Dowsing Shaman MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Dowsing Shaman represents a reusable source of card advantage in decks that utilize an array of enchantments. Once set up, this Shaman can repeatedly return enchantments from your graveyard to your hand, ensuring a constant flow of resources and overwhelming your opponents with the value generated over time.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing mana, the capacity to retrieve enchantments can lead to indirect resource acceleration. By recovering mana-generating enchantments like Wild Growth or Utopia Sprawl, Dowsing Shaman helps accelerate your mana resources, allowing for larger plays or multiple spells in a single turn.

Instant Speed: The ability to activate Dowsing Shaman at instant speed is crucial. It allows you to wait until the end of your opponent’s turn to decide the best enchantment to return from your graveyard. This flexibility ensures that you can react to evolving game states, retrieve key enchantments in response to actions by opponents, or simply use your mana efficiently if no other actions were taken during their turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Dowsing Shaman requires the return of an enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand, which means you need to have a used enchantment available. This can sometimes limit the card’s effectiveness, especially in the early game or if your graveyard is not well-stocked with enchantments.

Specific Mana Cost: To activate Dowsing Shaman’s ability, you need to pay three mana, including at least one green. This makes the card specifically tied to green or multicolored decks, potentially restricting its adaptability and usage across a range of deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With the ability costing three mana to utilize, Dowsing Shaman can prove costly when you’re trying to maintain tempo or when mana resources are scarce. There are alternatives that might provide enchantment recursion or similar effects for a lower cost, allowing for a more efficient use of mana throughout the game.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Dowsing Shaman offers flexibility in deck building, being a staple for many enchantment-heavy strategies. Its ability to retrieve enchantments from the graveyard means it can support a variety of game plans and adjust to an evolving board state.

Combo Potential: This card pairs well with decks that cycle through enchantments quickly or use them as a resource. It enables recurring combinations that can overwhelm opponents through a steady stream of previously used enchantments.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where control and graveyard strategies are prevalent, Dowsing Shaman becomes a valuable tool. Its recurrent retrieval ability allows players to maintain pressure and resourcefulness, keeping pace with the demand of the current meta.

How to beat

Overcoming the Dowsing Shaman in Magic: The Gathering requires knowledge of its strengths and tactical planning. This centaur shaman shines in environments rich with enchantments, granting players the ability to retrieve key enchantments from their graveyard. A solid strategy to disable the Dowsing Shaman’s abilities is through the use of cards that restrict graveyard access or that can exile enchantments directly from the graveyard. Cards that provide graveyard hate, such as Relic of Progenitus or Scavenging Ooze, are great examples, as they can fend off the shaman’s attempts to reuse enchantments.

Moreover, creature removal spells are effective in ensuring that the Dowsing Shaman doesn’t stay on the battlefield long enough to disrupt your gameplay. Targeted removal cards such as Path to Exile or Fatal Push work efficiently to clear the way. It’s also wise to keep the enchantment count low on your side, thereby limiting the Dowsing Shaman’s targets. Lastly, consistently applying pressure and maintaining board control can hinder your opponent’s ability to effectively utilize the Dowsing Shaman, keeping the upper hand in your favor throughout the match.