Aether Tide MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	1998-06-15
Set symbol
Set name	Exodus
Set code	EXO
Number	27
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Andrew Robinson

Key Takeaways

Aether Tide offers card advantage by trading excess cards for new strategic possibilities.
Its instant speed allows for spontaneous plays, disrupting opponents or saving creatures.
While strategic, Aether Tide’s discard cost and specific mana needs may limit play options.

Text of card

Choose and discard X creature cards: Return X target creatures to their owner's hand.

The tide of magic brought them here. Now it would take them home.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Aether Tide stands out when it comes to giving players extra ammo by offering the ability to essentially exchange unneeded cards in hand for potential new strategies. This trade-off can be a game-changer, keeping your hand filled with options.

Resource Acceleration: Aether Tide also doubles as a tool for ramping up your resources. By returning multiple creatures to your hand, you can potentially replay them for additional enter-the-battlefield effects, effectively accelerating your resource utilization and setting up powerful plays.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of Aether Tide is amplified by its instant speed, which means you can adapt on the fly to the evolving battlefield. Cast it when the moment is just right, whether that’s disrupting an opponent’s attack or salvaging your creatures from a board wipe, making it an unassumingly tactical card.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Aether Tide demands you to discard a card when you cast it, which can be a drawback when your hand is already thinning out. This can lead to difficult decisions about resource management especially in the heat of a match.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires blue mana to play, which confines it to blue decks or those with a reliable mana base that includes blue. This limitation may not align with all strategies or mana-fixing capabilities of a given deck.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost that includes two generic and one blue mana, Aether Tide’s mana expenditure is considerable for its effect. Players may find other spells with lower costs or more impactful outcomes to include in their decks instead of committing three mana to this card.

Reasons to Include Aether Tide in Your Collection

Versatility: Aether Tide adds value to a diverse range of decks with its unique ability to manipulate creature numbers on the board. This card is particularly useful in decks that need flexible responses to changing battlefield conditions.

Combo Potential: For players keen on building synergistic strategies, Aether Tide offers combo avenues with cards that benefit from bouncing creatures to hand, whether it’s to reuse enter-the-battlefield effects or to save key creatures from being removed.

Meta-Relevance: As the game ebbs and flows with various archetypes, Aether Tide remains a relevant card. Its utility shines especially against decks that deploy numerous tokens or rely heavily on creature synergies, making it a strategic addition in such meta environments.

How to beat Aether Tide

Aether Tide is a card that can set the stage for dramatic shifts in board state within a game of Magic: The Gathering. Playing against Aether Tide requires a strategy that mitigates its potential to return multiple creatures to their owner’s hand, which can disrupt tempo and established board presence. The ideal counterplay involves maintaining mana efficiency and holding onto instant-speed removal or counter spells to address the card directly when it’s on the stack.

Additionally, focusing on low-cost creatures or those with on-cast effects can minimize the impact of Aether Tide, as you either replenish the board quickly or gain value despite the potential bounce. Leveraging graveyard synergy is another approach, where creatures can be recast from the graveyard or benefit from being there. This diminishes the setback caused by Aether Tide.

Overall, combating Aether Tide requires a mix of reactive and proactive plays. Keeping pressure on the opponent while being ready to adapt your strategy when Aether Tide is played ensures you can recover quickly and maintain control of the game. Board state awareness and efficient resource management will provide you with the upper hand against this disruptive force.

Cards like Aether Tide

Delving into the realm of bounce spells in Magic: The Gathering, Aether Tide stands as a distinct option. It shares its fundamental function with Unsummon, a classic that returns target creature to its owner’s hand. However, Aether Tide escalates this effect by potentially bouncing multiple creatures at the cost of discarding a card for each additional creature beyond the first. This gives players the flexibility to disrupt multiple opponents’ strategies simultaneously at the potential cost of card advantage.

Furthermore, Into the Roil is another card that sparks similarities to Aether Tide. Although Into the Roil requires more mana for its kicked version, it manages to return any nonland permanent while also drawing a card if kicked. This endows you with more versatility and maintains card balance. Then, there’s Evacuation, a sweeping alternative that clears all creatures from the battlefield back to players’ hands, bypassing the need for selective discarding, but demanding a higher mana investment in one go.

Comparing these options, Aether Tide offers a unique balance between control, flexibility, and resource management for players who can skillfully navigate the tempo of the game and capitalize on selective bounce strategies in Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Aether Tide by color, type and mana cost

Drafna's Restoration - MTG Card versions

Merfolk Secretkeeper // Venture Deeper - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

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