Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Consult the Necrosages: Tributes to Early MTG History

If you’re a fan of the game’s earliest whispers and the guilds that introduced color identity to the world, Consult the Necrosages feels like a postcard from the very dawn of the Dimir—blue and black, mystery and manipulation, all bundled into a compact spell. Released as part of Ravnica: City of Guilds, this common instant-size sorcery (technically a sorcery with the aura of a spellbook you’d pass hand to hand at kitchen-table tournaments) captures the feel of those first block days: a three-mana bargain that tilts the balance by turning the opponent’s hand in one direction or another 🧙‍♂️🔥. It’s a reminder that, in the early days, MTG’s identity was forged as much in the margins as on the battlefield, where strategy and lore danced together with every play.

Dimir at the Gate: Color, Cost, and Concept

Mana cost {1}{U}{B} anchors this card in Dimir’s signature blend of blue’s intellect and black’s pressure. The card’s set is Rav, short for Ravnica: City of Guilds, a landmark expansion that woven a citywide tapestry of guilds into the fabric of gameplay. The color identity is blue and black, two colors known for card advantage and hand disruption, respectively. In a world where “draw-go” is a philosophy, Consult the Necrosages gives you a clean, flexible line: either let someone draw two (fuel for stall, durational control, or strategic fodder) or force two cards to go away (hand disruption that can crater unwary decks). The spell’s text is simple, but its potential is anything but: “Choose one — Target player draws two cards; Target player discards two cards.”

Dimir rank and file never see nor hear their guildmaster. All orders are given through mysterious necrosages who appear from the shadows, tersely toss out a command, and then melt into the darkness.

Flavor aside, this card embodies a design vibe from an era when many players discovered that powerful effects could masquerade as accessible costs. It’s a 3-mana spell with a clear choice, a hallmark of early MTG’s design that rewarded tactical thinking over brute force. The flavor text and the Dimir watermark (the guild’s shadowy motif) reinforce the sense that secrets govern every step, and not every piece of information is meant to be shared. If you’re building a Dimir midrange or control shell, this card is a nostalgic blueprint for how to shape the game's tempo while keeping the door cracked for surprise plays 💎⚔️.

Strategy Sketch: How to Use This in Modern and Vintage Light

• Early tempo play: In the first few turns, you can cast it to pressure opponents—forcing a few draws from an aggro deck or forcing them to dump key two-cards in the late game. It’s a flexible tempo swing that doesn’t lock you into a single path, a precious trait for colors that historically prize response over brute aggression 🧙‍♂️.
• Hand disruption synergy: Pair it with broader discard or forced-draw effects to pivot the opponent's planning window. While you won’t win the race on raw card advantage alone, you can sculpt the meeting point between your defensive counterplay and their missteps.
• Multiplayer consideration: In a four-player table, choice is king. You can target the aggressor to derail their momentum or protect your own winning window by forcing someone to refill or thin their grip. The card’s dual nature makes it a fit for politics as well as decks that prize resilience 🧙‍♂️🎲.
• Deck-building note: As a common from Rav, it’s accessible in terms of mana and availability, especially in eternal formats where Dimir control often aims to maximize value from every spell. A couple of copies tucked into a blue-black shell can create a surprising amount of late-game edge when the meta leans on draw-go or grindy matches 🔮.

Design, Lore, and the Art Experience

Paolo Parente’s illustration for the card breathes a painterly noir into the Dimir’s shadow economy. The art invites you to imagine the necrosages as agents who appear and disappear with the maximum effect—an ode to the guild’s secrecy and strategic menace. The Ravnica: City of Guilds era wasn’t just about multi-color mana; it was MTG’s first big experiment in factional storytelling within a single city. Cards like Consult the Necrosages carry that legacy, a compact artifact of a time when players learned to read the guild’s codex in the margins between turns 🧙‍♂️🎨.

Historical Footnote and Collectibility

As a common in Rav, this card sits in a tier of nostalgia value—accessible to new players while still a cherished memory for veterans who recall the guilds’ early moments. The price snapshot from Scryfall indicates a modest market presence: around USD 0.17 for non-foil and about USD 0.46 for a foil copy, with euro valuations similarly modest. It’s a reminder that early MTG values often came from the joy of discovery and the conversation around which cards defined an archetype, not just the price tag 🔗💎.

Connecting the Past to the Present

Tributes to early MTG history are less about reverence and more about rekindling the spark that drew fans to collect, trade, and theorize about deck design. The Dimir guild, with its elegant bimodal power, stands as a microcosm of what makes MTG’s first blocks so enduring: a fusion of lore, color identity, and strategic flexibility that still resonates on tournament tables and kitchen tables alike 🧙‍♂️🔥.

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