Dark Dabbling MTG Card

Dark Dabbling offers regeneration and potential card draw, ensuring continued creature presence on the battlefield. It shines in reactive play with its instant speed, allowing strategic responses to threats during gameplay. Despite mana cost and situational limits, Dark Dabbling can be a game-changer in the right deck setup.

Magic Origins (ORI)
2015-07-17 - Number 89

Ultimate Masters (UMA)
2018-12-07 - Number 91

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 610

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number ORI-89

Card sets	Released in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Spell mastery

Text of card

Regenerate target creature. Draw a card. (The next time the creature would be destroyed this turn, it isn't. Instead tap it, remove all damage from it, and remove it from combat.) Spell mastery — If there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, also regenerate each other creature you control.

Cards like Dark Dabbling

Dark Dabbling stands out in the realm of spell regeneration and protection cards in Magic: The Gathering. Its effect of regenerating a target creature and potentially granting regeneration to multiple creatures if its spell mastery condition is fulfilled is somewhat unique. When comparing it to other regeneration spells, like Golgari Charm, we notice differences in versatility. Golgari Charm not only offers regeneration to all your creatures but also provides two additional modes to control the board or to counteract enchantments.

We also see similarities with cards like Rush of Vitality, which provides indestructible instead of regeneration. Although both cards grant lifelink, Rush of Vitality’s indestructible status can be more reliable against board wipes than regeneration, as it doesn’t require the creature to be tapped. Additionally, Withstand Death is another comparison point, granting a creature indestructible for a single green mana, but without the lifelink or conditional multiple targets benefit.

Assessing the comparison, Dark Dabbling brings specific advantages, particularly in decks that can achieve spell mastery consistently. Its ability to silently fortify your creatures and turn the tide with surprise lifelink makes it a niche but worthy consideration for decks that thrive on such tricks.

Cards similar to Dark Dabbling by color, type and mana cost

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Dark Dabbling ensures that you keep a crucial creature on the battlefield by regenerating it. The card also offers the potential for card draw, giving you more options and answers in hand when used alongside other spells with the spell mastery ability.

Resource Acceleration: Although Dark Dabbling doesn’t directly accelerate resources, it effectively saves mana that would be spent on casting creatures again by protecting them from destruction. This indirect mana saving keeps your resources available for other strategic plays.

Instant Speed: Its instant speed is a stand-out feature, allowing reactive play to unexpected threats or combat tricks during an opponent’s turn. Deploying Dark Dabbling at the right moment can turn the tides by sparing your creatures from removal and maintaining your board presence without missing a beat.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Dark Dabbling’s effectiveness is closely tied to having a creature to target, which can make the card situational. Without a creature on the board to reap the benefits of regeneration, this spell loses a large portion of its value and may end up being a dead card in hand.

Specific Mana Cost: This spell requires a specific black mana in its casting cost, potentially restricting it to black-aligned or multicolor decks. Players running mono-color decks of a different hue won’t find Dark Dabbling useful, limiting the card’s versatility across various deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Dark Dabbling comes at a three-mana price point. Given that MTG has a vast pool of cards, there might be alternatives that provide more cost-effective ways to protect or regenerate creatures. This makes Dark Dabbling at times a less attractive option when building an efficient deck.

Reasons to Include Dark Dabbling in Your Collection

Versatility: Dark Dabbling can be seamlessly integrated into multiple decks, specifically within strategies that are highly reliant on creature preservation and recovery. Its instant nature allows for unexpected plays, saving key creatures from removal or enabling surprise blocks.

Combo Potential: When combined with cards that benefit from self-recurring creatures or those that have ‘dies’ triggers, Dark Dabbling elevates such interactions. It can also be a part of a combo that seeks to exploit its regeneration mechanic to repeatedly use the abilities of creatures without losing them to destruction.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where removal spells are prolific, Dark Dabbling’s on-demand regeneration and card draw trait can provide players with a sturdy defense and maintain card advantage against control and attrition-based decks.

How to beat

Dark Dabbling is a unique card in the MTG universe, known for its ability to provide an instant safeguard to your creatures with its regeneration mechanic. Not only does it protect a specific creature from destruction, but if you control a spell with the spell mastery qualifier, Dark Dabbling can extend that protection across your entire board.

Overcoming Dark Dabbling requires strategic play. One effective method is to use counterspells to prevent it from resolving in the first place. Alternatively, applying exile effects bypasses Dark Dabbling’s regeneration protection, permanently removing creatures from the game. Targeted discard effects can also be valuable, stripping the card from the opponent’s hand before they have a chance to cast it. Finally, implementing a strategy that pressures the opponent’s resources can force them to use Dark Dabbling suboptimally, ultimately tilting the game in your favor.

In sum, Dark Dabbling presents a defensive challenge, but through careful planning and strategic card choices, you can mitigate its impact and maintain the upper hand in your MTG matches.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Dark Dabbling MTG card by a specific set like Magic Origins and Ultimate Masters, 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 Dark Dabbling and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Dark Dabbling Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2015-07-17 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Bastien L. Deharme.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2015-07-17	Magic Origins	ORI	89	2015	Normal	Black	Bastien L. Deharme
2	2018-12-07	Ultimate Masters	UMA	91	2015	Normal	Black	Bastien L. Deharme
3	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	610	2015	Normal	Black	Bastien L. Deharme
4	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	ORI-89	2015	Normal	Black	Bastien L. Deharme

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Dark Dabbling 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 Dark Dabbling card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2015-06-22	Check to see if there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard as the spell resolves to determine whether the spell mastery ability applies. The spell itself won’t count because it’s still on the stack as you make this check.
2015-06-22	You draw a card as Dark Dabbling resolves, not as the creature actually regenerates.
2018-12-07	Dark Dabbling is still on the stack while you count the number of instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard. It doesn’t count itself.
2018-12-07	Dark Dabbling’s spell mastery ability is a normal spell effect, not a replacement effect. This means that if you replace drawing a card for Dark Dabbling’s effect with dredging a card from your graveyard, the cards put into your graveyard this way may enable the additional regeneration.
2018-12-07	If the target creature is an illegal target by the time Dark Dabbling tries to resolve, the ability doesn’t resolve. You don’t draw a card and no creatures are regenerated.