Karmic Guide MTG Card


Provides significant card advantage by resurrecting creatures straight to the battlefield. Its echo cost introduces strategic depth, balancing resource management and adaptability. Demands considerate deck building due to its specific mana requirements and echo cost.
Card setsReleased in 9 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Angel Spirit
Abilities Echo,Flying,Protection
Power 2
Toughness 2

Text of card

Flying, protection from black; echo (During your next upkeep after this permanent comes under your control, pay its casting cost or sacrifice it.) When Karmic Guide comes into play, choose target creature card in your graveyard and put that creature into play.


Cards like Karmic Guide

Karmic Guide stands out in the pantheon of creature retrieval cards available to Magic: The Gathering players. This distinctive spirit guide is often compared to cards like Reveillark, which can also return creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield. However, Karmic Guide offers a focused resurrection, targeting a single creature of choice in your graveyard, pairing it well with high-value targets.

Another card that echoes the abilities of Karmic Guide is Sun Titan, with the capacity to fetch smaller permanents, including creatures, from the graveyard each time it attacks or enters the battlefield. While Sun Titan has a broader retrieval range, Karmic Guide’s echo ability ensures its effects are felt immediately and potently upon casting. Lastly, Body Double cannot be overlooked. This shape-shifter may not bring back creatures directly like Karmic Guide, but it does clone any creature in any graveyard, thus amplifying the multifaceted nature of creature resurrection strategies.

Diving deep, each of these cards has its niche, with Karmic Guide shining for its immediate impact and versatility in reanimator decks. It’s a venerable tool in the arsenal of any player looking to strategically bring back key creatures and capitalize on enter-the-battlefield effects.

Reveillark - MTG Card versions
Sun Titan - MTG Card versions
Body Double - MTG Card versions
Reveillark - MTG Card versions
Sun Titan - MTG Card versions
Body Double - MTG Card versions

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Shu Elite Companions - MTG Card versions
Veteran Bodyguard - MTG Card versions
Rashida Scalebane - MTG Card versions
Avenging Angel - MTG Card versions
Lancers en-Kor - MTG Card versions
Radiant, Archangel - MTG Card versions
Master Healer - MTG Card versions
Angel of Mercy - MTG Card versions
Serra Angel - MTG Card versions
Border Patrol - MTG Card versions
Enduring Angel // Angelic Enforcer - MTG Card versions
Sigardian Savior - MTG Card versions
Glory - MTG Card versions
Celestial Gatekeeper - MTG Card versions
Collector Protector - MTG Card versions
Kiyomaro, First to Stand - MTG Card versions
Belfry Spirit - MTG Card versions
Petra Sphinx - MTG Card versions
Barrenton Medic - MTG Card versions
Ivory Gargoyle - MTG Card versions
Shu Elite Companions - MTG Card versions

Decks using this card

MTG decks using Karmic Guide. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.

#NameFormatArchetypeEvent
4c Midrange4c Midrange Modern4c MidrangeModern Challenge 64 2024-03-17 (1)
4c Omnath4c Omnath Modern4/5c OmnathModern Challenge 64 2024-03-16
Selesnya ControlSelesnya Control PremodernEternal Weekend Europe 2023 Premodern Mainevent
Full English BreakfastFull English Breakfast PremodernEternal Weekend Europe 2023 Premodern Mainevent
Five-color ComboFive-color Combo Canadian Highlander for Duals - Tundra Guaranteed - Proxies Allowed

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Karmic Guide shines in delivering card advantage by returning a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. This not only strengthens your board presence with an additional creature but effectively gives you access to two cards for the price of one—Karmic Guide itself and the creature it retrieves.

Resource Acceleration: This versatile creature can be a form of resource acceleration in decks that focus on reanimating high-cost creatures. By reviving a potent creature early in the game, you’re effectively skipping its mana cost and potentially accelerating your game plan several turns ahead of your opponent.

Instant Speed: While Karmic Guide does not operate at instant speed, its echo cost provides a form of flexibility. You can decide whether to keep it on the battlefield for recurring use or allow it to go to the graveyard, potentially reusing it with other reanimation spells. This adaptability lets you skillfully navigate around your opponent’s threats and strategies at a pace that suits your game plan.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Karmic Guide demands a significant sacrifice from your hand at your next upkeep unless you pay its echo cost. This can sometimes force you into a difficult decision where you’re compelled to discard a potentially valuable asset just to keep the Guide on the battlefield.

