Windfall MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 12 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityUncommon
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Windfall grants major card advantage, refilling hands to match the largest hand present.
  2. It can accelerate your resource access but requires a significant discard of your hand.
  3. Instant-like surprise post opponent’s draw maximizes Windfall’s strategic benefit.

Text of card

Each player discards his or her hand and draws cards equal to the greatest number a player discarded this way.

"To fill your mind with knowledge, we must start by emptying it." —Barrin, master wizard


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Windfall card facilitates a potent draw engine, refilling your hand with the same number of cards as the player with the most cards in their hand. This can provide a significant advantage by potentially offering a new hand of seven cards.

Resource Acceleration: By discarding your hand and drawing a fresh set of cards, Windfall can unearth new resources, thus accelerating your game plan by gaining access to more mana sources or key spells sooner than usual.

Instant Speed: While Windfall operates at sorcery speed, its ability to be played right after an opponent’s draw step mimics the surprise element of instants, catching opponents off-guard just as they’ve drawn to their maximum hand size, often maximizing the card’s potential impact.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Flipping over your hand may feel unsettling, especially if you’ve curated a perfect hand. Windfall’s discard requirement means you’ll be parting with your carefully selected cards, potentially giving up crucial strategies or combos you’ve been setting up for several turns.

Specific Mana Cost: Windfall’s casting cost demands both blue mana and generic mana, making it slightly less flexible for decks that aren’t heavily invested in blue. This requirement might restrict its play to archetypes tailored to blue’s strategic nuances, like control or combo decks, and leave others without the necessary mana support in critical moments.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Requiring three mana, Windfall isn’t the cheapest option for refilling your hand. While three mana is considered a mid-range cost, in fast-paced games where tempo is crucial, spending a full turn on restructuring your hand might be too slow, particularly when there are more efficient low-cost draw spells available.


Reasons to Include Windfall in Your Collection

Versatility: Windfall serves a flexible role in many decks, filling your hand and often disrupting opponents. It’s an excellent addition in formats where card advantage is key.

Combo Potential: This card can be a pivotal piece in combo decks that look to refill their hand and dig for combo pieces. With spells that benefit from the number of cards drawn or discarded, Windfall can turn the tide of a game.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that’s heavy on control or combo, Windfall can reset hand sizes to keep pace with opponents or to hinder strategies that rely on large hand sizes.


How to beat

Overcoming the Windfall card in Magic: The Gathering revolves around strategic hand management and anticipating its casting. Windfall presents a challenge by equalizing the number of cards in players’ hands to the hand size of the player with the most cards, effectively refreshing hands and potentially escalating your opponent’s strategic possibilities. To counteract this, maintaining a low hand size can diminish Windfall’s impact, limiting the card advantage it provides for your opponent.

Running cards that penalize or disrupt draw strategies can also give you an edge against Windfall. Given Windfall’s nature as a sorcery, instant-speed interaction allows you to adjust your hand size in response or even counter the spell outright if blue mana is at your disposal. Additionally, including graveyard synergistic cards in your deck could turn an opponent’s Windfall to your advantage, as Windfall can inadvertently supply you with an arsenal of new resources from the graveyard. Ultimately, knowing when to play your cards and integrating countermeasures to draw strategies are key tactics in mitigating Windfall’s game-changing effects.


BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering MTG entails more than just collecting cards; it’s about understanding their strengths and the optimal contexts for their use. Windfall, with its potential to refresh hands and disrupt opponents, is a prime example of a card that can shape the flow of a match. To fine-tune your deck and strategy, consider the balance of risk and reward Windfall presents. Embrace the chance to innovate and throw your opponents off balance. Improve your gameplay by learning how to effectively incorporate or counter Windfall’s dynamic effect on the game. Visit BurnMana for in-depth insights and enhance your deck’s performance.


