• Grim Lavamancer (Original Art)
  • Grim Lavamancer (Original Art)

    Grim Lavamancer (Original Art)

    Artist
    Jim Nelson
    Year
    2001
    Medium
    Acrylics/Mixed Media
    Set/Console Name
    Torment
    Console/Game
    Magic the Gathering
    C.O.A.
    no
    Painted A.P.
    yes
    Substrate Material
    Crescent Water Color Board No.114 Cold Press
    Substrate Dimensions
    10"H x 12"W
    Image Area Dimensions
    7 3/4"H x 9 3/4"W
    Frame Dimensions
    Unframed
    Handmade Protective Case
    YES
    Reserved List
    No

    For Grim Lavamancer, Magic artist Jim Nelson’s provides a textbook example of the power of complementary colors when used to brilliant effect; blues and blue/blacks contrast with oranges and red/oranges opposite the color wheel to give the lava its visceral heat and glow. Grim Lavamancer is a 1-mana red 1/1 Human Wizard originally from the Torment set that can deal 2 damage to any target by paying one red mana, tapping it and exiling two cards from your graveyard. If your deck can reliably put cards in the graveyard (e.g. fetchlands, cantrips, discard, mill,..), Grim Lavamancer converts that “fuel” into incremental damage or removal which can be very valuable in many matchups. As a one-drop body it can trade or apply pressure early in the game while later on it can ping something by exiling two cards from your graveyard. This gives the card both early tempo and late-game reach without using extra card slots. As previously mentioned decks with many fetchlands, cheap cantrips or decks that naturally fill graveyards can fuel Lavamancer’s activations easily. Grim Lavamancer is one of those classic one-drops that shaped the early Delver/UR tempo archetypes in Legacy. It was often played as a one or two off in Izzet Delver or Burn decks where it served as an early game threat to apply pressure. The opponent then either had to spent a removal spell on it right away or risk giving the player incremental value by its recursive ability. In Show and Tell decks the card would be very useful coming from the sideboard, as opponents tend to cut most of their removal spells. This gives some form of inevitability and grindy potential while also serving as a way to kill opposing hatebears (e.g Meddling Mage, Containment Priest, Thalia...). In Modern, Lavamancer shows up as a recurring toolbox piece in various tempo/combo lists (e.g. Burn, Death’s Shadow, UR Aggro, Hollow one,..). It also appears in older formats such as Vintage and Commander decks, and Premodern. Nowadays, Grim Lavamancer is popular in the Premodern format where it sees play in various decks such as Sligh (Mono Red Aggro/Red Deck Wins), Machine Head (B/R Aggro) and Stiflenaught builds. Grim Lavamancer is not a Reserved List card and has multiple reprints (Double Masters, Dominaria Remastered...).
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