Master of Pearls from Khans of Tarkir - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

I'm not sure how exactly one becomes a Master of Pearls. But on the surface, it's hard to see what the advantage of becoming one really is. The "Master" is pretty much just a 2/2 bear for 1W that has a Morph cost of 3WW. Yes, when he’s turned face-up, you get a Sanctified Charge effect – creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn. This does also make him a 4/4 until end of turn.

While this is a fair effect in Limited., for a 3WW mana investment, you’re better off flashing in Dictate of Heliod for a permanent +2/+2 boost for all of your creatures. So why you would ever play the "Master of Pearls" outside of a Limited environment?

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Here's the reason: Mastery of the Unseen., This is a card that has broken out in a big way in combination with Whisperwood Elemental. With the coming of decent Megamorph creatures like Den Protector and Hidden Dragonslayer in Dragons of Tarkir, Master of Pearls seems like a decent creature if flipped with Mastery of the Unseen.

If Master of Pearls is manifested by the Mastery or Whisperwood Elemental, you get a chance to flip it for 1W and gain its effect, instead of having to pay 3WW. Not having to play it first face-down for 3 colorless really improves this creature's effect. Of course, if you end up with Master of Pearls in hand, you're still going to have to pay its full cost.

Even with the possibility of getting lots of value out of Master of Pearls if it gets manifested, the potential drawback of drawing into it may not be worth including it. The potential of creating a Manifested army and swinging for the fences with a +2/+2 boost is pretty cool, though. While Master of Pearls may never be more than a bulk rare, at least there is potential now for it to potentially help a Manifest deck land a crippling blow out of nowhere.

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