Can't Stay Away MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeSorcery
Abilities Flashback

Key Takeaways

  1. Can’t Stay Away provides card advantage by resurrecting creatures from the graveyard for new strategies.
  2. Its instant speed and surprise factor can significantly alter the game’s momentum in your favor.
  3. While powerful, its specific mana cost and discard requirement can sometimes limit its application.

Text of card

Return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains "If this creature would die, exile it instead." Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Death is no impediment to dinner.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Can’t Stay Away offers a distinct advantage by allowing players to return a creature card from their graveyard to the battlefield, effectively drawing on past resources to enhance their current gameplay strategy.

Resource Acceleration: This card efficiently utilizes graveyard resources with its potential to bring back small-to-mid-sized creatures, potentially accelerating your board presence and overwhelming your opponent through recurring valuable assets.

Instant Speed: With the ability to cast Can’t Stay Away at instant speed, players can strategically wait until the end of an opponent’s turn to bring back a creature, preserving the element of surprise and allowing for more flexible response timings to shifting board states.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To cast Can’t Stay Away, players must be ready to part with another card from their hand, which could be counterproductive if you’re already facing a depleted hand size or if the discarded card is of strategic importance to your game plan.

Specific Mana Cost: The mana cost of Can’t Stay Away includes both white and black mana, necessitating a dual-colored mana base. This can sometimes complicate your mana availability, especially in the early game or in decks with a more complex mana base that supports multiple colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With the total cost of three mana, which includes both colored and generic mana, Can’t Stay Away may not be as mana-efficient as other resurrection spells. Considering you’re restricted to targeting creatures with mana value three or less, there may be other options in the format that give you better value or can resurrect more powerful creatures for a similar investment.


Reasons to Include Can’t Stay Away in Your Collection

Versatility: Can’t Stay Away offers flexibility as it can be slotted into various decks that focus on recurring creatures from the graveyard. Its low casting cost makes it an easy fit in aggressive strategies as well as more tempo-oriented decks.

Combo Potential: This card can synergize with sacrificial mechanics or enter-the-battlefield effects, allowing for intricate combos that can turn the tide of a game in your favor. Its ability to resurrect creatures ensures a persistent board presence and opens up numerous play possibilities.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where removal is prevalent, Can’t Stay Away shines by providing resilience against board wipes and targeted removal. This makes it a smart addition to any collection, ready to address the continually evolving competitive scene.


How to beat Can’t Stay Away

Can’t Stay Away is a unique card in MTG that offers a blend of resurrection and deck manipulation possibilities. Its ability to return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter speaks to its versatility. However, it’s not without its counters. Graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze can disrupt your opponent’s strategy by removing target creatures from the game or eating them up before they get a chance to come back.

Strategic use of exile and graveyard management is key. Timing is essential when facing Can’t Stay Away; playing your removal or graveyard disruption right when your opponent is vulnerable can shift the momentum in your favor. Additionally, cards that offer protection to your graveyard can also frustrate this card’s purpose. For instance, if you have a Tormod’s Crypt on the field. That little piece of tech can instantly neutralize a Can’t Stay Away play, giving you a significant advantage.

The most effective method to counter it relies on understanding your opponent’s game plan and disrupting it at the right moment. Keeping a watchful eye on the contents of both graveyards and anticipating when Can’t Stay Away might be played allows proactive measures, ensuring this card doesn’t become a recurring nightmare for your game strategy.


Cards like Can't Stay Away

Can’t Stay Away holds its own in the realm of recursive MTG spells, inviting comparisons to the likes of Unearth and Reanimate. These spells provide players with the valuable opportunity to bring creatures back from the graveyard to the battlefield. Can’t Stay Away adds a special twist to this concept, offering the creature it brings back an extra life through a token copy if that creature would die again. Unearth, while cheaper at only one black mana, lacks this additional token component and also restricts the creature’s stay on the battlefield to just a single turn. Reanimate, on the other hand, can resurrect any creature regardless of its mana cost but at the expense of life points equal to that creature’s power, a trade-off not present with Can’t Stay Away.

Comparatively, Other spells like Luminous Broodmoth from the Ikoria set, hint at an interesting parallel. This card also grants creatures a form of second life, returning them to the battlefield with a flying counter when they die. However, Can’t Stay Away is not permanent-dependent and allows for more targeted recursion from the graveyard. Its ability to bring a creature straight into play, potentially twice, makes it a versatile and repeatable option in strategies focusing on maximizing creature value.

When considering options for creature recursion in the MTG environment, Can’t Stay Away distinctly stands out for its capability to keep key creatures in play, serving strategies that capitalize on repeated enter-the-battlefield triggers or death synergies.

Unearth - MTG Card versions
Reanimate - MTG Card versions
Luminous Broodmoth - MTG Card versions
Unearth - Urza's Legacy (ULG)
Reanimate - Tempest (TMP)
Luminous Broodmoth - Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (IKO)

Cards similar to Can't Stay Away by color, type and mana cost

Death Grasp - MTG Card versions
Gerrard's Verdict - MTG Card versions
Castigate - MTG Card versions
Damn - MTG Card versions
Blot Out the Sky - MTG Card versions
Conjurer's Ban - MTG Card versions
Humiliate - MTG Card versions
Rite of Oblivion - MTG Card versions
Shadow Summoning - MTG Card versions
Shrouded Shepherd // Cleave Shadows - MTG Card versions
Soul Search - MTG Card versions
Death Grasp - Commander 2015 (C15)
Gerrard's Verdict - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Castigate - Guildpact (GPT)
Damn - The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)
Blot Out the Sky - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)
Conjurer's Ban - Guildpact (GPT)
Humiliate - Strixhaven: School of Mages (STX)
Rite of Oblivion - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
Shadow Summoning - The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR)
Shrouded Shepherd // Cleave Shadows - Wilds of Eldraine (WOE)
Soul Search - Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Can't Stay Away MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt 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 Can't Stay Away and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Can't Stay Away Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by Milivoj Ćeran.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 940742015normalblackMilivoj Ćeran
22021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight Hunt PromosPMID 213p2015normalblackMilivoj Ćeran
32021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight HuntMID 3682015normalblackMilivoj Ćeran
42021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight HuntMID 2132015normalblackMilivoj Ćeran
52021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight Hunt PromosPMID 213s2015normalblackMilivoj Ćeran
62022-01-28Innistrad: Double FeatureDBL 2132015normalblackMilivoj Ćeran

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Can't Stay Away has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Can't Stay Away card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2021-09-24 "Flashback
-ost]" means "You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying
-ost] rather than paying its mana cost" and "If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack."
2021-09-24 A spell cast using flashback will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, is countered, or leaves the stack in some other way.
2021-09-24 If a card with flashback is put into your graveyard during your turn, you can cast it if it's legal to do so before any other player can take any actions.
2021-09-24 To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a flashback cost) you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was.
2021-09-24 You can cast a spell using flashback even if it was somehow put into your graveyard without having been cast.
2021-09-24 You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions, including those based on the card's type. For instance, you can cast a sorcery using flashback only when you could normally cast a sorcery.

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