Specific Mana Cost: With its specific need for two white mana alongside three generic mana, Karmic Guide can be challenging to cast in multi-colored decks. This requirement can hamper deck-building flexibility, making it less appealing in mana bases that are stretched across numerous colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When you compare the five mana needed to summon Karmic Guide to other creature revival options in the game, this cost is relatively steep. Since MTG offers a myriad of lower-cost alternatives for reanimation, players often go for those to maximize efficiency and speed in gameplay.


Reasons to Include Karmic Guide in Your Collection

Versatility: Karmic Guide offers a dual role of creature recovery and being a flying threat on the board. The capability to reanimate any creature from your graveyard caters to various strategies, enhancing both aggressive and control-oriented decks.

Combo Potential: This card can be a key part of numerous combos, particularly with cards that trigger upon entering the battlefield or dying. Karmic Guide’s Echo cost also permits intentional graveyard placement for additional recursion synergies.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where control decks try to eliminate key creatures, Karmic Guide shines by effectively reversing removal spells. Moreover, its presence is perennially significant in formats that favor creature-based strategies and graveyard interplay.


How to beat

Karmic Guide is a revered card among Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts for its potent reanimation effect. It allows players to return a creature card from their graveyard to the battlefield, presenting a substantial advantage. Combatting this resurrection can be tricky, but not impossible. Firstly, one can rely on graveyard hate cards that can remove potential targets before Karmic Guide’s ability triggers, like Scavenging Ooze or Leyline of the Void. Counterspells are also a competent preemptive strike against the Guide itself, ensuring that it doesn’t stick to the board in the first place.

Moreover, exile effects serve as perfect remedies, with spells like Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares offering clean solutions to deal with the Guide when it enters the battlefield. Utilizing instant removal spells in response to its Echo cost during the upkeep can prevent a return from the graveyard without resource loss. Finally, employing sacrifice effects can force your opponent to sacrifice their Karmic Guide before getting value from its ability.

Therefore, the key to defeating Karmic Guide in Magic: The Gathering lies in strategic timing and having the right answers at the crucial moment. Staying one step ahead can limit its impact and maintain the flow of the game in your favor.


BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering Magic: The Gathering is an exhilarating and continuous challenge. Karmic Guide is a card that promises to add depth and resilience to your gameplay. Understanding its strengths, like the crucial card advantage and resource acceleration it provides, alongside its weaknesses, including its discard requirements and specific mana cost, can be pivotal in constructing a robust deck. Whether you’re amplifying combo potential or countering creature removals, implementations of the Guide can be game-changing. Enhance your strategic thinking and improve your in-game decisions by incorporating such versatile cards. Join us for insights and strategies to harness the full potential of your MTG collection.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Karmic Guide MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Legacy and Commander 2013, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Karmic Guide and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Karmic Guide Magic the Gathering card was released in 9 different sets between 1999-02-15 and 2021-11-19. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11999-02-15Urza's LegacyULG 111997NormalBlackHeather Hudson
22013-11-01Commander 2013C13 142003NormalBlackAllen Williams
32014-06-16Vintage MastersVMA 322015NormalBlackAllen Williams
42016-06-10Eternal MastersEMA 172015NormalBlackAllen Williams
52017-06-09Commander AnthologyCMA 132015NormalBlackAllen Williams
62019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 2812015NormalBlackJohannes Voss
72021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 2632015NormalBlackAllen Williams
82021-07-23Forgotten Realms CommanderAFC 682015NormalBlackAllen Williams
92021-11-19Crimson Vow CommanderVOC 902015NormalBlackAllen Williams

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Karmic Guide has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Karmic Guide card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2021-06-18 Paying for echo is always optional. When the echo triggered ability resolves, if you can't pay the echo cost or choose not to, you sacrifice that permanent.
2021-06-18 Your permanent's echo ability will trigger at the beginning of your upkeep if it entered the battlefield since the beginning of your last upkeep, or if you gained control of it since the beginning of your last upkeep.