We’re nearing the end of week two of Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy previews now, and still the surprises keep on coming. Just yesterday, we saw the first MTG card that rewards nonbasic land use, and today we saw a rare rule come out of storage. Somewhere in between these spicy spoilers, we also saw Summon: GF Ifrit, the first common MTG Summon card revealed for the set so far.
The fact that we’re getting Summons at common at all is honestly surprising. They’re fairly complex cards, which typically excludes things from Magic’s lowest rarity right off the bat. This is great news for Limited players, and even better news for those who enjoy a bit of Pauper. Turns out this new common Summon has a lot to offer in the format, meaning it could see some serious play there when all’s said and done.
Summon: GF Ifrit MTG
- Mana Value: 2R
- Rarity: Common
- Type: Enchantment Creature – Saga Demon
- Stats: 3/2
- Card Text: (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I and II – You may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
III and IV – Add R.
Summon: GF Ifrit isn’t the first common Saga we’ve seen in MTG. That honor goes to the handful of common flip Sagas we got in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Cool as these cards were, Okiba Reckoner Raid in particular, none made any kind of impact in Pauper.
What sets Ifrit apart is the fact that it’s a creature on top of being a Saga. With the previous common Sagas, you only got a body out of them after waiting a few turns. With Ifrit you get a 3/2 right away, and can attack and block while the chapters unfold. This immediately makes the card a lot more impactful and lessens the pressure on its Saga abilities to carry the card on their own.
That’s not to say Ifrit’s abilities are bad, of course. You get four chapters here, which come in two sets of two. Chapters I and II let you discard a card, then draw a card. Rummage effects like this are pretty much always useful, since they let you sculpt your hand according to the current gameplay situation. In Pauper there are a number of decks that particularly like this effect, which we’ll get into later.
Chapters III and IV are a bit less exciting, but still very relevant. Both give you a single red mana, which can help you get an extra spell in on those turns. Since Ifrit costs three, you’ll start getting this mana around turn four or five. With a good stream of card advantage, this can be excellent.
Some players on Reddit are already calling this Summon “Fable of the Mirror-Breaker at home.” While it’s nowhere near as exciting as that legendary mistake, it is a very exciting card for Pauper.
Feel The Burn
Looking at the current MTG Pauper metagame, a few homes for Summon: GF Ifrit jump out right away. At the top of that list is Madness Burn, a Rakdos brew built around the titular mechanic.
As a card that lets you discard and draw twice, Ifrit is a great addition to this deck. Most options, like Grab the Prize or Highway Robbery, only let you discard once. More discards mean more access to your deck’s powerful Madness cards, which is a big plus.
The draw is also very relevant for Sneaky Snacker, a staple in the deck. On the turn you play Ifrit, and the turn after, you’ll only need to draw one more card to bring Snacker back from the ‘yard. You can use it to discard Snacker, too, and since the discard and draw are separate in the ability, the draw can bring it back if you’ve drawn other cards previously.
The extra red mana Ifrit offers may seem a bit extraneous here, but it does help out. You’ll often have Blood tokens lying around in Madness Burn, so you can cash those in for ‘free’ on chapters three and four. You can also sink it into flashing back Faithless Looting, or even casting another Ifrit since it’s not legendary.
While the synergy isn’t quite as strong, I could also see Ifrit showing up in more traditional red Burn lists. Ditching lands for damage later in the game is always good, and the body is aggressive enough to be worth worrying about in Pauper. The extra red mana is also great for casting spells from your many impulse draw cards, such as Clockwork Percussionist and Wrenn’s Resolve.
A Spot Of Gravedigging
Moving further down the MTG Pauper tiers, Summon: Ifrit actually gets even more attractive. There are a number of powerful graveyard-focused decks in the format, all of which should appreciate its unique combination of abilities.
For starters, it’s a great enabler in Pauper Dredge. Two separate draw/discard instances gives you plenty of room to pitch a Dredge card and use its ability, and it provides pressure on the board to boot. It’s also just another way to fill up your graveyard.
Pauper Dredge plays a bit like a Reanimator deck at times, running the Exhume/Troll of Khazad-dûm package you often see in such lists. Having another way to put your big creatures in the graveyard is welcome. The fact that Ifrit is also a reanimation target itself, due to being a creature, makes it even better. It’s not as efficient as the likes of Malevolent Rumble, but the fact that it can fuel (and be the target of) a Dread Return gives it a unique edge.
The card also has potential in the different red ramp decks in the format, be they Jund Wildfire or classic Gruul Ramp. These decks go bigger in terms of mana than others, which means they’ll appreciate the extra red in the back half of Ifrit. Casting the likes of Avenging Hunter and Boarding Party ain’t cheap, after all.
Overall, Ifrit is a fantastic new option for Pauper, and one I’m genuinely surprised to see in the common slot. If there are more common Summons to come, the format could be in for a serious shake-up come June.
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