Painter's Servant MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeArtifact Creature — Scarecrow
Power 1
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Enables synergy and disrupts opponents by unifying card colors across all game zones.
  2. Transforms your deck’s resource utilization through color-centric cards and strategies.
  3. Requires companion cards for full potential, demanding strategic deck construction.

Text of card

As Painter's Servant comes into play, choose a color. All cards that aren't in play, spells, and permanents are the chosen color in addition to their other colors.

It gathers hues from the twilight mist so that its master can paint a better world.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Painter’s Servant doesn’t directly allow you to draw cards but it can create a significant advantage by turning the properties of each card in play and in every player’s hand and library to a single color. This enables various synergies with other cards, potentially dismantling opponents’ strategies or setting the stage for a game-winning combo.

Resource Acceleration: While not accelerating resources in the traditional sense, Painter’s Servant can effectively accelerate your strategic resources. When every card in the game shares a color, your cards that affect specific colors become unexpectedly versatile, allowing for more effective use of your existing resources.

Instant Speed: Painter’s Servant is a creature card and thus does not have instant speed itself. However, the card’s static ability works continuously once the creature is on the battlefield. Its effect can instantly alter the state of the board, providing opportunities to disrupt your opponent during their turn with the right combination of other instant-speed spells in your arsenal.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: As a combo-enabler, Painter’s Servant often requires you to have an accompanying piece to unlock its full potential. Without the right card to partner with, it might sit on the battlefield with minimal impact, effectively causing a discard in strategic terms.

Specific Mana Cost: The card demands two generic mana, which, at first glance seems flexible, but it requires a dedicated slot in your deck that could be taken by cards providing immediate utility or those that are less situational.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While two mana isn’t steep, in fast-paced games, using your second turn to set up a Painter’s Servant could put you behind if you aren’t playing a control strategy. In such an environment, deploying threats or answers can often be a better use of your early turns.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Painter’s Servant is a unique artifact creature card that blends seamlessly into various deck archetypes. Whether it’s in Commander, Legacy, or Vintage, its ability to turn all cards a single color can manipulate game mechanics to your favor, proving its adaptability.

Combo Potential: This card is known for its ability to create powerful synergies, particularly with cards like Grindstone, allowing players to create a game-ending interaction. Its inclusion can unlock new strategies and combo-lines in your deck-building adventures.

Meta-Relevance: Due to its potent interaction with color-specific cards and abilities, Painter’s Servant holds a place in metagames that feature color-dependent strategies. It has the power to disrupt opponents’ plans while empowering your own strategic moves.


How to beat

Painter’s Servant is a unique artifact creature that holds a significant presence in Magic: The Gathering. As with any card that has the potential to alter the state of play, understanding strategies to counter it becomes crucial. Primarily, it stands out for its ability to turn all cards — on the battlefield, in players’ hands, graveyards, and libraries — into the same color. This trait can synergize with numerous other cards, creating powerful combos that can be challenging to disrupt.

One direct strategy to neutralize Painter’s Servant is through removal spells. Since it’s a creature, it’s susceptible to a wide range of removal like Path to Exile or Doom Blade, depending on the color chosen by Painter’s Servant. Moreover, artifact destruction spells like Shatter or Naturalize are incredibly effective, dealing with the threat immediately. Another approach is to utilize counter spells when Painter’s Servant is cast, ensuring it never hits the board and preventing any potentially game-altering interactions with other cards. Lastly, cards like Pithing Needle can shut down its color-changing ability upon entering the battlefield, curbing its impact significantly.

Regardless of the method chosen, swiftly responding to Painter’s Servant’s presence is key. Each game dictates which approach is best, but being prepared with a mix of removal, counters, and specific control cards will keep you one step ahead of the Servant’s potentially game-swinging effect.


BurnMana Recommendations

Unlocking the full power of Painter’s Servant in your MTG deck opens doors to color-centric strategies and game-dominating combos. Whether you’re playing casually or pushing the competitive edge, fine-tuning your deck’s synergy with this card can be the difference between a good game and a masterstroke. If you’re looking to enhance your gameplay or explore creative new deck concepts, we’re here to guide your journey. Dive deeper into advanced strategies, uncover powerful card interactions, and stay ahead of the meta. Embark on your path to becoming a strategic force with us and harness the Painter’s Servant to its utmost potential.