Cards like Windfall

Windfall stands out in the pantheon of card-drawing magic in MTG. It’s often compared to other influential spells like Wheel of Fortune, which is iconic for its card draw and discard capabilities. However, Windfall brings a unique dynamic by setting the card draw number to the greatest hand size among players, potentially refreshing the entire hand. Wheel of Fortune, in contrast, has a fixed number, often leading to a reliable but predictable outcome.

Working similar ground is Whispering Madness, another card that forces players to discard and then draw. It takes the concept in a slightly different direction with the cipher mechanic, allowing for repeated use if the conditions are met. Although Whispering Madness can be a potent spell, the lack of immediate impact compared to the one-time explosiveness of Windfall is noted.

Considering gameplay strategies, Timetwister also reshuffles the graveyard into the library, an additional layer that Windfall does not offer. Despite the differences, Windfall’s impact on the game can be just as profound, offering players the chance to dramatically alter the state of play with one well-timed spell.

Wheel of Fortune - MTG Card versions
Whispering Madness - MTG Card versions
Timetwister - MTG Card versions
Wheel of Fortune - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Whispering Madness - Gatecrash (GTC)
Timetwister - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)

Cards similar to Windfall by color, type and mana cost

Volcanic Eruption - MTG Card versions
Timetwister - MTG Card versions
Baleful Stare - MTG Card versions
Déjà Vu - MTG Card versions
Exhaustion - MTG Card versions
Political Trickery - MTG Card versions
Time Ebb - MTG Card versions
Dream Cache - MTG Card versions
Fade Away - MTG Card versions
Tinker - MTG Card versions
Sage's Knowledge - MTG Card versions
Undo - MTG Card versions
Ingenious Mastery - MTG Card versions
Animating Faerie // Bring to Life - MTG Card versions
Queen of Ice // Rage of Winter - MTG Card versions
Tasha's Hideous Laughter - MTG Card versions
Reminisce - MTG Card versions
Fabricate - MTG Card versions
Counsel of the Soratami - MTG Card versions
Vacuumelt - MTG Card versions
Volcanic Eruption - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Timetwister - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Baleful Stare - Portal (POR)
Déjà Vu - Portal (POR)
Exhaustion - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Political Trickery - World Championship Decks 1997 (WC97)
Time Ebb - Tempest Remastered (TPR)
Dream Cache - Tempest (TMP)
Fade Away - Exodus (EXO)
Tinker - Urza's Legacy (ULG)
Sage's Knowledge - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Undo - Starter 1999 (S99)
Ingenious Mastery - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)
Animating Faerie // Bring to Life - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Queen of Ice // Rage of Winter - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Tasha's Hideous Laughter - Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Promos (PAFR)
Reminisce - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Fabricate - Secret Lair Drop (SLD)
Counsel of the Soratami - Tenth Edition (10E)
Vacuumelt - Guildpact (GPT)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Windfall MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Saga and Battle Royale Box Set, 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 Windfall and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Windfall Magic the Gathering card was released in 12 different sets between 1998-10-12 and 2023-11-17. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11998-10-12Urza's SagaUSG 1111997normalblackPete Venters
21999-11-12Battle Royale Box SetBRB 991997normalwhitePete Venters
32002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 625292015normalblackScott Murphy
42011-06-17Commander 2011CMD 702003normalblackPete Venters
52015-11-13Commander 2015C15 1112015normalblackPete Venters
62016-11-11Commander 2016C16 1042015normalblackScott Murphy
72017-11-17Iconic MastersIMA 772015normalblackScott Murphy
82018-06-08Commander Anthology Volume IICM2 552015normalblackPete Venters
92020-04-17Commander 2020C20 1282015normalblackScott Murphy
102021-02-05Kaldheim CommanderKHC 462015normalblackScott Murphy
112023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 8592015normalblackScott Murphy
122023-11-17The Lost Caverns of Ixalan CommanderLCC 1802015normalblackScott Murphy

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Windfall has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyBanned
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernBanned
VintageRestricted
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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