Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam MTG Card

Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam - Wilds of Eldraine

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Instant — Adventure
Released	2023-09-08
Set symbol
Set name	Wilds of Eldraine
Set code	WOE
Number	226
Frame	2015
Layout	Adventure
Border	Black
Illustred by	Brian Valeza

Key Takeaways

Drawing cards on life gain with Frolicking Familiar ensures a steady stream of resources.
Activated abilities at instant speed provide strategic advantages during gameplay.
Rewarding life gain synergies, it’s a valuable addition for specific deck archetypes.

Text of card

Blow Off Steam deals 1 damage to any target. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Frolicking Familiar offers a consistent means of replenishing your hand by letting you draw a card whenever you gain life. This synergizes well with life-gain strategies and can generate a significant advantage over multiple turns.

Resource Acceleration: This card helps smooth out your mana curve by allowing you to cast it at a lower cost under certain conditions. By meeting its affinity requirements, it effectively speeds up your ability to play higher-cost spells ahead of schedule.

Instant Speed: Frolicking Familiar’s activated ability can be used at instant speed, offering flexible timing to interact with the board state. This feature enables you to make pivotal game decisions reactively, maximizing the potential impact of the creature’s ability to aid your strategy.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Frolicking Familiar may compel you to part with a valuable card from your hand to harness its abilities. If you’re working with a limited set of options, this could be detrimental to your overall strategy and resource advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires an exact combination of mana to play. This specificity can be restrictive because it necessitates access to those particular colors of mana, potentially reducing the flexibility of your deck build.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Frolicking Familiar offers certain benefits, its mana cost is on the higher side when you consider the scope of abilities available on other cards at a similar, or even lower, mana requirement. Savvy players will weigh its cost against the tactical benefits it provides.

Reasons to Include Frolicking Familiar in Your Collection

Versatility: Frolicking Familiar easily fits into various deck styles that capitalize on life gain or require consistent creature presence, making it a flexible addition to your toolbox.

Combo Potential: This card’s ability to gain you life whenever you cast a noncreature spell opens up synergy with strategies that benefit from life total changes, such as Aetherflux Reservoir or other life payoffs in the format.

Meta-Relevance: With creature-based strategies prevalent in many game formats, having a card that can impact your life total while developing your board state can give you an edge, particularly in matchups where maintaining a high life total can be critical.

How to beat

Frolicking Familiar poses an interesting challenge in your MTG matchups. This creature card can be quite persistent due to its ability to return to its owner’s hand when a certain condition is met. Dealing with such resilient creatures requires strategic plays. Consider utilizing unconditional removal spells that exiles or tucks the creature into its owner’s library rather than destroying it, preventing the return mechanic from triggering.

Evasion tactics could also be effective. Cards that restrict a player from casting spells of the same name could lock Frolicking Familiar out of play, leaving your opponent without their steadfast companion. Moreover, employing counter spells when the familiar is cast can ensure it never hits the board, bypassing its pesky return mechanic. Board control is key against decks that rely on creatures like Frolicking Familiar. By keeping their board clear and applying pressure, you can force your opponent into a defensive position where Frolicking Familiar becomes less of a nuisance.

In essence, while Frolicking Familiar can offer card advantage and resilience, it’s not unbeatable. With the right spells and tactical forethought, you can effectively neutralize this card and maintain the upper hand in your games.

BurnMana Recommendations

Refining your MTG deck with cards like Frolicking Familiar can provide a synergy that invigorates your life-gain strategies and bolsters your mana resources. Its unique ability to draw a card while gaining life weaves a dual-threaded strategy, enhancing your play across multiple turns. Factor in the agility of instant-speed activations, and you foster a flexibility that adapts to ever-changing board states. If you’re considering leveling up your game, integrating cards with such dynamics is key. Dive deeper into the world of MTG with us, and discover how cards like Frolicking Familiar can revolutionize your deck’s potential.

Cards like Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam

Frolicking Familiar is a creature card that has an exciting role in the world of Magic: The Gathering. It bears resemblance to other creatures like Llanowar Elves which also taps for mana, aiding in accelerating your gameplay. However, Frolicking Familiar offers a unique twist with its life gain ability, setting it apart from the simple mana dorks.

Mana production creatures, such as Birds of Paradise, serve a similar purpose by providing color fixing, yet Frolicking Familiar gives players a life cushion to sustain longer in the game. This ability can be crucial in matchups where preserving life points is key. Arbor Elf is another such card that assists in untapping lands, potentially offering more mana each turn than Frolicking Familiar, but without the added benefit of incrementing your life total.

Ultimately, Frolicking Familiar presents an intriguing option for players looking to blend mana ramp strategies with a steady life gain synergy, making it a noteworthy consideration when deck building in Magic: The Gathering. It’s this clever coupling of abilities that feathers Frolicking Familiar a place in many decks focused on long-term survival and consistency.

Cards similar to Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam MTG card by a specific set like Wilds of Eldraine, 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 Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam has restrictions

Format	Legality
Standard	Legal
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Future	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Frolicking Familiar // Blow Off Steam card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2023-09-01	An adventurer card is a permanent card in every zone except the stack, as well as while on the stack if not cast as an Adventure. Ignore its alternative characteristics in those cases. For example, while it’s in your graveyard, Questing Druid is a green creature card whose mana value is 2. It can’t be the target of Tenacious Tomeseeker’s triggered ability (“return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand”).
2023-09-01	An effect may refer to a card, spell, or permanent that “has an Adventure.” This refers to a card, spell, or permanent that has an adventurer card’s set of alternative characteristics, even if they’re not being used and even if that card was never cast as an Adventure.
2023-09-01	Casting a card as an Adventure isn’t casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to the Adventure.
2023-09-01	If a spell is cast as an Adventure, its controller exiles it instead of putting it into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves. For as long as it remains exiled, that player may cast it as a permanent spell. If an Adventure spell leaves the stack in any way other than resolving (most likely by being countered or by failing to resolve because its targets have all become illegal), that card won’t be exiled and the spell’s controller won’t be able to cast it as a permanent later.
2023-09-01	If an adventurer card ends up in exile for any other reason than by exiling itself while resolving, it won’t give you permission to cast it as a permanent spell.
2023-09-01	If an effect copies an Adventure spell, that copy is exiled as it resolves. It ceases to exist as a state-based action; it’s not possible to cast the copy as a permanent.
2023-09-01	If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative Adventure name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose.
2023-09-01	If an effect refers to a card, spell, or permanent that has an Adventure, it won’t find an instant or sorcery spell on the stack that’s been cast as an Adventure.
2023-09-01	If an object becomes a copy of an object that has an Adventure, the copy also has an Adventure. If it changes zones, it will either cease to exist (if it’s a token) or cease to be a copy (if it’s a nontoken permanent), and so you won’t be able to cast it as an Adventure.
2023-09-01	If you cast an adventurer card as an Adventure, use only its alternative characteristics to determine whether it’s legal to cast that spell. For example, if you control Johann, Apprentice Sorcerer (“Once each turn, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell from the top of your library.”) and Questing Druid is on top of your library, you can cast Seek the Beast, but not Questing Druid.
2023-09-01	When casting a spell as an Adventure, use the alternative characteristics and ignore all of the card’s normal characteristics. The spell’s color, mana cost, mana value, and so on are determined by only those alternative characteristics. If the spell leaves the stack, it immediately resumes using its normal characteristics.
2023-09-01	You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions for the permanent spell you cast from exile. Normally, you’ll be able to cast it only during your main phase while the stack is empty.