Impulsive Return MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Impulsive Return offers players a strategic upper hand by retrieving a creature from the graveyard directly onto the battlefield, essentially translating to an extra card in play which can turn the tides in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: Efficiently utilizing your graveyard as a resource, Impulsive Return injects energy into your game by reviving potent creatures. This accelerative move bypasses traditional casting costs, saving crucial mana for other spells or abilities.

Instant Speed: The capacity to cast Impulsive Return at instant speed offers significant tactical flexibility. Respond to your opponent’s actions on their turn, surprise them with an unforeseen blocker, or capitalize on the end of their turn to fortify your position without sacrificing momentum.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Impulsive Return comes with a stipulation that requires you to discard a card. This can present a potential setback, especially when your hand is already running low on cards. Forcing a discard could lead to sacrificing crucial strategies or valuable resources that you may need later in the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Impulsive Return demands a precise mana cost that includes red mana. This requirement can restrict the card’s integration into a variety of deck builds, particularly those that do not operate with a red mana base or those that are not optimized to produce red mana efficiently.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that’s on the higher side for its effects, Impulsive Return may not be as mana efficient compared to other options in the game. Players might find alternatives that provide a similar or better impact at a lower mana investment, making Impulsive Return a less tempting choice when curating a deck focused on optimum resource management.

Reasons to Include Impulsive Return in Your Collection

Versatility: Impulsive Return is a dynamic card that can seamlessly integrate into a variety of deck themes. It excels in strategies that value graveyard interaction, providing a unique method for recurring creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield.

Combo Potential: When paired with cards or effects that benefit from sacrificing creatures, Impulsive Return can become a cornerstone in a powerful combo. It can also synergize with effects that trigger upon creatures entering or leaving the battlefield, further amplifying its impact.

Meta-Relevance: In metas characterized by frequent creature removal, Impulsive Return offers a reliable way to regain board presence. It allows players to reactivate their key creatures and maintain momentum against control or removal-heavy decks.

How to beat

Impulsive Return is a versatile card that enables players to reclaim creatures from their graveyard with a bonus action — casting a card with the impulse ability from their exile zone. To counter this, ensuring graveyard management is your strategic priority. Utilize cards like Tormod’s Crypt to eradicate graveyard contents, cutting off your opponent’s Impulsive Return targets. Control decks might favor counter spells such as Dovin’s Veto to prevent Impulsive Return from resolving, severing its effect right at the beginning.

Another course of action is to employ exile effects, like Path to Exile or Ashes to Ashes, to leave opponents with fewer creatures to retrieve. A focus on hand disruption techniques may also be effective; thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek can discard Impulsive Return before it comes into play. Lastly, consider using instant speed removal to address the creatures brought back during an opponent’s turn, minimizing the impact of their revived threats. Every strategy targeting Impulsive Return should adapt to the deck it’s facing, as this card can appear in various MTG strategies.