Kefnet's Last Word MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Securing a key permanent with Kefnet’s Last Word swings card advantage and disrupts foes’ strategies.
  2. Compensating for its sorcery speed, the spell’s immediate impact can pivot the game’s outcome.
  3. Strategic play is crucial; its steep cost requires careful timing to mitigate vulnerability.

Text of card

Gain control of target artifact, creature, or enchantment. Lands you control don't untap during your next untap step.

In his final moments, Kefnet reached into the minds of those around him, desperate for logic within the consuming chaos.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Kefnet’s Last Word offers definitive control over the board by seizing a target permanent, which not only depletes your opponent’s resources but also potentially adds to yours. This exchange inherently tips the scale of card advantage in your favor, since you gain an asset while your opponent loses one.

Resource Acceleration: Although not directly serving as resource acceleration, seizing a crucial artifact or land can indirectly boost your mana production or resource utility. By taking control of these types of permanents, you effectively accelerate your own resources while impeding your opponent’s.

Instant Speed: Despite being a sorcery, Kefnet’s Last Word’s impact on the game is akin to that of instant speed effects, in that it can dramatically shift the game state in your favor at a critical moment. Its potency captures the essence of instant-like surprises, typically reserved for the most impactful turns of the game.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Kefnet’s Last Word requires you to sacrifice a significant portion of your turn’s resources since you won’t untap your lands during your next untap step. This heavy toll means that playing this card leaves you vulnerable, unable to respond to your opponent’s moves with other spells or abilities until your next turn.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a stringent color commitment, requiring three blue mana. Those running multiple colors may find it challenging to meet this requirement consistently, potentially rendering the card unplayable at crucial moments.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, including the demanding triple blue, Kefnet’s Last Word comes at a steep price. While its effect is undoubtedly powerful—granting control of any nonland permanent—the cost might be prohibitive, especially when compared to other control options in the game that are less mana-intensive.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Kefnet’s Last Word showcases flexibility by giving players control over any nonland permanent, which means it can be slotted into various blue decks that focus on manipulating the battlefield to their advantage.

Combo Potential: This card is a jewel for players looking to build around control and theft-themed strategies, seamlessly fitting into decks that capitalize on using opponents’ resources against them.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment with high-impact artifacts, enchantments, and creatures, Kefnet’s Last Word gains significant value, making it a card worth considering for players aiming to keep pace with or disrupt the current strategies dominating the game.


How to beat

Kefnet’s Last Word is an intriguing magic spell that can turn the tides of a game in Magic: The Gathering. This card allows a player to take control of a target artifact, creature, or enchantment, which can shift the balance of power significantly. Yet, there are strategies to counter Kefnet’s formidable effect. A straightforward approach to combat this is by maintaining a low profile with less critical permanents or by possessing resilient permanents that can withstand being usurped.

Speed is also crucial when facing Kefnet’s Last Word. The card’s high mana cost leaves the caster unable to untap lands during their next untap step, presenting an opening. Aggressive plays or swift removals after it’s played can capitalize on this temporary weakness. Spells that offer hexproof protection or counterspells like Negate can also provide a shield against this game-changing card. Lastly, playing cards with sacrificial effects can render Kefnet’s Last Word less beneficial by removing the target before it takes effect.

In analyzing strategies and counterplays, one finds that while Kefnet’s Last Word has the potential to swing momentum, its high cost and subsequent vulnerabilities allow for tactical responses, ensuring it’s a powerful yet beatable spell.


Cards like Kefnet's Last Word

Kefnet’s Last Word is an intriguing spell in the realm of MTG control cards. It draws parallels with classics like Control Magic, which also allows players to seize control of an opponent’s creature. However, Kefnet’s Last Word elevates this dynamic by enabling the command of any nonland permanent, offering a broader range of targets. Distinct from Control Magic, Kefnet’s Last Word demands a higher mana investment and restricts your lands from untapping during the next untap step.

Moving along, we can compare it to Desertion, another card that offers control over an opponent’s assets. Desertion snatches a creature or artifact straight from the stack, blocking it from even entering the battlefield. Although both Desertion and Kefnet’s Last Word gift you ownership of game pieces, Kefnet’s Last Word is more versatile in its ability to target permanents already in play, albeit at a steeper cost and with a significant drawback.

Analysing the landscape of MTG control spells, Kefnet’s Last Word lends itself as a powerful, albeit situational, addition. It requires strategic timing due to its limitations, but the potential to sway the game’s momentum is undeniable, placing it as a compelling choice for players who value high-risk, high-reward gameplay.

Control Magic - MTG Card versions
Desertion - MTG Card versions
Control Magic - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Desertion - Visions (VIS)

Cards similar to Kefnet's Last Word by color, type and mana cost

Juxtapose - MTG Card versions
Baki's Curse - MTG Card versions
Touch of Brilliance - MTG Card versions
Polymorph - MTG Card versions
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Wash Out - MTG Card versions
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Mouth to Mouth - MTG Card versions
Sift - MTG Card versions
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Sleep - MTG Card versions
Argivian Restoration - MTG Card versions
Juxtapose - Masters Edition (ME1)
Baki's Curse - Homelands (HML)
Touch of Brilliance - Portal Second Age (P02)
Polymorph - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Diminishing Returns - Masters Edition (ME1)
Counterintelligence - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Ransack - Starter 1999 (S99)
Rhystic Scrying - Prophecy (PCY)
Wash Out - IDW Comics 2014 (PI14)
Dematerialize - Odyssey (ODY)
Deep Analysis - Commander Masters (CMM)
Tempted by the Oriq - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)
Inscription of Insight - Zendikar Rising (ZNR)
Airborne Aid - Onslaught (ONS)
Peer Pressure - Onslaught (ONS)
Mouth to Mouth - Unhinged (UNH)
Sift - Salvat 2011 (PS11)
Distant Melody - Wilds of Eldraine Commander (WOC)
Sleep - Magic 2011 (M11)
Argivian Restoration - The List (PLST)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Kefnet's Last Word MTG card by a specific set like Hour of Devastation and Hour of Devastation Promos, 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 Kefnet's Last Word and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Kefnet's Last Word Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2017-07-14 and 2017-07-15. Illustrated by Clint Cearley.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12017-07-14Hour of DevastationHOU 392015normalblackClint Cearley
22017-07-15Hour of Devastation PromosPHOU 39s2015normalblackClint Cearley

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Kefnet's Last Word has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2017-07-14 Gaining control of a creature doesn’t cause you to gain control of any Auras or Equipment attached to it. They’ll remain attached, but an Aura’s effect that affects “you” still affects its controller rather than you, the controller of an Equipment can move it during their next main phase, and so on.
2017-07-14 If more than one spell says that lands you control don’t untap during your next untap step, the effects will all wear off during that untap step. You’ll untap lands you control during your untap step after that one.
2017-07-14 If the target permanent is an illegal target by the time Kefnet’s Last Word resolves, the entire spell doesn’t resolve. Your lands will untap during your next untap step as normal.
2017-07-14 In a multiplayer game, if a player leaves the game, all cards that player owns leave as well, and any effects that give the player control of permanents immediately end.
2017-07-14 No lands that you control will untap during your next untap step, even lands that aren’t tapped as this spell resolves. This includes lands that enter the battlefield after this spell resolves.
2017-07-14 The control-change effect of Kefnet’s Last Word lasts indefinitely. It doesn’t wear off during the cleanup step.

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