Mirror Box: Power Ramp

This bit of janky info comes to you from the twisted mind of BDC.

We’ve already gone through a great deal of legendaries that work with the new card, Mirror Box, from the set, Kamigawa, Neon Dynasty. But there is so much to this amazing card. Besides the bonus of having more than one of your favorite legendaries out and benefiting from its many triggers and abilities, the artifact has a couple of other abilities that make this card so worth playing.

The next sentence on the card adds +1/+1 to every legendary creature. This makes the indestructible Toski a 2/2 to begin with. Of course, a lot of the legendaries are bigger and meaner and this ability just makes them tougher to kill and the attacks a bit more brutal.

The last ability really flips the lid off this card in Standard. Adding another +1/+1 for creatures with the same name ramps Toski (if 4 wide) to a +4/+4 and suddenly becoming more than just a blocker. Now, notice the word ‘Non-Token’. This means the tokens made from Esika’s Chariot or the legendary kitty made with Drizzt Do’Urder won’t get that ramp. They’re still worth playing, but not if you’re expecting the extra ramp.

TEZZERET’S EFFECT ON ARTIFACTS

Now, one of the cool loyalty abilities that the new Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh gets opens up room for some serious jank with Mirror Box on the field. Artifacts that aren’t vehicles become 4/4 base creatures.

Some of the cheap drops that become less useful along the way are great artifacts to transform into a 4/4 creature with Tezzeret.

Also Artifacts that have a good ‘enters the battlefield’ ability or can run interference while you build your board state can make good fodder along the way for this ability.

However, cards that are continually useful or meant to be sacrificed are not good choices. Beware making the Mirror Box a creature this way. If you give them the chance to kill it, they will.

COPY THAT

The one way to exploit the whole ‘no limit legendaries’ ability is to copy those cards. As you can see from above, we have a variety of ways to do this. Some of them are rather expensive and hard to play, but many of them can help you multiply your board state and take advantage of Mirror Box. Also take notice of those that create tokens instead of copies since, although useful, not as much.

MAKING THE TOKENS WORK

If you insist on using great cards like Esika’s Chariot, Orvar or Trickster’s Talisman and have to deal with those ‘pesky’ tokens. There’s plenty of ways to help you out.

Add targeted counter creation with Orvar and you can overrun the board and ramp at the same time. And those tokens, all of them, rise from a base 3/3 into a killing army.

PROTECTING THOSE LEGENDS!

We have a few options to keep our creatures from being removed. Tamiyo’s Safekeeping is the best at this in Standard since it gives both hexproof AND indestructible AND gains you 2 life! Snakeskin Veil is still one of the best along with few lesser options as seen above.

GOING WIDE

Playing some of these legendaries multiple times bring ideas to the table not seen in a while. Going wide with duplicates of just the four legendaries is a deadly way to surprise your opponent with an army they suddenly can’t stop.

Copying or playing multiples of Drizzt Do’Urden not only brings the legendary Drow to the field as an army, but also his loyal companion. It can be a cheap way to go wide on your competitor. If you ARE going wide, playing multiples of Adeline, Resplendent Cather can make it very difficult to defend with. Her power is equal to the number of creatures you control AND she makes a new token every attack. Jeren, Corrupted Bishop is another token maker who relies on non-token human death, but can add lifelink where needed and, finally, transform into a legendary demon. Maja ramps ALL of your creatures and makes more tokens for width.

ADDING A LITTLE CLASS

Of course, adding one the above class enchantments from the Forgotten Realms set will protect and ramp your creatures whether they be token or not and those that aren’t will also get the ramp from Mirror Box.

There’s SO much that we can talk about and SO many janks not thought of, so, if you have ideas, share them. We do not brew in a vacuum. What we learn, we share with others and, as it is said, a rising tide raises all ships. And, take heart. If you have a rough day on Arena, remember my motto “You’re either winning or you’re learning!”