Viashino Bladescout MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Viashino Scout
Abilities	Flash
Released	2006-10-06
Set symbol
Set name	Time Spiral
Set code	TSP
Power	2
Toughness	1
Number	185
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Dany Orizio

Key Takeaways

Grants instant board presence and tempo advantage with low casting cost and immediate combat influence.
Can disrupt opponent’s plans, with instant speed interventions during combat or their turn.
Demands strategic hand resource management due to its potential need for card discards.

Guide to Flash card ability

Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.

Text of card

Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.) When Viashino Bladescout comes into play, target creature gains first strike until end of turn.

"Find your courage in a desperate moment, and you turn the tide of history. So sayeth the bey."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: With Viashino Bladescout in your deck, you gain access to a versatile creature that can influence the battlefield as soon as it enters the fray. This grants you a tangible advantage by providing immediate board presence.

Resource Acceleration: Although Viashino Bladescout itself doesn’t produce mana or tokens, it’s a low-cost creature that can be swiftly played. It’s efficient casting cost aids in maintaining an aggressive tempo, enabling you to deploy other threats or resources quicker.

Instant Speed: Viashino Bladescout’s ability to act at instant speed is one of its most strategic features. This dynamic allows you to surprise your opponents during combat or at the end of their turn, making it easier to protect your interests and disrupt their plans.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Viashino Bladescout presents a challenge in balancing your hand. If the ability to sneak past defenders or deter a key blocker is crucial, you may need to sacrifice valuable cards from your hand, a trade-off that can hinder your strategic options, especially in the midst of a resource-intense stage of the game.

Specific Mana Cost: With the mana cost rooted in red, this creature demands a dedicated colored mana source, potentially complicating deck-building strategies for those who prefer a more varied mana base or multicolor decks that could be constrained by such specific requirements.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Investing the mana to bring Viashino Bladescout onto the battlefield needs to be evaluated against other cards available within the same cost range. When mana efficiency is paramount, players may find themselves weighing the Bladescout’s battlefield influence against other creatures or spells that could potentially offer greater tactical advantages or more impactful presence for the same cost.

Reasons to Include Viashino Bladescout in Your Collection

Versatility: Viashino Bladescout is a highly adaptive card, fitting seamlessly into red aggro and midrange decks. Its instant-speed ability to give a creature first strike can sway combat outcomes unexpectedly in your favor.

Combo Potential: The Bladescout’s capability to grant first strike can be instrumental in combinations with cards that benefit from combat interactions, such as ones that trigger upon dealing combat damage to a player or destroying another creature.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where quick creatures and combat tricks dominate, Viashino Bladescout becomes an even more valuable asset, tipping the scales during battle phases where timing and surprise attacks are crucial.

How to beat

Viashino Bladescout presents a unique challenge in the landscape of red creatures in MTG. This card has the potential to swing battles in your favor with its ability to grant first strike to a target creature until the end of the turn. This can turn a simple combat phase into a tricky situation where your creatures might fall before dealing any damage themselves.

To effectively tackle this agile adversary, consider maintaining a stronger board presence with creatures that possess higher toughness. This reduces the impact of first strike, allowing your creatures to survive an initial hit. Removal spells that can target creatures irrespective of their combat status can be invaluable here. Cards like Fatal Push or Lightning Bolt can dispatch the Bladescout before it has the chance to alter the course of combat. Additionally, spells and abilities that prevent it from entering the battlefield, such as counterspells or flash creatures that can block and remove it, will negate its first-strike granting ability entirely.

In essence, staying ahead requires a combination of strategic creature placement and keeping instant-speed removal or counters in hand. By doing so, you’ll mitigate the influence Viashino Bladescout has in the game, ensuring your forces prevail during the combat phase.

Cards like Viashino Bladescout

The Viashino Bladescout is a unique creature within the realm of Magic: The Gathering, adding both flavor and function to a player’s deck. It bears similarities to cards like Goblin Shortcutter in that both have the ability to affect other creatures on the battlefield at the time of entering. Goblin Shortcutter prevents a target creature from blocking this turn, providing a potential game swing. However, what makes Viashino Bladescout stand out is its ability to grant that crucial first strike benefit to another target creature when it enters the battlefield.

Diving deeper, we also have Sighted-Caste Sorcerer, which shares the first strike theme but requires you to pay mana and tap to activate this ability. The spontaneity of Viashino Bladescout’s ability without additional mana cost can clearly be a deciding factor in battle. Moreover, the Viashino Bladescout’s functionality as a surprise tactic can compare to the Swiftblade Vindicator, though the latter stands as a double striker by nature rather than an enabler for other creatures.

In analyzing the dynamics of creature abilities and combat tricks, Viashino Bladescout tactically enhances its surrounding allies, making it a noteworthy choice for decks seeking to exploit first strike advantages on the fly.

Sighted-Caste Sorcerer - MTG Card versions

Swiftblade Vindicator - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Viashino Bladescout by color, type and mana cost

Hobgoblin Bandit Lord - MTG Card versions

Mannichi, the Fevered Dream - MTG Card versions

Balduvian Barbarians - MTG Card versions

Stinkdrinker Daredevil - MTG Card versions

Mudbutton Torchrunner - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Viashino Bladescout 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 Viashino Bladescout and other MTG cards: