Transfigure is from the set Future Sight, and as of the time of this post appears on only one card: Fleshwrither.
It’s a pretty simple mechanic, working like Transmute but for creatures. On your turn, at sorcery speed, if Fleshwrither is on the battlefield, you may pay the Transfigure cost. When you do, sacrifice Fleshwrither, then search your library for another creature with the same total mana value and put it onto the battlefield. So in Fleshwrither’s case, you can go get any four-mana-value creature out of your deck.
A few quick notes about some of the rules around Transfigure:
- You aren’t casting a spell, so Transfigure can’t be counterspelled. Like many other abilities, Stifle or similar effects and spells will stop it.
- Sacrificing Fleshwrither is part of the cost of activating the ability. So your opponents can’t kill it in response to stop the ability from happening. However, this also means that if they do something in response to stop you from Transfiguring, the Fleshwrither remains dead.
- Any enters-the-battlefield ability of the new creature will trigger. If something triggers off of it being cast, however, that won’t trigger.
This is another tutoring mechanic, which makes it unlikely to return – since tutoring mechanics can be quite powerful, hard to balance, and make games repetitive. That said, this can be a very useful toolbox mechanic, letting you grab the right creature for whatever the situation may be.
Want to try out Transfigure in your deck? You can find all the Fleshwrithers you’ll need at cardkingdom.com!