Out of the Shadows…is a series of articles highlighting fun, helpful cards that aren’t getting a lot of attention. They may or may not be meta-worthy, but are definitely worth looking at for casual play.

Gazer: Beholder’s Dream

So, here we are again, to talk about a Gazer card. Again, I’m not going to talk about THAT Gazer, the intimidate one; that Gazer is getting all the hype. And I already wrote about Tiny Beholderkin, which is a pretty awesome card. If you missed that one, you might want to check it out here.

No, today’s topic of conversation is Gazer: Beholder’s Dream. Like his counterparts, he is a 2 cost shield die, with evil alignment and the monster banner. Like Tiny Beholderkin, he has a “when KO’d” ability. This Gazer’s ability reads: “When Gazer is KO’d, you may move target die from an opponent’s prep area to their used pile.”

Why is this special?

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, that’s a pretty situational ability. And I agree with you. But I also think that as far as situational abilities go, this is one that happens regularly in this game that we love to play. Off the top of my head, without looking anything up, here is a quick list of just the Global Abilities in the new Modern format that will permit this right now:

Atlas, Supreme Intelligence

Professor X (XMF), Walk with Elias

Becky Lynch

And then there’s action dice, like Thrown Brick and Atlantis. On top of that, there are character abilities that allow us to place dice in our prep area!

At this point, I think we can all agree that it is very likely that at some point in the game, your opponent will have a die in his or her prep area that, if that die rolls on their turn, will make it a challenge for you to win the game. I know I’ve been there before. Gazer sure would have come in handy in those moments.

So, just like his counterpart Tiny Beholderkin, you’re going to need a way to KO Beholder’s Dream. As I mentioned in the previous Gazer article, Nihiloor’s global is a handy one to have; especially if you want to make this KO happen during your opponent’s turn. If you’re only concerned with doing it on your own turn (which could potentially be more useful with this Gazer’s ability), you could use Fabricate, or the Wand global would also work, given the low D on Gazer.

In summary, this Beholder’s Dream messes up your opponent’s ramp AND your opponent’s bag control.

What else can our Gazer: Beholder’s Dream do?

I don’t see anything extra that this Beholder can do. Of the three Gazer cards, I would say that this is probably the weakest one, competitively-speaking, but I still think it has a place in a casual meta. What are your thoughts? Is there more than meets the eye(s) with this Gazer? Share with us in the comments.

-jbouwme

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