Lurrus of the Dream-Den MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 11 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Creature — Cat Nightmare
Abilities Companion,Lifelink
Power 3
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. Lurrus of the Dream-Den offers continuous card advantage, enabling the recast of low-cost spells each turn.
  2. This card’s ability for resource acceleration and pseudo-instant speed play enhances strategic complexity.
  3. Despite its strengths, Lurrus requires careful graveyard management and is constrained by color-specific mana.

Text of card

Companion — Each permanent card in your starting deck has mana value 2 or less. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for as a sorcery.) Lifelink Once during each of your turns, you may cast a permanent spell with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Lurrus of the Dream-Den provides clear card advantage by allowing you to cast one permanent spell with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard during each of your turns, restocking your hand and battlefield, often leading to overwhelming advantage over your opponents.

Resource Acceleration: The ability of this card to continually recycle low-cost spells and creatures from the graveyard can lead to fast resource acceleration. This accelerates your game plan and ensures a steady flow of resources, tipping the scales in your favor, round after round.

Instant Speed: While Lurrus itself is not an instant, its ability to recur cheap, instant-speed spells from your graveyard gives it a pseudo-instant speed aspect. This creates room for interesting and complex gameplay, allowing you to react to your opponent’s actions on their turn with your graveyard-loaded arsenal.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Unfortunately, the Lurrus of the Dream-Den card bears an implied discard requirement. To use its reanimation ability, you first need cards in your graveyard, which entails discarding cards from your hand or managing your deck to ensure creatures and artifacts are cycled into the graveyard.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost of Lurrus requires three specific mana: one generic, one white, one black. This particular requirement can pose a drawback if you’re planning on including the card into decks outside its color identity, limiting the versatility of your deck construction.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its unique ability, Lurrus has a comparatively high mana cost. With a casting value of three, you might be able to opt for other cards that provide either immediate impact or amplified power levels for the same or even less mana investment.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Lurrus of the Dream-Den can accompany a wide array of deck types. Blessed with the ability to recast low-cost permanents from the graveyard during each of your turns, Lurrus empowers strategies that can leverage small but significant card advantage.

Combo Potential: This diminutive feline nightmare is a combo enabler, expert at retrieving crucial elements for recurring combos from your graveyard. It provides unparalleled opportunities to use low-cost artifacts and enchantments multiple times.

Meta-Relevance: With an ever-evolving MTG metagame, Lurrus has proven substantial against both control and aggressive strategies. Its sustainability and recurring advantage can outlast control decks while its lifelink helps keep aggressive decks at bay.


How to beat

Lurrus of the Dream-Den proves to be a defining card within the Magic: The Gathering landscape, commanding attention with its ability to perpetually bring back cheap cards from the graveyard. However, defeating this dominant card is not an impossible task. Cards with graveyard hate, for example, Leyline of the Void can put a stop to Lurrus’s recursion.

Another counteracting strategy involves exploiting its relatively low toughness. Burn spells like Lightning Bolt can take out Lurrus in a single blow, eliminating the threat before it can wreak havoc on your game. Cards that can exile it like Path to Exile can be an effective approach, ensuring Lurrus does not get the chance to revive from the graveyard again.

A more proactive approach could focus on targeted discard cards, such as Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, where you can claim Lurrus before it hits the battlefield. On evaluating these strategies, it becomes evident that while Lurrus of the Dream-Den is indeed a potent MTG card, with the right approach and well-considered plays, defeating this card can be achieved.


BurnMana Recommendations

The allure of Lurrus of the Dream-Den extends well beyond its lifelink ability, offering players strategic depth and rejuvenation of resources. Its presence in a deck necessitates a thoughtful approach to gameplay, encouraging the synthesis of card advantage and graveyard synergies. For those intrigued by its potential and swayed by the insights presented, there’s a broad realm of tactics and interactions to exploit. In seeking to master the nuances and uncover further secrets of Lurrus, BurnMana stands as a beacon for inquisitive minds. Embark with us on a journey of discovery, taking your MTG skills to new heights. Delve deeper into the tenets of Magic and ensure your deck sings in harmony with the artful play that Lurrus invites.


Cards like Lurrus of the Dream-Den

Lurrus of the Dream-Den serves as an impressive utility card in MTG due to its capabilities to cast cards from the graveyard. A close cousin to Lurrus in functionality is Elixir of Immortality. This card too can retrieve cards from the graveyard but differs in execution as it reshuffles the entire graveyard back into the library.

Another parallel could be drawn with Sun Titan, albeit it has a higher mana cost. While Sun Titan also makes it possible to fetch cards from the graveyard, it can only do this when it enters the battlefield or attacks whereas Lurrus offers more constant and flexible retrieval.

Call to the Netherworld is another similar card, focusing on resurrecting targeted black creatures from the graveyard. However, it doesn’t offer Lurrus’ scope of casting any permanent card with a cost of 2 or less from the graveyard.

Conclusively, Lurrus of the Dream-Den stands out due to its unique blend of capabilities in resurrecting cheaper cards, maintaining viability in various deck types, and adding strategic value in Magic: The Gathering matches.