Cards like Painter's Servant

The Painter’s Servant card holds a unique role within the Magic: The Gathering universe due to its capacity to change the color of all cards in play, hand, and library. In the realm of color manipulation, it parallels the functionality of cards like Mycosynth Lattice, which similarly alters the properties of game elements by making all permanents artifacts in addition to their other types. Both cards work wonders in modifying game states, although the Painter’s Servant zeroes in on color assignment while Mycosynth Lattice focuses on card types.

Another card to consider in comparison is Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, which offers more targeted control, granting either protection from white or turning permanents white. This gives players specific color-based interaction capability, but doesn’t affect the board as globally as Painter’s Servant. There’s also Distorting Lens, a reusable way to switch a permanent’s color, which can be tactically advantageous turn-by-turn but lacks the sweeping, game-wide influence of Painter’s Servant.

Painter’s Servant stands out for its ability to fundamentally alter strategies and synergies across the entire game. It nudges the metagame environment, particularly in combination with cards like Grindstone, and truly becomes a linchpin in decks designed to exploit color characteristics.

Mycosynth Lattice - MTG Card versions
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails - MTG Card versions
Distorting Lens - MTG Card versions
Grindstone - MTG Card versions
Mycosynth Lattice - Darksteel (DST)
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Distorting Lens - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Grindstone - Tempest (TMP)

Cards similar to Painter's Servant by color, type and mana cost

Chaos Orb - MTG Card versions
Winter Orb - MTG Card versions
Amulet of Kroog - MTG Card versions
Nacre Talisman - MTG Card versions
Howling Mine - MTG Card versions
Essence Bottle - MTG Card versions
Emerald Medallion - MTG Card versions
Scrying Glass - MTG Card versions
Cursed Totem - MTG Card versions
Tsabo's Web - MTG Card versions
Millikin - MTG Card versions
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Angel's Feather - MTG Card versions
Demon's Horn - MTG Card versions
Elsewhere Flask - MTG Card versions
Dragon's Claw - MTG Card versions
Steel Overseer - MTG Card versions
Chaos Orb - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
Winter Orb - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Amulet of Kroog - Rinascimento (RIN)
Nacre Talisman - Ice Age (ICE)
Howling Mine - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Essence Bottle - Tempest (TMP)
Emerald Medallion - Commander Anthology (CMA)
Scrying Glass - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Cursed Totem - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Tsabo's Web - World Championship Decks 2001 (WC01)
Millikin - Odyssey (ODY)
Ark of Blight - Scourge (SCG)
Surestrike Trident - Darksteel (DST)
Energy Chamber - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Water Gun Balloon Game - Unhinged (UNH)
Angel's Feather - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Demon's Horn - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Elsewhere Flask - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Dragon's Claw - Duels of the Planeswalkers (DPA)
Steel Overseer - Magic 2011 (M11)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Painter's Servant MTG card by a specific set like Shadowmoor and Kaladesh Inventions, 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 Painter's Servant and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Painter's Servant Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2008-05-02 and 2016-09-30. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12008-05-02ShadowmoorSHM 2572003normalblackMike Dringenberg
22016-09-30Kaladesh InventionsMPS 202015normalblackMagali Villeneuve

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Painter's Servant has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerBanned
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2008-05-01 Each card becomes a new object as it changes zones, so this effect will apply to it from scratch in the new zone. Zone-change replacement abilities that care about the new color (like “
-olor] permanents enter the battlefield tapped”) won’t work because those effects are applied as the card is entering its new zone. Zone-change triggered abilities that care about the new color (like “when a
-olor] permanent enters the battlefield” or “when you cast a
-olor] spell”) will work because those effects apply after the card is already in its new zone.
2008-05-01 If something affected by Painter’s Servant is normally colorless, it will simply be the new color. It won’t be both the new color and colorless.
2008-05-01 The effects of multiple Painter’s Servants are cumulative.
2008-05-01 This ability affects every card in every game zone, all tokens on the battlefield, and all spell copies on the stack, regardless of who controls or owns them.
2008-05-01 This ability doesn’t overwrite any previous colors. Rather, it adds another color.
2008-05-01 While Painter’s Servant is on the battlefield, an effect that changes an object’s colors will overwrite Painter’s Servant’s effect. For example, casting Cerulean Wisps on a creature will turn it blue, regardless of the color chosen for Painter’s Servant.

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