Fortune Thief MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Human Rogue
Abilities Morph
Power 0
Toughness 1

Key Takeaways

  1. Fortune Thief provides a robust defensive edge, keeping life total above 1 when facing aggressive attacks.
  2. Morph cost flexibility allows strategic mana management to surprise opponents with instant speed transformation.
  3. Despite the benefits, the card’s lofty mana cost and restricted color requirements may limit its versatility.

Text of card

Damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead. Morph (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: With Fortune Thief’s unique ability to prevent your life total from dropping below 1, you maintain a defensive edge that can turn the tide of the game. This effect can buy you extra turns to draw into solutions or game-winning combos, making it a tool that indirectly contributes to sustaining your resources against aggressive strategies.

Resource Acceleration: Although Fortune Thief doesn’t directly accelerate your resources, its morph cost offers flexibility in your gameplay strategy. By casting it face down and then turning it face up when necessary, you can effectively manage your mana and make the most of your turns, ensuring you’re always ready to surprise your opponent.

Instant Speed: Fortune Thief can be turned face up at instant speed, a critical feature that allows you to respond to lethal damage when your opponent least expects it. This element of surprise can disrupt your opponent’s calculations and planned plays, keeping you in the game when they thought they had the victory secured.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Fortune Thief doesn’t demand a discard, its alternate casting cost requiring you to lose half your life could put you at a strategic disadvantage, especially in formats where life points are a precious commodity.

Specific Mana Cost: The requirement of one red and four other mana implies that Fortune Thief may not easily slot into decks that aren’t heavily invested in red mana sources, thereby limiting its versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of five mana, Fortune Thief’s ability to prevent life total drops below 1 is costly compared to other creatures or spells that can change the tide of the game immediately upon hitting the battlefield or have lower mana requirements for similar protective effects.


Reasons to Include Fortune Thief in Your Collection

Versatility: Fortune Thief can be a game-changer in a variety of red-based decks. Its ability to prevent life total from dropping below 1 makes it a surprise lifesaver against heavy damage or potential one-shot turns from opponents.

Combo Potential: This card’s unique effect pairs well with effects that allow you to pay life, such as “Necropotence,” without the risk of losing the game, or setting up a win with “Near-Death Experience.”

Meta-Relevance: In environments where explosive damage is prevalent, Fortune Thief stands as a powerful counter. It keeps players in the game against decks that aim to win with massive amounts of damage in one turn.


How to beat

Fortune Thief from Magic: The Gathering offers a unique twist on damage prevention. This red creature ensures that no matter how much damage you take in a turn, your life total can’t drop below 1. Despite its powerful ability, there are several strategies to bypass the Thief’s protection. Removal spells are an effective solution – cards like Path to Exile or Fatal Push can dispatch the Thief before damage is dealt. Alternatively, forcing a player to lose life through effects that aren’t damage, such as with the card Erebos’s Intervention, circumvents Fortune Thief’s ability entirely. Board wipes remain yet another robust answer, with Supreme Verdict or Wrath of God clearing the way regardless of individual creature abilities. The key lies in timing and having the right answer at the ready to ensure that Fortune Thief’s days of larceny are numbered.


Cards like Fortune Thief

Fortune Thief stands out in the realm of Magic: The Gathering as a unique creature that can turn the tide in games that hinge on life totals. This card is akin to spells like Worship, which also have capabilities to protect a player from damage that would otherwise be lethal. However, Fortune Thief does this with a twist – it limits damage to ensure your life total never goes below 1. Unlike Worship, which requires a creature to be in play for its effect to operate, Fortune Thief is the creature that provides this safeguard.

Delving into other related cards, we come across Phyrexian Unlife. This enchantment allows you to survive on negative life totals, similar to how Fortune Thief prevents your life total from going below 1. Nevertheless, Phyrexian Unlife leaves you vulnerable to loss via infect damage, a stipulation Fortune Thief does not share. Then there’s the comparison with Delaying Shield, where instead of preventing damage, the shield converts it into counters, thereby allowing you to manage fatal blows over time. It lacks the direct damage mitigation that Fortune Thief offers right as damage is dealt.

In sum, Fortune Thief garners attention for its distinctive role in safeguarding a player’s life total, presenting an interesting alternative to traditional life-maintenance strategies in Magic: The Gathering.

Worship - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Unlife - MTG Card versions
Delaying Shield - MTG Card versions
Worship - Urza's Saga (USG)
Phyrexian Unlife - New Phyrexia (NPH)
Delaying Shield - Odyssey (ODY)

Cards similar to Fortune Thief by color, type and mana cost

Fire Elemental - MTG Card versions
Earth Elemental - MTG Card versions
Eron the Relentless - MTG Card versions
Balduvian War-Makers - MTG Card versions
Hivis of the Scale - MTG Card versions
Hulking Cyclops - MTG Card versions
Flame Spirit - MTG Card versions
Flowstone Salamander - MTG Card versions
Ma Chao, Western Warrior - MTG Card versions
Covetous Dragon - MTG Card versions
Dwarven Strike Force - MTG Card versions
Volatile Arsonist // Dire-Strain Anarchist - MTG Card versions
Tephraderm - MTG Card versions
Avarax - MTG Card versions
Bonethorn Valesk - MTG Card versions
Frost Ogre - MTG Card versions
Heartless Hidetsugu - MTG Card versions
Shard Phoenix - MTG Card versions
Soul of Magma - MTG Card versions
Hunted Dragon - MTG Card versions
Fire Elemental - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Earth Elemental - Salvat 2011 (PS11)
Eron the Relentless - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
Balduvian War-Makers - Alliances (ALL)
Hivis of the Scale - Mirage (MIR)
Hulking Cyclops - Visions (VIS)
Flame Spirit - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Flowstone Salamander - Tempest (TMP)
Ma Chao, Western Warrior - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Covetous Dragon - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
Dwarven Strike Force - Odyssey (ODY)
Volatile Arsonist // Dire-Strain Anarchist - Innistrad: Crimson Vow (VOW)
Tephraderm - Onslaught (ONS)
Avarax - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Bonethorn Valesk - Scourge (SCG)
Frost Ogre - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Heartless Hidetsugu - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Shard Phoenix - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Soul of Magma - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Hunted Dragon - The List (PLST)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Fortune Thief MTG card by a specific set like Time Spiral and Masters 25, 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 Fortune Thief and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Fortune Thief Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2006-10-06 and 2018-03-16. Illustrated by Christopher Moeller.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12006-10-06Time SpiralTSP 1562003normalblackChristopher Moeller
22018-03-16Masters 25A25 1302015normalblackChristopher Moeller

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Fortune Thief has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2018-03-16 Fortune Thief doesn’t change how much damage is dealt; it just changes how much life that damage makes you lose. Abilities such as lifelink will see the full amount of damage being dealt.
2018-03-16 Fortune Thief won’t prevent you from losing the game if your life total becomes 0 or less or if some other effect causes you to lose the game.
2018-03-16 Fortune Thief’s effect applies only if your life total is being reduced by damage. Other effects or costs (such as losing or paying life) can reduce your life total below 1 as normal.
2018-03-16 Fortune Thief’s effect is not a prevention effect. It stops unpreventable damage from reducing your life total below 1.
2018-03-16 If your life total is less than 1 but you’ve somehow avoided losing the game, Fortune Thief’s effect won’t apply at all if you’re dealt damage.

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