Resourceful Return MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	2017-01-20
Set symbol
Set name	Aether Revolt
Set code	AER
Number	70
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Titus Lunter

Key Takeaways

Enhances card advantage by retrieving creatures and potentially drawing a card.
Instant speed gives flexibility in responding to opponents’ moves.
Useful in graveyard-centric and artifact decks for combo synergies.

Text of card

Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. If you control an artifact, draw a card.

When the salvage team brought in the shattered gearhulk, a wave of excitement swept through the renegade foundry.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Resourceful Return shines when it comes to card advantage. It allows players to retrieve a creature from the graveyard to their hand, ensuring resources are maintained even after a creature has been taken out of play. Plus, if an artifact is under your control, you draw a card, furthering your lead.

Resource Acceleration: While Resourceful Return doesn’t directly produce mana or tokens, it effectively saves mana by recycling creatures from the graveyard. This can be seen as indirect resource acceleration as it reduces the need to draw and play new creatures from your deck, allowing you to allocate resources elsewhere.

Instant Speed: The ability to play Resourceful Return at instant speed offers incredible flexibility. Cast it during your opponent’s end step to ensure you have the full breadth of options available during your turn, or use it in response to a removal spell to ensure you don’t lose access to your key creatures.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Resourceful Return forces players to discard a card, which might be problematic when hand-size is already diminished, negatively impacting strategic flexibility.

Specific Mana Cost: Necessitating both black mana and generic mana, Resourceful Return could be cumbersome for multicolored decks that might struggle with color consistency.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Though two mana may seem modest, the cost proves steep considering you’re only retrieving a creature from the graveyard to your hand. Other cards in the format may offer similar or better effects at a lower mana investment.

Reasons to Include Resourceful Return in Your Collection

Versatility: Resourceful Return offers a dual benefit – it allows for the return of a creature from your graveyard while potentially drawing a card if you control an artifact. This makes it a valuable addition to decks that interact with the graveyard or artifact-heavy themes.

Combo Potential: Complementing strategies that focus on sacrificing or cycling creatures, Resourceful Return seamlessly integrates by recovering key components for recurring combos and synergies, enhancing the resilience and consistency of your play.

Meta-Relevance: With many decks utilizing their graveyards as a resource, having a card that can retrieve important pieces while also replacing itself in hand is crucial in staying competitive. As metagames shift towards midrange and control archetypes, the impact of Resourceful Return’s efficient recursion cannot be overstated.

How to Beat Resourceful Return

Resourceful Return is a card that can give MTG players a tactical advantage by allowing them to return a creature from their graveyard to their hand and, if they control an artifact, draw a card. This combination of graveyard retrieval and card draw makes it a valuable inclusion in decks that focus on resource regeneration and maintaining card advantage.

To effectively counter this strategy, players need to anticipate graveyard synergies. Strategies could include using graveyard hate cards, such as Relic of Progenitus or Tormod’s Crypt, which can exile cards from the graveyard before your opponent has the chance to use Resourceful Return. Cards that limit the opponent’s hand size or force them to discard, like Mind Rot, can also disrupt their plans and reduce the impact of drawing an extra card.

Control decks could focus on countering key spells with cards like Negate or Dovin’s Veto, preventing Resourceful Return from resolving in the first place. Balancing aggression with strategic disruption can tilt the game in your favor, rendering Resourceful Return a less effective tool in your opponent’s arsenal.

Cards like Resourceful Return

Resourceful Return is a unique piece in the realm of creature recovery spells within Magic: The Gathering. This card parallels traits with other reanimation spells such as Unearth or Disentomb, which allow players to retrieve creatures from the graveyard. However, Resourceful Return offers an additional bonus if an artifact is under your control—you get to draw a card. Disentomb does not have an extra card draw effect but is lower in mana cost.

Another akin card is Raise Dead, which also brings back creatures from graveyard to hand, but like Disentomb, does not bestow additional card draw opportunities. Macabre Waltz stands as a competitor with its ability to return not just one, but two creatures to your hand while also necessitating a discard, potentially setting up further graveyard strategy. Macabre Waltz, however, doesn’t facilitate the immediate advantage of drawing a card.

Therefore, in evaluating the spectrum of creature revival spells, Resourceful Return holds a distinctive edge by potentially enhancing hand size, should the condition be met. It integrates the strategy of reanimation with card advantage, boosting its strategic value in MTG decks focusing on recursion and artifact synergy.

Cards similar to Resourceful Return by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Resourceful Return MTG card by a specific set like Aether Revolt, 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 Resourceful Return and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Resourceful Return has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2017-02-09	Whether or not you control an artifact is checked as Resourceful Return resolves.
2017-02-09	You can’t cast Resourceful Return without a target creature card in your graveyard.