Magic the Gathering - Mages of the Guild - Simic Guildmage VS Zameck Guildmage

by  ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

In the final installment of Mages of the Guild, we take a look at the Simic guild. The blue/green guild is one of the more interesting guilds mechanically – although from a Constructed standpoint, only recently as Simic been able to stand alone as a semi-competitive deck thanks to the Evolve mechanic. In the past, blue/green was a combination that required a third color, usually white or black, to be widely successful.

To be fair, Simic Guildmage is probably one of the more under-powered of all the Guildmages. His two abilities are quite interesting, but a bit underwhelming. The first costs 1G (1 colorless, Green) and it allows you to move a +1/+1 counter from a target creature onto another target creature with the same controller. This can be an interesting, if not a bit awkward combat trick.

The second ability is actually rather fascinating: for 1U (1 colorless, Blue) you attach target Aura enchanting a permanent to another permanent with the same controller. That’s actually an interesting ability, considering that Bant Enchantments has been a deck for a very long time. Where this would find a spot in that deck is a bit beyond me, however. It’s borderline playable in a Commander deck, especially if it’s running a lot of enchantments and +1/+1 counter shenanigans, in which he could prove to be a useful piece.

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Not only is  Zameck Guildmage  strictly better than his Dissension counterpart, but he’s even seen some fringe Standard play in Tier Two Simic Evolve decks. What’s so great about this Guildmage, in addition to being an Elf Wizard (like his predecessor, actually), he has the ability to both pump your creatures and draw you cards.

Each of his abilities costs GU (1 Green, 1 Blue). The first is an ability that you would play before playing any creatures, as each creature you control enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. This also works for creature tokens. The even better part about this first ability is that because it mentions “additional”, you can stack this ability multiple times if you have the mana to do so. It interacts with Flash creatures, as well, since it doesn’t have to only be played on your turn.

The second ability allows you to remove a +1/+1 counter from a creature you control to draw a card. Drawing a card for only 2 mana is pretty awesome, and the fact that you can play this at instant speed means that you can draw cards off of a creature that is in the process of being destroyed in combat or by removal.

This match isn’t even close.  Simic Guildmage  does two interesting things that are not exactly incredibly relevant from a competitive standpoint and are extremely situational.  Zameck Guildmage, on the other hand, pumps up your forces and draws you cards. The winner is fairly obvious here.

Winner:  Zameck Guildmage, and it’s not particularly close.

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