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Moxonomy

Implement of Examination

Artifact3 generic mana

The cleverest part of this design is the gap between when you pay for it and when the value comes back. Three mana buys you nothing on the battlefield: a colorless rock with no mana ability, sitting there and waiting. What pays it off is the interplay between the activated ability and the death trigger. Spend blue and sacrifice it, and you draw twice: sacrificing the artifact is part of the activation cost, so the graveyard trigger goes on the stack above the still-waiting activated ability and resolves first, then the activated draw resolves behind it. Two cards, on demand, whenever the blue is available. The death trigger is also what rewards a sacrifice-matters shell: the artifact replaces itself the instant any other altar or thrower moves it to the graveyard, so feeding it to an outlet nets one card plus whatever the outlet wanted from the body. That is the real function here. It never costs you a card to be fodder, because the body cantrips as it dies. Its home is a deck that treats artifacts as consumables, where every permanent has a second job after it leaves play. On its own the rate is slow and the body nonexistent; the value is entirely deferred and entirely conditional on what you do with it. Read the card as "this draws you a card eventually, on a timeline you control": self-replacing fuel for a sacrifice engine that doubles as on-demand card draw when nothing else needs the body.

Implement of Examination (aer)
AER · #156common
Pricing
Normal: $0.12
Foil: $0.24
Oracle Text

Rules text

Blue mana, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card. When this artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card.
Legalities

Format Status

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

Other printings

1 set
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