Ali from Cairo MTG Card

Ali from Cairo can turn the tide by ensuring your life total won’t drop below 1, offering strategic resilience. Despite its potential, Ali from Cairo requires careful hand management and specific mana considerations in decks. Versatile yet niche, Ali from Cairo adds unique defense against aggressive strategies to your collection.

Arabian Nights (ARN)
1993-12-17 - Number 36

Ali from Cairo - Masters Edition IV (ME4)

Masters Edition IV (ME4)
2011-01-10 - Number 107

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Creature — Human
Power	0
Toughness	1

Text of card

While Ali is in play, damage that would reduce you to less than 1 life lowers you to 1 life. All further damage is prevented.

Cards like Ali from Cairo

Ali from Cairo is a unique piece in the realm of Magic the Gathering, with its ability to prevent players’ life totals from dropping below 1 as long as it remains on the battlefield. This ability mirrors the aspect of Platinum Emperion, which outright states that a player’s life total can’t change. However, Platinum Emperion’s blanket immunity to life total changes is more robust compared to the conditional defense Ali from Cairo provides.

Comparatively, Worship is another card that offers a similar life-saving mechanic by not allowing your life total to drop below 1 if you control a creature. Still, Worship’s enchantment type makes it less susceptible to creature removal, providing a more steadfast layer of protection. Then, there’s Fortune Thief, a creature that unexpectedly shares Ali’s trait, activating when life damage could reduce your life total to less than 1, leaving you at 1 instead.

While Ali from Cairo offers an iconic survival ability, the evolution of the game has introduced cards like Platinum Emperion and Worship, which serve to safeguard players’ life totals in a more contemporary context. Fortune Thief also presents itself as an interesting alternative, especially in scenarios where surprise defense is pivotal. Each card has its niche, but Ali from Cairo remains a timeless classic in MTG for its early representation of a life preserving mechanic.

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Ali from Cairo does not directly allow you to draw cards, it significantly helps to maintain your life total. Preserving your life total can indirectly prevent a loss of card advantage by giving you the resilience to take risks with your plays without the immediate threat of losing the game.

Resource Acceleration: Ali from Cairo is not a direct source of resource acceleration. However, its ability to ensure your life total doesn’t drop below 1 can be a form of indirect resource acceleration as it allows you to utilize your life as a resource more freely, potentially making plays that are riskier but more rewarding.

Instant Speed: Although Ali from Cairo is a creature card and doesn’t operate at instant speed, its static ability provides a constant shield that acts immediately upon any effect that would reduce your life total to less than 1. This continuous protection can turn the tide by keeping you in the game at critical moments where instant speed interaction from opponents would otherwise be lethal.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: For Ali from Cairo to truly shine in gameplay, you need to ensure that your hand doesn’t deplete too quickly. Without adequate card advantage, maintaining its presence on the battlefield can become a challenge, possibly leaving you at a strategic deficit.

Specific Mana Cost: Deck construction needs to consider the specified mana cost of this card. It demands two red mana, making it less flexible and harder to cast in multi-color decks that may not prioritize red mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The casting cost of Ali from Cairo is quite demanding at four mana, considering its ability to prevent your life total from dropping below one. While impactful, players might find that allocating such an amount of mana may delay other pivotal plays, which could put them at a disadvantage against more tempo-oriented strategies.

Reasons to Include Ali from Cairo in Your Collection

Versatility: Ali from Cairo has a unique ability that can protect your life total against even the most aggressive strategies. Its ability to establish a floor on your life total makes it a useful inclusion in a variety of red decks that might otherwise struggle against direct damage or fast creature swarms.

Combo Potential: This card shines when combined with effects that prevent damage to creatures or effects that take advantage of your stable life total. It could become a key piece in a combo that’s hard to disrupt, as opponents would need to deal with both Ali from Cairo and any protective measures you’ve enacted.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where burn decks or fast-paced aggro decks are prevalent, Ali from Cairo offers a significant counterplay. Even as trends shift, the aspect of life total preservation remains universally applicable and can be a powerful tool against many strategy archetypes.

How to beat

The renowned Ali from Cairo card presents an intriguing rule in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. It provides players with a distinctive shield that ensures their life total can’t fall below 1 as long as Ali from Cairo is in play. This older card, stemming from the Arabian Nights expansion, can manifest a tricky challenge for opponents trying to deliver that final blow.

Now, overcoming this formidable defense requires specific strategies. Removal spells are the most straightforward solution to bypass Ali from Cairo’s life-preserving ability. Targeted spells like Doom Blade or Path to Exile are perfect for removing Ali from Cairo from the battlefield and opening the door to resume an aggressive stance. Additionally, board wipes such as Wrath of God can clear the board of all creatures, including Ali from Cairo, effectively resetting the playing field.

Another approach is to sidestep the combat damage step altogether. Cards that inflict damage directly or reduce life totals without dealing damage, like Lightning Bolt or spells with the ‘lose life’ effect, can circumvent Ali from Cairo’s protection. Therefore, understanding and selecting the appropriate tactics from your arsenal becomes key to outmaneuvering Ali from Cairo’s enduring presence.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ali from Cairo MTG card by a specific set like Arabian Nights and Masters Edition IV, 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 Ali from Cairo and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Ali from Cairo Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1993-12-17 and 2011-01-10. Illustrated by Mark Poole.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1993-12-17	Arabian Nights	ARN		36	1993	Normal	Black	Mark Poole
2	2011-01-10	Masters Edition IV	ME4		107	1997	Normal	Black	Mark Poole

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ali from Cairo has restrictions

Format	Legality
Oldschool	Legal
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	The ability works up until Ali enters the graveyard, so if he takes lethal damage or is destroyed at the same time you take damage, the ability helps you. If the damage occurs after it goes to the graveyard, however, it is not affected by the Ali which is no longer on the battlefield.
2004-10-04	This effect does not apply to effects which reduce your life without doing damage.
2004-10-04	This effect does not prevent damage, it prevents the damage from turning into loss of life. So the full damage is dealt (and abilities that trigger on damage being dealt still trigger), but the full loss of life is not applied.