Spiteful Returned MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Enchantment Creature — Zombie
Abilities	Bestow
Released	2014-02-07
Set symbol
Set name	Born of the Gods
Set code	BNG
Power	1
Toughness	1
Number	84
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Raymond Swanland

Key Takeaways

Versatility is key, as Spiteful Returned can augment creatures or act as its own threat on the board.
Instant speed loss of life effect disrupts opponents, providing a distinct combat phase advantage.
High mana cost can limit its playability, yet it remains a strategic asset due to its combo potential.

Text of card

Bestow (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.) Whenever Spiteful Returned or enchanted creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Spiteful Returned offers a strategic edge through its bestowed mechanic, allowing players to either augment an existing creature for heightened threat potential or deploy it as a stand-alone threat. This versatility ensures players can maintain pressure on the board, potentially leading to advantageous card utility.

Resource Acceleration: While Spiteful Returned itself doesn’t directly contribute to resource acceleration, it can indirectly lead to gaining tempo by forcing opponents to deal with the consistent loss of life. This pressure can lead to inefficient trades or use of resources on the opponent’s end, effectively giving Spiteful Returned’s controller a form of resource acceleration.

Instant Speed: Spiteful Returned’s ability to trigger its loss of life effect at instant speed during combat phases creates a form of interaction that can disrupt opponents’ calculations and planning. This can compel opponents to make critical decisions on the fly, which can be advantageous to the controller of Spiteful Returned.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While enhancing a self-discard strategy, Spiteful Returned may impose a burdensome card discard condition for its bestow feature, reducing your hand and potentially your strategic options.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both black mana for its casting and bestow cost, Spiteful Returned can be less viable in multicolored decks that may struggle with color consistency.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Even though Spiteful Returned offers a strategic advantage with its ability to drain life upon attacking, its combined casting and bestow costs are rather steep when compared to other creatures or auras of similar effects.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Spiteful Returned can be a strategic addition to various deck builds, particularly those revolving around the devotion mechanic or enchantment synergies. Its ability to attach to a creature as an Aura adds to its flexibility on the battlefield.

Combo Potential: This card’s ability to deal damage directly to an opponent whenever the enchanted creature attacks opens up combo possibilities with cards that capitalize on life loss or that trigger upon damage dealt.

Meta-Relevance: Given the right circumstances, Spiteful Returned can fit into an environment where aggressive strategies are prevalent. Its recurring damage ability supports consistent life point reduction, making it a potent weapon against slower, control-based decks.

How to beat

Spiteful Returned is an intriguing card that offers players in MTG a persistent threat with its ability to chip away at an opponent’s life total. This enchantment creature with the bestow mechanic can become especially problematic when attached to another creature, making it critical to address swiftly. To effectively counteract Spiteful Returned, removal spells that can handle both enchantments and creatures offer a double whammy, such as Erase or Despark depending on your mana availability.

Board wipes are another powerful tactic to deal with multiple threats including Spiteful Returned, ensuring a clean slate. Settle the Wreckage or Supreme Verdict are great examples of spells that can remove creatures whether they are bestowed or standalone. Additionally, it’s advantageous to prioritize removal of creatures it may enchant before the bestow ability triggers, potentially with instant-speed spells like Fatal Push or Path to Exile to minimize life loss and weaken the opponent’s board presence.

Combining smart removal with strategic anticipation of your opponent’s moves, can drastically lower the impact of Spiteful Returned in a game. It’s essential to adapt to the enduring nature of bestow creatures and manage your resources effectively to maintain control of the battlefield.

Similar Cards to Spiteful Returned

Spiteful Returned stands out in the vast panorama of enchantment creatures in Magic: The Gathering. This enchanting card can be likened to other Aura cards like Baleful Eidolon which also offers a deathtouch effect. However, Spiteful Returned brings a unique edge by allowing you to drain life from your opponent whenever the enchanted creature attacks, delivering a persistent threat.

Another interesting comparison is with Nighthowler, which, similar to Spiteful Returned, becomes more potent as creatures fill the graveyard. While Nighthowler bestows a buff based on graveyard size, nevertheless, it lacks the direct life loss ability that makes Spiteful Returned a menace each turn. Also in this category is Herald of Torment, offering both bestow and flying, but again, without the direct damage aspect.

These intricate differences underscore Spiteful Returned’s role within the enchantment creature lineup. It excels not in overpowering the battlefield, but in its capacity to chip away at an opponent’s health, rounding out strategies centered on attrition and incremental advantage in the game.

Cards similar to Spiteful Returned by color, type and mana cost

Chains of Mephistopheles - MTG Card versions

Tribute to Horobi // Echo of Death's Wail - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Spiteful Returned MTG card by a specific set like Born of the Gods, 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 Spiteful Returned and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Spiteful Returned has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2013-09-15	An Aura that becomes a creature is no longer put into its owner’s graveyard as a state-based action. Rather, it becomes unattached and remains on the battlefield as long as it’s a creature. While it’s a creature, it can’t be attached to another permanent or player. An Aura that’s not attached to a legal permanent or player as defined by its enchant ability and also isn’t a creature will be put into its owner’s graveyard as a state-based action.
2013-09-15	Auras attached to a creature don’t become tapped when the creature becomes tapped. Except in some rare cases, an Aura with bestow remains untapped when it becomes unattached and becomes a creature.
2013-09-15	If a permanent with bestow enters the battlefield by any method other than being cast, it will be an enchantment creature. You can’t choose to pay the bestow cost and have it become an Aura.
2013-09-15	On the stack, a spell with bestow is either a creature spell or an Aura spell. It’s never both, although it’s an enchantment spell in either case.
2013-09-15	Unlike other Aura spells, an Aura spell with bestow isn’t countered if its target is illegal as it begins to resolve. Rather, the effect making it an Aura spell ends, it loses enchant creature, it returns to being an enchantment creature spell, and it resolves and enters the battlefield as an enchantment creature.
2013-09-15	Unlike other Auras, an Aura with bestow isn’t put into its owner’s graveyard if it becomes unattached. Rather, the effect making it an Aura ends, it loses enchant creature, and it remains on the battlefield as an enchantment creature. It can attack (and its abilities can be activated, if it has any) on the turn it becomes unattached if it’s been under your control continuously, even as an Aura, since your most recent turn began.
2013-09-15	You don’t choose whether the spell is going to be an Aura spell or not until the spell is already on the stack. Abilities that affect when you can cast a spell, such as flash, will apply to the spell after you’ve made this choice. For example, an effect that said you can cast creature spells as though they have flash won’t allow you to cast a creature card with bestow as an Aura spell anytime you could cast an instant, but one that said you can cast Aura spells as though they have flash will.