MTG Salvation

Fathom Mage

Have any of you guys had any success with Fathom Mage? I suppose you could just play Harmonize or Concentrate, but being a creature is nice.

She seems like she wouldn't garner much attention from opponents either, since she doesn't seem highly threatening.

Without building around her or that mechanic could she be worth a slot?

She seems very good with Ezuri and Vorel

Without building around her I would say she is not worth it. Other card draw options are simply stronger and require less effort. Especially in U/G.
However, it can be quite nice if there are synergies present in the deck. Ezuri, Claw of Progress comes to mind as a strong Commander that could easily refill its hand the same turn it lands a Fathom Mage.

If you have any sort of +1/+1 counter synergy its pretty damn good source of repeated draw and gets fat quick.
Other than what has been mentioned look for Forgotten Ancient, Obsessive Skinner,
Hardened Scales,
Kalonian Hydra, Archangel of Thune if you go bant. Of course Doubling Season
Graft Abilities so you can draw right away.
Is it top tier, efficient, wipe you out combo?...no.
Its a fun, effective card with great art that fits well into the Simic synergies.

Yeah, I've got Fathom Mage in Vorel. You need some way to get the first counter on her (Evolve works, especially with Vorel having 4 toughness), but once that happens she's a card-drawing machine.

Quote from Lithl »

Yeah, I've got Fathom Mage in Vorel. You need some way to get the first counter on her (Evolve works, especially with Vorel having 4 toughness), but once that happens she's a card-drawing machine.

This.

I have her in my Animar deck, between all of the other threats that are put out, she seems fairly innocent, until I draw 14 because everyone also forgot about the Forgotten Ancient sitting next to her ticking up.

My animar deck is themed around +1/+1 counters. Fathom Mage is a very powerful draw engine. Target her with Give // Take for extra giggles.

Ezuri, Claw of Progress and Vorel of the Hull Clade love her. But my Ezuri and Vorel both use a lot of proliferate cards.

Also decent in The Mimeoplasm.

Fathom Mage is good. You can usually get two or three draws without anyone really noticing. And there are several ways (as mentioned by others) to make it really disgusting.

Quote from RedGauntlet »

She seems very good with Ezuri and Vorel

This; she is a house in Ezuri (IMO). She combos with his ability being a 1/1 body, evolves with many of the mana dorks you can play (Utopia Tree, Sylvan Caryatid), which is basically what you want to be playing anyways), and is a constant source of card advantage as she will absorb targeted removal (1 for 1), or allow you to ancestral recall+ every turn for free (if Ezuri is out). Oh, and beats in a deck that wants to be aggro. Definitely an auto-include as far as I can tell.

I put her in basically every UG(x) deck I build, but I admit I might be slightly addicted to certain +1/+1 counters utilizing cards. Anyway, she's quite decent in Animar, but in Ezuri, she's downright broken (do take into consideration I play in a fairly casual group - with said deck, I managed to kill everybody in one turn with seriously buff squirrel tokens). If you are as casual as me, I'd recommend reserving a slot for Bioshift in any deck playing Fathom Mage. It's crazy good, especially since people don't usually expect it.

Quote from goblin_chef »

I put her in basically every UG(x) deck I build, but I admit I might be slightly addicted to certain +1/+1 counters utilizing cards. Anyway, she's quite decent in Animar, but in Ezuri, she's downright broken (do take into consideration I play in a fairly casual group - with said deck, I managed to kill everybody in one turn with seriously buff squirrel tokens). If you are as casual as me, I'd recommend reserving a slot for Bioshift in any deck playing Fathom Mage. It's crazy good, especially since people don't usually expect it.

How do you do with her with Jenara?

She is a must have in every U/G/X counter based deck but everywhere else she isn't worth it

Keep in mind also that "Draw a card whenever a counter is put on her" gets borked really fast when you put a ton of individual counters on her. Having Lab-Man and Savage Summoning in your deck can pull out wins from no where if you go over the limit and were going to deck yourself anyway.

If you want a cheaper soul of the harvest-type effect it can be good. She will eventually stop drawing cards, but triggering from tokens can be way better. I like her in my great whale deck.

Played her in a Mimeoplasm "+1/+1 counters matter" deck. She was okay; the 4 mana investment often feels not worth it, but the first Increasing Savagery (give/take), etc. you land will make it all worth while. Obviously strong with Graft (though there are not many good Graft cards).

I had more success with Cold-eyed Selkie, but I'd still run Fathom Mage. In decks where you can get immediate benefit, like Ezuri, I'd say she's pretty close to auto-include.

Card draw is never terrible in EDH. Even things like Wall of Blossoms should get way more play than they do, much less stuff like Shadowmage Infiltrator. At worst, you basically have a mid-size, non-evasive beatstick that doesn't have to risk itself in combat to draw cards. You need to be playing a deck that plays a creature every turn, but otherwise ok. But at its best, you can draw a dozen cards off it in a game. There are not that many cards that can put out that kind of volume, under any conditions.

Quote from Dunharrow »

Also decent in The Mimeoplasm.

Even more so if it's a +1/+1 counters deck like mine.

I run it in Experiment Kraj as a card advantage and +1/+1 counter producer. And I agree with what is said before, you need a way to not only put counters on her, and it's okay to have ways to get some off even if it's just a Power Conduit to help the natural evolve go.

She's a niche card, not for every deck, but good for decks that throw around counters like confetti.