Season's Beatings MTG Card


Season's Beatings - Happy Holidays
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeSorcery
Abilities Family Gathering,Family gathering
Released2006-12-31
Set symbol
Set nameHappy Holidays
Set codeHHO
Number9
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Bordersilver
Illustred byKev Walker

Key Takeaways

  1. Season’s Beatings is great for its board control ability, dealing damage to multiple targets at instant speed.
  2. The requirement to discard for activation and specific mana costs may reduce its flexibility in play.
  3. In the right deck, it offers significant value, versatile combos, and relevance in creature-heavy metagames.

Text of card

Family gathering — Each creature target player controls deals damage equal to its power to another random creature that player controls.

Arriving home, he suddenly longed for the bloodsoaked battlefields behind him.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Season’s Beatings brings significant value by potentially dealing damage to multiple creatures or players simultaneously, allowing for control over the board and maintaining pressure on your opponents.

Resource Acceleration: This card can be a game-changer in the late stages, giving you the leverage of freeing up mana for other strategies while dealing damage, a rare dual functionality that can accelerate your resource management.

Instant Speed: Its instant speed feature provides flexibility in gameplay, enabling you to react to threats during your opponent’s turn, optimize your own end-of-turn tactics, or unexpectedly alter the state of play when least expected by your adversary.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Season’s Beatings requires you to discard a card to activate its powers. This requirement might deplete your hand, leaving you vulnerable to opponents’ strategies, especially in the late game when each card’s value escalates.

Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost demanding specific red mana, it becomes limited in its versatility. Players with multicolor decks may find it a challenge to have the necessary red mana available at the right time, potentially slowing down their overall game plan.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While this card can offer a strong play, the mana cost is relatively steep. Considering the game’s current meta, many cards provide similar or greater impact at a lower cost. This can make Season’s Beatings feel slower or less efficient in comparison, potentially hampering your deck’s performance in fast-paced matches.


Reasons to Include Season’s Beatings in Your Collection

Versatility: Season’s Beatings offers flexibility in deck building, fitting seamlessly into strategies that benefit from direct damage spells. Its dual-faced nature allows it to adapt to various gameplay situations, making it a solid choice for players looking for multifunctional cards.

Combo Potential: This card can serve as a key component in combos, particularly in decks that capitalize on dealing damage to multiple creatures or opponents simultaneously. Its synergy with cards that trigger on damage or spell casting can turn the tide of a game.

Meta-Relevance: Given that many current decks focus on creature-based strategies, Season’s Beatings can be a game-changer by offering a way to clear multiple threats at once or finish off an opponent. Its relevance increases in metagames where damaging spells can sway the board state to your advantage.


How to beat

Season’s Beatings is a unique card that brings a twinkle to many a player’s eye with its holiday-themed chaos in MTG. While the card’s chaotic nature can turn the tide of a match, it can also be a double-edged sword. One of the most effective strategies to combat Season’s Beatings is to manage your creature board presence wisely. By minimizing the number of creatures you have when your opponent plays this card, you reduce the overall impact and potential for damage redirection among your minions. Additionally, employing instant-speed removal spells or effects that can disrupt the ‘exchanging gifts’ process helps to negate the card’s undesirable consequences.

It’s worth investing in cards that can grant you hexproof or provide protection from red spells, as this can help shield you from unwanted gift exchanges that Season’s Beatings might bring. Cards with indestructible or regeneration abilities can also be valuable, ensuring that your creatures survive the unexpected onslaught. Keep in mind that a clear understanding of the current board state and the potential outcomes when Season’s Beatings is played will give you a significant advantage in navigating its challenging effect. If played smartly and cautiously, you can ensure that the Season’s Beatings is not the one doling out the holiday cheer on your side of the battlefield.


Cards like Season's Beatings

Season’s Beatings offers a fun and festive twist on the multikill spell category in MTG. It’s somewhat akin to cards like Massacre, which can also disable multiple creatures at once. Yet, Season’s Beatings is unique in its ability to target creatures based on certain criteria, adding a layer of strategy especially during the holiday-themed events or formats where flavor matters.

Another comparable card is Fiery Confluence. While Fiery Confluence is versatile, allowing different modes to be chosen, Season’s Beatings brings its own charm to the table, presenting a challenge in its restriction that can play to a player’s advantage in the right deck. Fiery Confluence is also non-targeted, meaning it could have a more universal application, but lacks the thematic delight that Season’s Beatings provides.

In summary, Season’s Beatings finds its niche within MTG’s repertoire of creature control spells. It stands out by combining the joy of theme-focused play with a tactical edge, making it a card that not only controls the board but also celebrates the spirit of its theme.

Massacre - MTG Card versions
Fiery Confluence - MTG Card versions
Massacre - Nemesis (NEM)
Fiery Confluence - Commander 2015 (C15)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Season's Beatings MTG card by a specific set like Happy Holidays, 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 Season's Beatings and other MTG cards:

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