Welcome to some more fun previews for Shadows Over Innistrad on the Daily Dose! Shadows Over Innistrad is shaping up to be quite the fun set and they’ve set up the new set with an interesting new mechanic/token. In the past most tokens made in Magic have been creature tokens such as Goblin Tokens or Knight Tokens. In recent years they’ve made the following non-creature tokens.
They have once again made an Artifact token in the form of a Clue Token that happens anytime you Investigate. When you Investigate, you get a Clue Token:
This is definitely an interesting way to give cards added value without simply making them cantrip cards.
Let’s have a look at one of the new cards that makes Clue tokens, here is Thraben Inspector:
This is a simple enough 1/2 creature for one mana, but it adds a small bonus in that Investigates, giving you a Clue Token to use later in the game. A simple add-on for a common creature, but a nice bonus for later on.
Here is another example of how Clue Tokens are used to give a card a little more value. Here is Expose Evil:
This is a two mana Instant that is able to tap two creatures. This is what you would expect from a common card. Now throw in the extra little bit of Investigate and you get a Clue Token for your troubles. This is a neat design space, where it’s not as good as a cantrip that draws you a card, but better than just the vanilla spell of tapping two creatures.
Now that you have accumulated all of these Clue Tokens, what are you going to do with all of them. The obvious choice is that you can spend two mana for each one and draw cards. This is a great choice obviously, but remember they are also artifacts as well.
You could use Pia and Kiran Nalaar to sacrifice them to do two damage to any target. Reclusive Artificer can be used to deal a lot of damage to a creature thanks to all the Artifact Clue Tokens you have. Renowned Weaponsmith can be used to activate your Clue Tokens to allow you to draw cards easier. With Thopter Spy Network, it will activate its Thopter making engine, allowing you to get extra 1/1 Thopter tokens on the battlefield.
There is also a new card in Shadows Over Innistrad that not only produces clues, but allows you to use them to your advantage as well. Let’s have a look at Tamiyo’s Journal.
Now talk about a card brimming with value! Each turn you get a Clue token, allowing you to draw extra cards each turn. If you happen to need a specific card, you can sacrifice three Clue Tokens to search your library for any card. The key aspect to that, is that it doesn’t sacrifice Tamiyo’s Journal, so it allows you to keep gaining Clue Tokens and having the chance to sacrifice more in the future.
As you can see, it will very interesting to see what direction players go when using clues to help them progress in the game. Whether to use them as card draw or to use them for other purposes. Will be interested to see what other items start producing Clue tokens.
Thanks again for reading some preview craziness on the Daily Dose of Shadows Over Innistrad and I’m looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow for some more new cards!
