Cateran Slaver MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 6 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Horror Mercenary |
| Abilities | Swampwalk |
| Released | 1999-10-04 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Mercadian Masques |
| Set code | MMQ |
| Power | 5 |
| Toughness | 5 |
| Number | 125 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Carl Critchlow |
Key Takeaways
- Provides card advantage by fetching Mercenaries, enhancing field presence or hand options over time.
- Accelerates resources in Mercenary-themed decks, streamlining strategies with targeted creature access.
- Offers versatility in specific deck themes and holds potential for powerful creature combo interactions.
Text of card
Swampwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls a swamp.) o5, oc T: Search your library for a Mercenary card with converted mana cost 5 or less and put that card into play. Then shuffle your library.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The Cateran Slaver allows you to scour your library for Mercenary cards, thus providing you the potential to generate additional field presence or hand options over time. Consistently putting creatures onto the battlefield or into your hand can often lead to sustained advantage during gameplay.
Resource Acceleration: Integrating seamlessly with Mercenary-themed decks, this card can accelerate your resources by giving you direct access to specific Mercenary creatures that fit the evolving needs of the match. This targeted tutor effect can be pivotal in streamlining your strategy and putting necessary resources into play efficiently.
Instant Speed: Although the Cateran Slaver doesn’t operate at instant speed, the instant speed of Mercenary creatures tutored by it could be critical. This facet is especially relevant when considering the timing of putting creatures into play during your upkeep, potentially disrupting your opponent’s plans with unexpected blockers or effects.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Cateran Slaver may be a hurdle for your hand’s resources, as it mandates discarding another card to utilize its full potential, which can be particularly taxing when your hand is already stretched thin.
Specific Mana Cost: This card’s reliance on a blend of generic and black mana makes it a snug fit only in specific decks, potentially restricting its versatility across the diverse landscape of MTG strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a demanding total mana value, Cateran Slaver can be a hefty investment compared to other options available in the game, which might yield more immediate or impactful results with a smaller investment, ensuring your mana can be allocated efficiently elsewhere on the battlefield.
Reasons to Include Cateran Slaver in Your Collection
Versatility: Cateran Slaver offers a broad application across various deck themes, playing particularly well in strategies that revolve around creature-based combos or recursion themes. Its ability to recur creatures from your graveyard gives it a consistent utility in longer, grindier games.
Combo Potential: This card is a key component in decks that aim to exploit creature synergies. It can serve as a reliable engine to retrieve combo pieces from the graveyard, setting up powerful interactions that can dominate the board and turn the tide of a match.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where games extend beyond fast, aggressive plays, Cateran Slaver proves its value. Its interaction with the graveyard makes it relevant against control decks, enabling you to persistently leverage your resources against attrition-based strategies.
How to beat Cateran Slaver
Cateran Slaver presents a unique challenge with its Mercenary recruitment ability, allowing players to fetch Mercenary cards from their deck. To effectively counter this mechanic, resource denial strategies can play a pivotal role. Utilizing removal spells that exile the Slaver from the battlefield helps to ensure it doesn’t return, subverting the deck’s rhythm. Cards like Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile offer a straightforward solution to this threat.
Alternatively, preventing the ability to search the library with cards like Aven Mindcensor can diminish the Slaver’s potential, forcing your opponent to adjust their strategy. Since Cateran Slaver relies on its high converted mana cost and the presence of other Mercenaries, playing aggressively with efficient creatures to reduce the opponent’s life total before they can establish control is a viable strategy. Utilizing hand disruption tactics like Thoughtseize can also preemptively remove the threat before it hits the field, saving you from the need to deal with it later on.
Ultimately, being proactive in maintaining board control and limiting your opponent’s ability to utilize Cateran Slaver’s ability will significantly increase your chances of emerging victorious in a match against this formidable card.
Cards like Cateran Slaver
Cateran Slaver is a unique creature card in Magic: The Gathering that shares traits with other cards but still manages to hold a distinct place. As a member of the Mercenary tribe, it echoes the characteristics of similar cards like Rathi Intimidator, which also allows you to fetch Mercenaries from your library. Cateran Slaver, however, sets itself apart with its higher power and the ability to directly put any Mercenary from your deck into your hand.
Moving into similar territory, we find the card Diabolic Tutor. While not a creature, this spell offers a comparable effect, providing the flexibility to search your library for any card, not just a Mercenary. It’s a broader effect but, unlike Cateran Slaver, doesn’t contribute a body to the battlefield. Then there’s Dark Supplicant, a lesser-known card that shares the library-searching theme but focuses on assembling a specific powerful creature, Scion of Darkness. The Supplicant requires a sacrifice to activate, whereas Cateran Slaver offers repeatable searches without such a cost.
Overall, when evaluating the utility and synergies within a Mercenary-themed deck, Cateran Slaver provides a unique blend of search capability and board presence that makes it a noteworthy choice for players invested in such strategies in Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to Cateran Slaver by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Cateran Slaver MTG card by a specific set like Mercadian Masques, 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 Cateran Slaver and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Cateran Slaver has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Cateran Slaver card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | Because the “search” requires you to find a card with certain characteristics, you don’t have to find the card if you don’t want to. |