Elixir of Immortality - MTG Card versions
Sun Titan - MTG Card versions
Call to the Netherworld - MTG Card versions
Elixir of Immortality - Magic 2011 (M11)
Sun Titan - Magic 2011 Promos (PM11)
Call to the Netherworld - Time Spiral (TSP)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lurrus of the Dream-Den MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, 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 Lurrus of the Dream-Den and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Lurrus of the Dream-Den Magic the Gathering card was released in 6 different sets between 2020-04-24 and 2023-04-21. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 808452015normalblackSlawomir Maniak
22020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of BehemothsIKO 3552015normalblackSlawomir Maniak
32020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths PromosPIKO 226p2015normalblackSlawomir Maniak
42020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths PromosPIKO 226s2015normalblackSlawomir Maniak
52020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of BehemothsIKO 2262015normalblackSlawomir Maniak
62021-10-15Pioneer Challenger Decks 2021Q06 92015normalblackSlawomir Maniak
72023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 1162015normalblackSlawomir Maniak
82023-04-21March of the Machine Art SeriesAMOM 812015art_seriesborderless
92023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 512015normalborderlessSteve Ellis
102023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 181z2015normalborderlessSteve Ellis
112023-04-21Multiverse LegendsMUL 1812015normalborderlessSteve Ellis

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lurrus of the Dream-Den has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyBanned
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerBanned
CommanderLegal
ModernBanned
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerBanned
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Lurrus of the Dream-Den card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2020-04-17 Before shuffling your deck to become your library, you may reveal one card from outside the game to be your companion if your starting deck meets the requirements of the companion ability. You can't reveal more than one. It remains revealed outside the game as the game begins.
2020-04-17 For spells with in their mana costs, use the value chosen for X to determine the spell's mana value. For example, if a permanent spell costs , you could cast it with X as 1 but not as 2.
2020-04-17 If a card in a player's deck has in its mana cost, X is considered to be 0.
2020-04-17 If a permanent card is put into your graveyard during your main phase and the stack is empty, you have a chance to cast it before any player may attempt to remove that card from your graveyard.
2020-04-17 If more than one player wishes to reveal a companion, the starting player does so first, and players proceed in turn order. Once a player has chosen not to reveal a companion, that player can't change their mind.
2020-04-17 If you cast a spell from your graveyard using another permission, Lurrus's effect doesn't apply. You can cast another permanent spell from your graveyard.
2020-04-17 If you cast one permanent spell from your graveyard and then have a new Lurrus come under your control in the same turn, you may cast another permanent spell from your graveyard that turn.
2020-04-17 If you reveal a companion outside the game, for as long as it remains there, you may pay any time you could cast a sorcery (that is, you have priority during your main phase and the stack is empty). Once you do, you put it into your hand and behaves like any other card you've brought into the game. For example, if it's discard, countered, or destroyed, it's put into your graveyard, remaining in the game. This is a change from previous rules.
2020-04-17 Lurrus doesn't care about instant and sorcery cards in your starting deck. They may have any mana value.
2020-04-17 Lurrus doesn't let you play lands from your graveyard.
2020-04-17 Once you begin to cast the spell, losing control of Lurrus won't affect the spell. You can finish casting it as normal.
2020-04-17 The companion ability has no effect if the card is in your starting deck and creates no restriction on putting a card with a companion ability into your starting deck. For example, Zirda may be in your starting deck even if your other permanent cards don't all have activated abilities.
2020-04-17 The companion's other abilities apply only if the creature is on the battlefield. They have no effect while the companion is outside the game.
2020-04-17 The requirements of the companion ability apply only to your starting deck. They do not apply to your sideboard.
2020-04-17 You may have one companion in the Commander variant. Your deck, including your commander, must meet its companion requirement. Your companion is not one of your one hundred cards.
2020-04-17 You must follow the normal timing permissions and restrictions of the spell you cast from your graveyard.
2020-04-17 You must pay the costs to cast that spell. If it has an alternative cost, such as a mutate cost, you may cast it for that cost instead.
2020-04-17 Your companion begins the game outside the game. In tournament play, this means your sideboard. In casual play, it's simply a card you own that's not in your starting deck.
2020-06-01 If you reveal a companion outside the game, for as long as it remains there, you may pay any time you could cast a sorcery (that is, you have priority during your main phase and the stack is empty). Once you do, you put it into your hand and behaves like any other card you've brought into the game. For example, if it's discarded, countered, or destroyed, it's put into your graveyard, remaining in the game. This is a change from previous rules.
2020-06-01 Once you put your companion into your hand, it behaves like any other card you’ve brought into the game. For example, if it’s countered or destroyed, it’s put into your graveyard, remaining in the game.
2020-06-01 Paying to put your companion into your hand is a special action. It doesn't use the stack and players can't respond to it. Once you take this action, you may cast that card if it's legal to do so before any other player can take actions.
2020-06-01 Wizards of the Coast has issued functional errata for the Companion mechanic. Instead of casting companions from outside the game: Once per game, any time you could cast a sorcery (during your main phase when the stack is empty), you can pay to put your companion from your sideboard into your hand. This is a special action, not an activated ability. It happens immediately and can’t be responded to. It can’t be countered or stopped by cards like Phyrexian Revoker. For more information please see https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/june-1-2020-banned-and-restricted-announcement

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