Traitor's Clutch MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Flashback
Released	2006-10-06
Set symbol
Set name	Time Spiral
Set code	TSP
Number	137
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Dave Allsop

Key Takeaways

Enhances creatures for strategic plays, adding fear and power to tip the scales in combat.
Instant speed casting allows for adaptable and timely gameplay, keeping opponents off balance.
High mana cost and specific requirements may limit its use, but its impact justifies inclusion.

Text of card

Target creature gets +1/+0, becomes black, and gains shadow until end of turn. (It can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.) Flashback (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Traitor’s Clutch offers the potential to swing a game in your favor by turning a single unassuming creature into a significant threat. This can be particularly impactful when used to enable a creature with a powerful enter the battlefield effect to surprise your opponent for a second time.

Resource Acceleration: Although Traitor’s Clutch doesn’t provide direct mana acceleration, by potentially removing a blocker or by turning your creature into a bigger threat, it frees up your resources. This allows you to utilize mana more efficiently elsewhere, maintaining pressure on your opponent and progressing your board state.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Traitor’s Clutch at instant speed cannot be overstated. It enables surprise combat tricks, can save your creature from removal, or it can simply be used whenever the most opportune moment arises—keeping your opponent constantly guessing and on the back foot.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One potential downside of Traitor’s Clutch is that the flashback feature, while powerful, comes with a discard requirement. This can be problematic when your hand is already low on cards, forcing you to sacrifice valuable resources that could be crucial for your game strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: Traitor’s Clutch demands a specific mana combination to cast – one black and four colorless mana. This mana cost can be restrictive, making it more challenging to integrate into multicolored decks that might not consistently generate the necessary black mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost totalling five, Traitor’s Clutch comes at a steep price for its temporary boost and granting of shadow. There are alternative cards that might provide a more cost-effective way to improve creature capabilities or to give your cards evasion abilities.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Traitor’s Clutch offers flexibility to enhance any creature on the battlefield, which makes it a valuable addition to a vast array of deck types. Its ability to give a creature both fear and a power boost can turn any creature into an immediate threat.

Combo Potential: This card shines in setups that are all about unexpectedly turning the tides. It can be the perfect surprise element to complement strategies that aim to use creature abilities or attack unexpectedly, making it a key piece in various combo chains.

Meta-Relevance: In a game state that favors combat and creature interaction, Traitor’s Clutch can become a game-changer. The meta often fluctuates, but cards that offer strategic advantages through combat tricks tend to maintain relevance, ensuring this card has a place in diverse deck constructions.

How to beat

Traitor’s Clutch is an intriguing instant card in MTG that can turn the tides of a match by granting not only fear but also a power and toughness boost to a target creature. It’s a flash of opportunity, one that works splendidly with creatures that are vital for your opponent’s strategy. Figuring out an efficient counter requires a grasp of the game’s nuances, with an emphasis on having removals or countermeasures at the ready.

To counter this elusive maneuver, one should keep a keen eye on maintaining mana for instant-speed responses. Your arsenal should include spells that can destroy, exile, or return the enhanced creature to its owner’s hand before the combat phase concludes, nullifying the effects of Traitor’s Clutch. Understanding the pivotal timing of casting these spells is crucial — a second too early or late, and the creature might slip through, cloaked in fear and bolstered, ready to wreak havoc unopposed.

Ultimately, success in navigating against Traitor’s Clutch in MTG comes down to anticipation and preparedness. A deck equipped with versatile answers and the savvy to disrupt opponent’s plays at a moment’s notice stands a better chance at ensuring that no single enchanting clutch can compromise their path to victory.

Cards like Traitor's Clutch

Traitor’s Clutch is an intriguing option for players looking to gain a decisive advantage in Magic: The Gathering. It stands in a league with other cards that provide supplementary benefits when casting spells, such as Whispering Cloak. Both cards offer the significant effect of rendering a creature unblockable, but Traitor’s Clutch takes it further with an additional layer of strategy by also granting a creature the powerful shadow ability temporarily, therefore not just bypassing typical blockers but also circumventing creatures without shadow.

Another relative in this comparison is the card Ghostly Flicker. While it doesn’t make creatures unblockable, it blinks them out of existence momentarily, thereby dodging targeted spells and is a strong contender for evasive maneuvers. However, Traitor’s Clutch presents the unique tactical edge of potentially swinging an entire match with its shadow giving nature, adding unexpected depth to combat encounters.

Delving into the realm of card similarities and differences illuminates Traitor’s Clutch as a tactical asset in Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to temporarily mutate the battlefield dynamic by granting shadow can be just as game-changing as other evasion mechanics, making it a card worth consideration in the right deck.

Cards similar to Traitor's Clutch by color, type and mana cost

Death of a Thousand Stings - MTG Card versions

Rescue from the Underworld - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Traitor's Clutch MTG card by a specific set like Time Spiral, 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 Traitor's Clutch and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Traitor's Clutch 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 Traitor's Clutch card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2021-03-19	A spell cast using flashback will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, is countered, or leaves the stack in some other way.
2021-03-19	If a card with flashback is put into your graveyard during your turn, you can cast it if it’s legal to do so before any other player can take any actions.
2021-03-19	To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a flashback cost) you’re paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was.
2021-03-19	You can cast a spell using flashback even if it was somehow put into your graveyard without having been cast.
2021-03-19	You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions, including those based on the card’s type. For instance, you can cast a sorcery using flashback only when you could normally cast a sorcery.
2021-03-19	“Flashback -ost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying -ost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”