Transfigure in MTG: Rules and History

Fleshwrither | Illustration by Dave Allsop

Every once in a while you’ll be looking through cards and discover some niche mechanic you really like. Maybe you like how it works, or maybe it fits well with other things you like playing. You then naturally go over to its Draftsim article to find the best cards with that mechanic. And that’s when the worst happens: there are only a handful of cards that play it, with absolutely no support. It’s almost impossible to play the mechanic properly.

Anyone who plays Magic, and especially formats like EDH where alternative playstyles are even more common, knows this feeling. The frustration of finding some keyword only to find it’s on like five cards from Alliances never to be seen again.

Or it can be even more frustrating: the card is from Future Sight. I think this set was amazing just for the unhinged level of creativity and freedom that they took with new mechanics and keywords. But it also has the issue that a ton of those ideas started and ended right there.

Today we’re looking at one of Future Sight’s half-forgotten mechanics: transfigure.

How Does Transfigure Work?

Disfigure | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Transfigure is an activated ability that lets you pay a cost and sacrifice that creature to search your library for a creature with equal mana value and put it onto the battlefield. Transfigure can only be activated as a sorcery.

This ability is similar to Ravnica: City of Guilds’s transmute, except it works only with creatures and the creature needs to already be on the battlefield.

The History of Transfigure in MTG

Well, this is gonna be a short one. Transfigure was first introduced on Fleshwrither from 2007’s Future Sight set. You could argue that Ravnica: City of Guild’s transfigure served as a precursor to this ability.

Future Sight was the very last time we saw transfigure. That’s right: this ability is on exactly one card.

I’d say you shouldn’t keep your hopes too high in terms of seeing this again because this mechanic apparently holds a strong 9 on the Storm Scale. Rarer things have happened (we did go back to Kamigawa, after all) but it doesn’t seem like this mechanic will make a return any time soon.

Is Transfigured an Activated Ability?

Transfigure is an activated keyword ability, with a cost of N mana and sacrificing the creature with the ability.

Transfigure vs Transmute

Considering this is a 14 to one fight, I can hardly say it’s fair. Transmute as an ability obviously has enough cards with enough different mana values to claim it’s a reasonable way to tutor for specific spells that can be game-changing.

That said, I think trasfigure had the potential to be a pretty strong mechanic. I’m not too versed in formats like Modern or Legacy, so I couldn’t say how it’d go over in those formats, but I know for sure it’d be a banger in Commander. Especially in aristocrats and other sacrifice- and reanimation-heavy decks.

Can You Transfigure into a DFC?

Transfigure only lets you fetch for creatures to put into play. This means that any DFC that you fetch needs to enter on its creature side. For example, if you fetch Esika, God of the Tree/The Prismatic Bridge, you’d only be able to play Esika, God of the Tree.

For cards that transform, like werewolves, you can only really play the front face of that card, and it’ll transform when the conditions are met.

What if You Don’t Find a Creature?

If you activate transfigure and have no creatures with the right mana value in the deck, the effect simply resolves and you shuffle your library.

Gallery and List of Transfigure Cards

• Fleshwrither

Wrap Up

Esika, God of the Tree | Illustration by Johannes Voss

I only found out about transfigure recently, and honestly I wish there were more cards with this ability. I think it’s fun, it synergizes incredibly well with a ton of strategies I personally really like, and it fits perfectly in black mana’s identity.

As I’ve already mentioned, this ability is a 9 in the Storm Scale so it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see it again. But we can always hope it’ll show up in some Modern Horizons or Commander Legends type product.

But enough about what I think. What do you think of transfigure? Do you like the mechanic? Do you think it’s better or worse than transmute? Or maybe they complement each other well? Let us know what you think in the comments! And while you’re here, don’t forget to check out our Discord server! There you’ll find an amazing community of MTG fans to share your hobby and passion with.

That’s all from me for now! Have a good one, and I’ll see you next time.