Tawnos's Coffin MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeArtifact

Key Takeaways

  1. Tawnos’s Coffin excels in board control, removing threats without depleting your hand.
  2. High activation cost may restrict other plays, demanding careful mana management.
  3. Artifact synergies and creature interactions make it a valuable addition to collections.

Text of card

o3: Select a creature in play; that creature is considered out of play as long as Coffin remains tapped. Hence the creature cannot be the target of spells and cannot receive damage, use special powers, attack, or defend. All counters and enchantments on the creature remain but are also out of play. If Coffin is untapped or removed, creature returns to play tapped. You may choose not to untap Coffin during the untap phase.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Tawnos’s Coffin provides a unique form of card advantage not by drawing but through board manipulation. Once activated, it can effectively remove a creature from the game until the artifact is untapped. This utility can effectively negate key pieces of your opponent’s strategy, allowing you a better position in the match without sacrificing your hand.

Resource Acceleration: Although the Coffin itself doesn’t produce mana or ramp on its own, it allows you to conserve resources long-term. By stashing a creature away, you can delay resource investment in answers to that creature, potentially accelerating your own board development in the meantime. This can give you the crucial tempo advantage you need to outpace your opponent.

Instant Speed: The ability to activate Tawnos’s Coffin at instant speed gives you significant flexibility during gameplay. You can respond to enemy spells, abilities, or combat without revealing your strategy beforehand, catching an opponent off guard. This unpredictability adds an extra layer to its strategic value, allowing you to adapt to and control the flow of the game more effectively.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Tawnos’s Coffin doesn’t directly require you to discard cards, but it can indirectly contribute to a lower hand size. As you may hold onto specific cards to synergize with Tawnos’s Coffin, this results in a less flexible game strategy and can be a drawback if your hand becomes too tailored to just this one card.

Specific Mana Cost: Tawnos’s Coffin requires a specific mana investment of three generic and one artifact mana to cast, which necessitates a certain deck infrastructure focused on artifact utilisation. While versatile in artifact-friendly decks, its specific costs can be a limiting factor in decks without sufficient artifact support or mana fixing.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a requirement of four mana to cast and another three to activate, Tawnos’s Coffin can be considered mana-intensive, especially in formats where speed and efficiency are crucial. Its activation cost can hinder your ability to play other spells in the same turn, potentially putting you at a disadvantage against decks that capitalize on tempo.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Tawnos’s Coffin offers a unique ability to temporarily remove creatures from the game, allowing it to fit into a variety of control and midrange decks. Its utility extends to saving your own creatures from removal or disrupting opponent strategies.

Combo Potential: This artifact can combo with cards that trigger on entering or leaving the battlefield. It can also be used to indefinitely neutralize commanders in EDH format by circumventing the command zone.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames rich with creature-based strategies, Tawnos’s Coffin can be an effective tool to outmaneuver opponents. It acts as both a protective measure and a way to remove key opposing threats on the board.


How to beat

Tawnos’s Coffin is a unique artifact in the vast universe of MTG cards, offering players the ability to temporarily remove creatures from the game. Its distinctive ability can disrupt your board presence and continuity, making it a challenge to overcome. One effective strategy to counter Tawnos’s Coffin is by focusing on non-creature spells or abilities that either destroy or neutralize artifacts. Enchantment cards with artifact-hosing abilities or direct destruction spells like Disenchant or Naturalize can swiftly handle the Coffin’s threat.

Another tactic involves using instant-speed creature abilities before the Coffin is activated. This way, you can gain value from your creatures even if they are targeted for exile. Additionally, cards that grant your creatures hexproof or indestructible can also safeguard them against Tawnos’s Coffin’s targeted ability. Lastly, applying pressure with an aggressive deck that can win before Tawnos’s Coffin becomes influential in the game is a practical approach. By utilizing these methods, MTG players can effectively mitigate the impact of Tawnos’s Coffin and maintain control over the match.


Cards like Tawnos's Coffin

Tawnos’s Coffin is a unique artifact in the world of Magic the Gathering. Its ability to exile a creature and return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control tapped with all Auras is somewhat reminiscent of cards like Oblivion Ring. However, Tawnos’s Coffin offers the additional benefit of dodging removal, as the creature is not on the field while the artifact remains activated. Notably, the exiled creature also escapes any counters it might have had, setting it apart from generic removal spells.

Looking at Voyager Staff, we find a cheaper artifact that performs a similar exiling effect, but without the option to maintain the exile over multiple turns. Then there’s Cold Storage, a more expensive option that can hold multiple creatures at once, thereby offering a delayed mass return to the battlefield in contrast to Tawnos’s Coffin’s one creature at a time approach.

As we evaluate these cards, Tawnos’s Coffin uniquely positions itself as a control and protection card with significant strategic depth in MTG. Its capability to repeatedly protect creatures from threats or to reuse enter-the-battlefield effects underscores its versatile role in various deck strategies.

Oblivion Ring - MTG Card versions
Voyager Staff - MTG Card versions
Cold Storage - MTG Card versions
Oblivion Ring - Lorwyn (LRW)
Voyager Staff - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Cold Storage - Tempest (TMP)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Tawnos's Coffin MTG card by a specific set like Antiquities and Magic Online 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 Tawnos's Coffin and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Tawnos's Coffin Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 1994-03-04 and 2007-09-10. Illustrated by Christopher Rush.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11994-03-04AntiquitiesATQ 681993normalblackChristopher Rush
22002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 239461997normalblackChristopher Rush
32007-09-10Masters EditionME1 1691997normalblackChristopher Rush

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Tawnos's Coffin has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Tawnos's Coffin card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2004-10-04 The creature returns to the battlefield tapped. It does not return to the battlefield and then tap afterwards.
2007-09-16 If Tawnos’s Coffin leaves the battlefield before its ability has resolved, it will exile the targeted creature forever, since its delayed triggered ability will never trigger.
2007-09-16 If the exiled card is returned to the battlefield and, for some reason, it now can’t be enchanted by an Aura that was also exiled by Tawnos’s Coffin, that Aura will remain exiled.
2007-09-16 If the targeted creature is a token, it will cease to exist after being exiled. Any Auras that were attached to it will remain exiled forever.
2008-04-01 Because the new wording doesn’t use phasing, the exiled card will suffer from summoning sickness upon its return to the battlefield.
2008-04-01 The effect doesn’t care what types the card has after it is exiled, only that it have been a creature while on the battlefield.

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