Hammer Mage MTG Card

Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
1999-10-04 - Number 193

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number MMQ-193

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Human Spellshaper
Power	1
Toughness	1

Key Takeaways

Hammer Mage disrupts artifact-heavy strategies, offering potential card advantage and board control.
Its activated ability can be costly and restrictive, affecting tempo and deck construction.
Hammer Mage is a tactical inclusion for decks, ready to adapt to artifact-dominated metagames.

Text of card

o Xo R, oc T, Discard a card from your hand: Destroy all artifacts with converted mana cost X or less.

When he's holding the hammers, everything looks like a nail.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Hammer Mage comes with an ability that can dismantle your opponent’s artifacts, indirectly leading to potential card advantage. By selectively destroying key pieces of your opponent’s strategy, you create situations where they are forced to rebuild, often at a loss of tempo or resources.

Resource Acceleration: While Hammer Mage itself doesn’t accelerate your mana resources directly, it can contribute significantly to controlling the battlefield. By keeping the board clear of artifact mana rocks or other utility artifacts, you ensure a smoother and more efficient game flow for your deck.

Instant Speed: The mage’s ability, although not an instant spell itself, can be utilized at instant speed thanks to its activated nature. This allows you to wait until the most opportune moment during your opponent’s turn to strike, forcing them to second-guess their plays and preserving the element of surprise.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Hammer Mage’s ability necessitates discarding a card. This could be a strategic setback when your hand is already depleted, forcing you to lose potentially valuable resources to activate its ability.

Specific Mana Cost: Hammer Mage requires a red mana to cast, making it an exclusive fit for red or multi-colored decks. This can be restrictive if you’re looking to include it in a deck without red mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting and activation cost that can tally up to a substantial amount of mana, Hammer Mage may fall behind in the race against other cards that offer artifact removal for less investment. This can impact your game’s tempo, especially in the early to mid-game where mana efficiency is crucial.

Reasons to Include Hammer Mage in Your Collection

Versatility: Hammer Mage offers a unique ability to destroy artifacts, making it a useful sideboard option in formats where artifacts are prevalent. It can adapt to various gameplay strategies, controlling the board or disrupting opponents’ plans.

Combo Potential: This card can interact with cards that benefit from artifact destruction or graveyard strategies, enhancing decks built around synergies with artifacts—or their demise.

Meta-Relevance: As metagames evolve, a deck featuring Hammer Mage can gain a tactical edge in environments heavy with artifact-based strategies. Owning this card keeps you ready for shifts in popular deck types.

How to beat

The Hammer Mage card presents a unique challenge in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. This red creature has the ability to dismantle artifact strategies with its activated ability to destroy artifacts with a converted mana cost equal to the amount of mana paid. To effectively combat this, it’s important to limit the number of key artifacts in play or ensure that their costs are diverse enough to evade the Hammer Mage’s destruction.

Favoring non-artifact-based tactics can also reduce the Hammer Mage’s impact on your game plan. Implementing instant speed removals like Lightning Bolt can be effective against Hammer Mage before its ability is activated. Additionally, including cards that grant hexproof or shroud to your artifacts can protect them against this targeted removal. Moreover, playing around with the timing of casting spells may force the Hammer Mage controller to hold mana in anticipation, potentially disrupting their tempo.

Recognizing the Hammer Mage’s potential to upset certain decks allows savvy players to prepare their sideboard accordingly. Cards that undermine red strategies or ones that can quickly deal with small creatures would be advantageous to include. Hammer Mage, like any card in Magic: The Gathering, can be overcome with the right approach and card choices.

Cards like Hammer Mage

In the realm of creature cards that manipulate artifacts, Hammer Mage excels in Magic: The Gathering. It echoes the abilities of cards like Ingot Chewer, which also provides a way to deal with artifacts. Hammer Mage, however, offers more flexibility. With its activated ability, players can turn any amount of unused mana into a potential artifact wipe, targeting multiple items at once, unlike the single-item removal of Ingot Chewer.

Analogous in effect, we find Viashino Heretic, another card that thrives on destroying artifacts. Though both cards share a similar dedicated purpose, Viashino Heretic’s ability to repeatedly destroy artifacts comes with a mana cost per use, while Hammer Mage can affect numerous artifacts with one activation for each artifact to be destroyed. Then, there’s Shattering Spree, which allows for targeted destruction of artifacts based on the number of red mana you replicate it with, offering strategic advantages over Hammer Mage’s broader approach.

When evaluating these options, Hammer Mage stands out for players seeking a decisive tactic against multiple artifacts in a single stroke, proving its efficient and game-altering capacities within MTG’s vast array of disruptively powerful cards.

Cards similar to Hammer Mage by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Hammer Mage MTG card by a specific set like Mercadian Masques and The List, 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 Hammer Mage and other MTG cards: