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For the novel, see The Prodigal Sorcerer.
LEA Prodigal Sorcerer

Prodigal Sorcerer from Alpha.

Prodigal Sorcerer is a blue 1/1 Human Wizard creature card with the activated ability "{T}: Prodigal Sorcerer deals 1 damage to any target". It is a very well-known card, first appearing in Alpha edition and inspiring several stories as well as the nickname Tim. However, it is no longer considered a good fit within the color pie.

History[ | ]

Alpha[ | ]

The card was introduced in Alpha, where its artist credit was incorrect, with Douglas Shuler misspelled as "Douglas Schuler". The card featured creature type Wizard (only) in Alpha; but, in Time Spiral, it gained the Human racial creature type to complement its class creature type.

Nickname and etymology[ | ]

The card is nicknamed "Tim", after the "Tim the Enchanter", a wizard portrayed by John Cleese in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and who had a talent for fire-based magic and damaging things.

The nickname "Tim" has inspired nicknames for other pingers, such as Rod of Ruin ("Tim on a stick"), Hermetic Study ("Tim on a whim"), Pirate Ship ("Tim on a ship"), Rootwater Hunter ("Tim who can swim", "swim Tim", or "fish Tim"), Thornwind Faeries ("flying Tim"), and Zuran Spellcaster ("Zim" or "icy Tim").

Reprints[ | ]

Prodigal Sorcerer was reprinted in every Core Set up until Seventh Edition.

Time Spiral[ | ]

In Time Spiral, it gained the Human racial creature type to complement its creature class.

Planar Chaos replacement[ | ]

Introduced in Planar Chaos as a red timeshifted version of Prodigal Sorcerer, Prodigal Pyromancer, nicknamed "Tom" for unknown reasons, other than "Tom" was the design file name,[1] was thought to be more appropriate given the understanding of the color pie then.

Prodigal Pyromancer was later reprinted in Tenth Edition, thus cementing R&D's position on damage-dealing creatures in red, not blue. It also featured in Magic 2010 and Magic 2011.

Story appearances[ | ]

Prodigal Sorcerer represents a character archetype rather than a specific character. Nonetheless, it has inspired several works about inexperienced mages:

ProdigalSorcererHomelands

Prodigal Sorcerer in the Homelands promo

These stories take place on Dominaria, except for the Homelands promo video, which presumably is set on Ulgrotha.

In-game references[ | ]

Represented in:

References[ | ]

  1. Aaron Forsythe (February 2, 2007). "Tom-Shifted: Red Tim finally exists!". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. Wizards of the Coast "Homelands" Promo (Video). Philemon Vanderbeck. YouTube (June 16, 2006).
  3. Pete Venters (May 1998). "Dominian FAQ" The Duelist #25, p.34.
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