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Moxonomy

Gorilla Shaman

Creature — Ape ShamanRed mana

Better known by its nickname, Mox Monkey, this is a creature whose 1/1 body is almost incidental to the repeatable artifact destruction stapled to it. The activated cost is the whole design: X generic manaX generic mana1 generic mana to destroy a noncreature artifact of mana value X, which means the cheaper the target, the cheaper the kill. A Mox of any kind, a Lotus Petal, a Black Lotus, anything that costs zero to cast: all fall to a single 1 generic mana activation, repeatable as long as the Shaman survives and the mana flows. That pricing is the structural point. The cost scales to the target rather than sitting at a flat rate, so the card is brutal against cheap mana rocks and cost-zero artifacts while being almost useless against an expensive one. It punishes a specific category of artifact (the fast-mana accelerant) harder than anything else, which is why it has lived its whole life as a hatebear against artifact-mana strategies rather than as general-purpose removal. Repeatability is the property a one-shot answer like Shatter lacks: leave the Shaman in play with a single mana up and the artifact deck simply cannot keep a zero-cost rock on the table, because every replacement gets ground off the moment it lands. It is a narrow card by construction, sharpened to a single edge, and that edge has stayed relevant precisely because the artifacts it preys on have never gone away.

Gorilla Shaman (all)
ALL · #72bcommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.36
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

X generic manaX generic mana1 generic mana: Destroy target noncreature artifact with mana value X.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
Legal
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
Legal
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
Legal
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

5 sets
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