Adun Oakenshield MTG Card

Legends (LEG)
1994-06-01 - Number 216

Adun Oakenshield - Masters Edition (ME1)

Masters Edition (ME1)
2007-09-10 - Number 141

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Rare
Type	Legendary Creature — Human Knight
Power	1
Toughness	2

Key Takeaways

Adun Oakenshield excels with graveyard mechanics, enhancing card and resource potential in-game.
Specific mana cost and discard requirement limit its flexibility and can be resource-intensive.
Recursion ability keeps Adun relevant in changing metagames, offering sustained play advantage.

Text of card

o Go Ro Boc T: Select one creature from your graveyard and place it in your hand.

". . . And at his passing, the bodies of the world's great warriors shall rise from their graves and follow him to battle." —*The Anvilonian Grimoire*

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Adun Oakenshield shines in decks that rely on utilizing their graveyard as an extension of their hand. By allowing you to return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand during each of your upkeeps, Adun provides consistent card advantage and helps recycle key creatures for repeated use.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly producing mana or Treasure tokens, Adun Oakenshield helps in resource acceleration by providing a reliable way to retrieve mana dorks or creatures with land-fetching abilities from the graveyard to your hand. This effectively increases the number of times you can use those creatures’ mana acceleration capabilities.

Instant Speed: Adun Oakenshield’s ability works at the speed of your upkeep, which is not instant speed. However, the reliability of this recurring effect allows you to plan your turns with the knowledge that you’ll have access to additional resources. This strategic planning can be as valuable as acting at instant speed because it sets you up for future turns.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Adun Oakenshield’s ability comes with a steep price, necessitating players to discard a card whenever they want to return another creature from their graveyard to their hand. This can sometimes backfire, especially if a player’s hand is running empty and every card counts.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost of Adun Oakenshield is quite color-intensive, requiring one black, one red, and one green mana. This specific mana requirement might restrict the versatility of the card, confining it to decks that can reliably produce all three colors of mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total casting cost of three different mana, Adun Oakenshield can be a significant investment in the early to mid-game. This cost becomes even more noticeable when pitted against other cards in the same mana range that may offer immediate board presence or impact without any additional conditions.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Adun Oakenshield excels by offering a unique ability to return creatures from your graveyard to your hand. This capacity allows it to be a powerful addition to decks that exploit graveyard mechanics or consistently cycle through creatures.

Combo Potential: With its ability to retrieve key creatures, Adun Oakenshield can be a linchpin in various combos, enabling recurring strategies or just ensuring you have the right creature when you need it.

Meta-Relevance: As games become longer and more complex, having access to critical creatures from your graveyard ensures sustained momentum. Adun Oakenshield’s recurrence capacity remains relevant in an ever-shifting meta, providing deck resilience against control and removal-heavy opponents.

How to Beat

Adun Oakenshield is a respected card amongst vintage Magic: The Gathering collectors and players for its ability to recur creatures from the graveyard. Standing as a powerful resource in Commander games, this legendary creature often requires a specific strategy to beat. Given its ability only activatable during your turn, timing your removal spells when Adun Oakenshield is most vulnerable — on your opponent’s end step or before their main phase — can minimize their chances for maximizing its potential.

Another efficient tactic involves using graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze to limit its utility. By ensuring that creatures do not stay in the graveyard long enough for Adun Oakenshield to target them, you can effectively neutralize one of its key strategic advantages. Additionally, countering it upon casting or utilizing exile effects ensures Adun Oakenshield doesn’t make a lasting impact on the game.

As with many powerful cards in Magic: The Gathering, understanding the intricacies of when and how to deploy your answers against Adun Oakenshield can be the difference between victory and defeat. Tailoring your strategy to the specific challenges it presents is essential in overcoming this formidable adversary on the battlefield.

Cards like Adun Oakenshield

Adun Oakenshield is a noteworthy commander in Magic: The Gathering, often compared to other legendary creatures with graveyard recursion abilities. A parallel can be drawn between Adun and Teneb, the Harvester. Teneb also allows players to return creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield, but unlike Adun, Teneb must deal combat damage to a player to trigger this effect. This makes Adun a more reliable choice for players looking to consistently retrieve key creatures from their graveyard.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is another card that ventures into similar territory with its ability to cast spells for free from the top of the deck, which can include creatures. However, Golos’s ability is random, and thus lacks the controlled selection that Adun Oakenshield provides. Moreover, Adun’s ability to return creatures directly to hand ensures immediate utility, giving players a strategic edge in maintaining hand advantage.

Examining these comparisons highlights Adun Oakenshield’s unique position within the MTG landscape. With his dependable graveyard recovery and selection control, he stands out as a strong contender for deck builders focusing on recurrence and resource management.

Teneb, the Harvester - MTG Card versions

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Adun Oakenshield MTG card by a specific set like Legends and Masters Edition, 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 Adun Oakenshield and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Adun Oakenshield Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1994-06-01 and 2007-09-10. Illustrated by Jeff A. Menges.