring strategic discarding which might not always align with your game plan.

Specific Mana Cost: Using both colorless and black mana, this card demands a focus on mana fixing to ensure consistency, potentially restricting deck building options.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For an aggressive strategy, the investment of two mana for a creature that requires set up may be inefficient when faster alternatives are available.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Salvage Slasher has a flexible role in artifact-centric decks, thriving particularly in environments where artifacts are plentiful both on the field and in the graveyard. Its power grows with each artifact dwelling in the graveyard, making it a scalable threat as games progress.

Combo Potential: This card synergizes well with strategies involving self-mill or deliberate artifact sacrifice, allowing it to become unexpectedly powerful as part of a well-oiled combo engine. Its incremental growth can tip the scales in longer match-ups where attrition comes into play.

Meta-Relevance: Salvage Slasher can shine in metas with heavy artifact play. As graveyards fill up with artifacts from either player, Salvage Slasher becomes a more potent force, turning the remnants of past plays into raw power on the battlefield.


How to beat

Salvage Slasher finds its niche in artifact-heavy decks within the Magic: The Gathering landscape. Its power increases with each artifact lying in your graveyard, making it a formidable creature in the right circumstances. To effectively counter this card, one should focus on graveyard management. Ensuring that artifacts do not accumulate in the graveyard will keep the Slasher’s power at bay. Cards with graveyard hate abilities, like Relic of Progenitus or Bojuka Bog, can remove artifacts before they enhance the Slasher’s strength.

Alternatively, direct removal spells that don’t care about a creature’s power level can dispose of Salvage Slasher regardless of how many artifacts it’s leveraging. Path to Exile or Doom Blade, for instance, can be effective tools. It’s also beneficial to employ creature control to prevent the accumulation of artifacts on the battlefield in the first place, utilizing cards like Shatterstorm or By Force to clear multiple targets and reduce Salvage Slasher’s potential growth.

Understanding and interrupting the synergy between Salvage Slasher and your opponent’s artifact strategy is key. Maintaining a clean graveyard and controlling the flow of artifacts are the most reliable paths to neutralizing this particular threat.


Cards like Salvage Slasher

Salvage Slasher emerges as a distinctive creature within the artifact-centric strategies of Magic: The Gathering. When considering similar cards, Myr Retriever is a notable comparison, offering its own flavor of artifact synergies. While Salvage Slasher grows stronger with more artifacts in the graveyard, Myr Retriever delivers direct value by retrieving an artifact from the graveyard to your hand upon its death, promoting recurring gameplay strategies.

Another card that echos the theme of artifacts from the graveyard is Scrap Trawler. Though it doesn’t increase its power like Salvage Slasher, Scrap Trawler provides a consistent retrieval mechanism for artifacts with lower mana costs whenever one of your artifacts is put into the graveyard. This continuous recursion can be pivotal in decks that heavily rely on artifact interactions.

Lastly, we can’t ignore Dhund Operative. It gains a power boost and deathtouch as long as you control an artifact, offering immediate board presence and threat. While not directly interacting with the graveyard, it stands as a vanguard, leveraging artifacts for a different tactical advantage. Salvage Slasher’s unique strength lies in its potential exponential growth, offering a dynamic and potentially game-ending threat as the artifacts amass in the graveyard.

Myr Retriever - MTG Card versions
Scrap Trawler - MTG Card versions
Dhund Operative - MTG Card versions
Myr Retriever - Mirrodin (MRD)
Scrap Trawler - Aether Revolt (AER)
Dhund Operative - Kaladesh (KLD)

Cards similar to Salvage Slasher by color, type and mana cost

Charcoal Diamond - MTG Card versions
Blade of the Oni - MTG Card versions
Transmogrant's Crown - MTG Card versions
Vault Skirge - MTG Card versions
Razorlash Transmogrant - MTG Card versions
Mukotai Soulripper - MTG Card versions
Cranial Plating - MTG Card versions
Glaze Fiend - MTG Card versions
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Leaden Myr - MTG Card versions
Metalspinner's Puzzleknot - MTG Card versions
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Implement of Malice - MTG Card versions
Wishclaw Talisman - MTG Card versions
Giant's Skewer - MTG Card versions
Gisa's Favorite Shovel - MTG Card versions
Lucille - MTG Card versions
Netherborn Altar - MTG Card versions
Malefic Scythe - MTG Card versions
Draugr's Helm - MTG Card versions
Charcoal Diamond - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate (CLB)
Blade of the Oni - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)
Transmogrant's Crown - The Brothers' War (BRO)
Vault Skirge - Historic Anthology 5 (HA5)
Razorlash Transmogrant - The Brothers' War Promos (PBRO)
Mukotai Soulripper - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)
Cranial Plating - Warhammer 40,000 Commander (40K)
Glaze Fiend - Double Masters (2XM)
Scepter of Fugue - Conflux (CON)
Leaden Myr - Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)
Metalspinner's Puzzleknot - The List (PLST)
Scrapheap Scrounger - Kaladesh (KLD)
Implement of Malice - Kaladesh Remastered (KLR)
Wishclaw Talisman - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Giant's Skewer - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Gisa's Favorite Shovel - Secret Lair Drop (SLD)
Lucille - Secret Lair Drop (SLD)
Netherborn Altar - The List (PLST)
Malefic Scythe - Core Set 2021 (M21)
Draugr's Helm - Kaldheim (KHM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Salvage Slasher MTG card by a specific set like Conflux, 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 Salvage Slasher and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Salvage Slasher has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

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