Magic Duelist Diaries - A Figure of Destiny (MtG)

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

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Shadowmoor and Eventide will always hold a special place in my heart. They are the sets that were out when I made my first real foray into the world of Magic: the Gathering. My first ever draft in Magic the Gathering netted me Augury Adept and Godhead of Awe. My next draft was right after Eventide released. In that draft I happened to pick two pretty darn good rares: Necroskitter and Figure of Destiny.

As someone who played a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh,  Figure of Destiny was a monster… er, creature… that immediately got my attention. It only cost a single mana to play, and you could use either red or white mana.

 I was already new to the world of paying mana to cast spells. So hybrid mana was this really amazing thing to me. I mean, it’s still awesome, but I didn’t know this wasn’t a regular thing.

Kithkins were really good back then. So, this guy Figure of Destiny was a big deal. You’d pump mana into him and he’d get bigger. I actually got him leveled up a couple of times during the draft. I ended up not even playing my Necroskitter, although I thought he was cool, too. (I’ll get to him another time.)

In my early days of Magic, aggro was my thing. Elves and Goblins were among my favorite decks to play… I didn’t really get into competitive play at that point, and actually went back to Yu-Gi-Oh until Magic 2010. I ended up selling my Figure of Destiny to the game store for a few dollars.

But had I kept playing, this Red/Green Aggro deck or something like it would have been my jam in Standard in ‘08:


LANDS

4x Fire-Lit Thicket
3x Grove of the Burnwillows
4x Karplusan Forest
8x Mountain
3x Mutavault


CREATURES

4x Figure of Destiny
4x Kavu Predator
4x Keldon Marauders
4x Mogg Fanatic
4x Tarmogoyf

INSTANTS/SORCERIES

3x Flame Javelin
4x Incinerate
4x Rift Bolt
3x Shard Volley
4x Tarfire


SIDEBOARD

3x Dragon's Claw
3x Firespout
3x Krosan Grip
4x Magus of the Moon
2x Unwilling Recruit


Yes, Goyf was still in Standard. Had I known then this deck had in it cards that would be worth a total of about $600 now… Hindsight is 20/20.

But yeah, Figure of Destiny was really, really good. It was still seeing play in Extended 3 to 4 years later in top decks. It could have been a sign that Magic was the game I should’ve spent thousands of bucks on instead of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Again, hindsight is 20/20. But I was right that Figure of Destiny was an awesome card.

And he still sees play in 1V1 Commander decks in 2017…


Have any great Magic card stories you’d like to share? Tell us about them in the comments!