For an equipment to see play in any competitive MTG format, it has to overcome one of the inherent disadvantages that the card type has. Not only do you need to spend mana on casting equipment, but you also need a creature in play for the equipment to get any value. If that wasn’t enough, you must spend additional mana to get the equipment onto a creature.
That’s a lot of requirements for a card type that traditionally cannot do much on its own. As a result of Magic’s overall power creep, Wizards of the Coast has been pushing a lot of equipment that offloads some of these downsides.
Job Select equipment from Final Fantasy is the latest trend in this development. Representing the ability to choose your profession in the franchise, Job Select equipment essentially functions similarly to Living Weapon, creating a token that the equipment attaches itself to on entry.
This makes Astrologian’s Planisphere a very interesting MTG card for competitive Magic. Prowess is all the rage thanks to Cori-Steel Cutter, and Astrologian’s Planisphere offers a creature that gets permanent buffs from Prowess triggers.
Astrologian’s Planisphere
Astrologian’s Planesphere plays much better than it looks. While this card may essentially start as a 1/1 Hero Wizard, you can grow it fast. Casting noncreature spells or drawing three cards per turn will contribute to growing the equipped creature.
The big interest in Astologian’s Planisphere over traditional Prowess threats is that its buffs are permanent. Instead of the temporary buffs that Prowess provides, your equipped creature gets +1/+1 counters. While this can create a long-term threat, you’ll have to start from scratch if the Hero token created by the Planisphere dies. It’s not the most powerful thing to be doing, but a nice secondary option.
Since re-equipping Astrologian’s Planisphere isn’t super interesting, it’s best to assess this card as a creature. Astrologian’s Planisphere has the potential to see Standard and Modern play, but among the two formats, Modern might be the most exciting.
Astrologian’s Planisphere in Modern
In Modern, Astrologian’s Planisphere can immediately start dishing out +1/+1 counters on turn two. This is thanks to all of the zero mana spells that are currently seeing play in the format. Unlike most effects that give permanent buffs based on cast triggers, Astrologian’s Planisphere cares about all noncreature spells, not just instants and sorceries.
Whether you’re playing Mishra’s Bauble or Mox Opal, Astrologian’s Planisphere has potential in Modern Prowess, Affinity, and 8-Mox combo decks. All of these decks want to cast lots of noncreature spells in the early game, potentially scaling the Hero Wizard token quickly.
If you can scale the Hero Wizard token fast enough, you can avoid much of the damage-based removal available in Modern. This should be easy with so many zero mana spells, however, it does require setup. Notably, you’ll have to play Astrologian’s Planisphere first on turn two, which potentially slows things somewhat.
On the plus side, Astrologian’s Planisphere is an artifact, which is important in the current Modern format. This means that it’ll always contribute to Affinity, even if its token gets taken out. It’s also possible to use Emry, Lurker of the Loch to bring this card back from the graveyard, should you so desire.
While it does have some potential, Astrologian’s Planisphere is hardly a guaranteed hit in Modern. Even though it can scale quickly, it lacks any immediate impact and has no protection. Due to this, there are bound to be games where it doesn’t do much at all. Ultimately, we’ll just have to wait until Final Fantasy releases to see how this card will do.
Astrologian’s Planisphere in Standard
If Astrologian’s Planisphere sees any Standard play, it will be in Izzet Prowess. This deck already casts plenty of cheap spells, after all, so it seems like the perfect fit. There is an issue, however, as you may struggle to outscale early game removal. Unlike in Modern, if you drop Astrologian’s Planisphere on turn two, you’re stuck with a 1/1 body for a rotation of the table.
To make matters worse, much of the Standard metagame currently comes prepared for Izzet Prowess’ shenanigans. The deck has been incredibly popular and successful for so long now that players haven’t had much choice in this regard. Sadly, this means there’s a lot of early game removal going around, especially in mirror matches.
Due to this, Astrologian’s Planisphere may struggle in Standard until the metagame shifts somewhat. Should this happen, however, then this equipment may end up becoming a major threat, especially against slower matchups. This could even allow decks running Planisphere to use the equip effect, attaching it to more resilient creatures.
All of that said, Astrologian’s Planisphere keeps its buffs permanently – something it has over the other Standard Prowess creatures, and triggers Prowess itself. If Prowess players can find opportunities to get the ball rolling, Astrologian’s Planisphere may put on the hurt in the Standard format.
Much like in Modern, this is all theory for now. Whether or not Astrologian’s Planisphere will actually see play remains to be seen. We’ll just have to wait and see to find out what the future holds.
A Card With Strong Potential
Honestly, it’s nice to see that a Final Fantasy Job Select equipment even has a chance of seeing competitive play. The other cards that use this mechanic have been less than impressive, likely relegated to Limited. Astrologian’s Planisphere’s value might end up being too one-dimensional, but two-mana creatures that can be permanently buffed by any noncreature spell are quite rare.
This won’t be remotely as revolutionary as Cori-Steel Cutter is, but the Tarkir: Dragonstorm equipment might have paved the way for this unique Final Fantasy card to see some play.