Dreams of the Dead MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityUncommon
TypeEnchantment

Key Takeaways

  1. The card can repeatedly resurrect creatures, offering strategic value and versatility in gameplay.
  2. Activation requires specific mana and library sacrifices, which might limit deck-building options.
  3. Its utility shines in metas with prevalent graveyard strategies, enhancing control and combo potential.

Text of card

o1oo U Take target white or black creature from your graveyard and put it directly into play as though it were just summoned. That creature now requires an additional Cumulative Upkeep: . If the creature leaves play, remove it from the game.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Dreams of the Dead offers a repeatable mechanism to retrieve creatures from your graveyard, potentially providing card advantage by reutilizing valuable creature cards throughout the game.

Resource Acceleration: By investing mana into reviving creatures, it effectively accelerates your resource utility rate, bypassing the need to cast creatures from hand and therefore saving those resources for other strategic plays.

Instant Speed: While Dreams of the Dead itself is not an instant, it allows you to resurrect creatures at instant speed. This flexibility lets you surprise opponents during their turn or respond reactively to changing board states, a powerful positional advantage.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Dreams of the Dead requires players to remove the top card of their library from the game, making it a less than ideal choice for those who wish to maintain a strong deck presence or manipulate their own graveyard for strategic advantages.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s activation cost includes both blue mana and generic mana, necessitating a firm footing in blue-centric or blue-inclusive mana bases to exploit its capabilities efficiently, possibly restricting its utility in more diverse or color-specific strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an initial casting cost followed by a recurring activation cost to utilize its effect, the investment needed to make Dreams of the Dead a contributive element in gameplay may outweigh its potential benefits, especially when compared to other creature reanimation spells or effects that demand less resource expenditure for similar or superior results.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Dreams of the Dead offers the ability to resurrect creatures from the graveyard temporarily, which can be incredibly adaptable in decks that capitalize on enters-the-battlefield or leaves-the-battlefield effects.

Combo Potential: This card allows for clever interactions with creatures that have powerful on-death triggers, setting the stage for repeatable combos that can be exploited for strategic advantage.

Meta-Relevance: With graveyard strategies frequently making waves in various MTG metas, Dreams of the Dead could offer a unique edge by reusing influential creature effects at critical moments in gameplay.


How to beat

Dreams of the Dead is a unique enchantment in Magic: The Gathering, presenting an intriguing dynamic to graveyard interaction. This card allows players to return target white or black creature from the graveyard to play under their control. However, there are ways to outmaneuver its potential.The key to disrupting Dreams of the Dead lies in managing both graveyard and exile zones. It’s vulnerable to enchantment removal, like Disenchant or Abrupt Decay, which can effectively negate its utility. Moreover, cards that exile from the graveyard, like Bojuka Bog or Tormod’s Crypt, cripple its ability to interact with its ideal targets.Furthermore, strategies involving creatures that resist being targeted or spells that grant shroud or hexproof, such as Swiftfoot Boots or Asceticism, will protect important creatures from the grasp of Dreams of the Dead. Counterspells also serve as a firm line of defense against it ever hitting the board.Diligent surveillance of the graveyard, combined with efficient handling of control-changing effects, guarantees a solid position against Dreams of the Dead. It’s crucial to execute a well-timed removal or interference to maintain the upper hand against this enchantment.


Cards like Dreams of the Dead

Dreams of the Dead is a unique card from Magic: The Gathering, evoking a very specific set of mechanics in the realm of graveyard interaction. It echoes certain similarities with other MTG cards that provide utility in retrieving creatures from the grave. For instance, cards like Animate Dead, with its ability to bring back any creature at the cost of a continual upkeep, provides similar functionality. However, Dreams of the Dead offers a twist with its four mana activation cost and the stipulation that the creature must be white and hailing from your graveyard.

Comparatively, Resurrection is another spell that allows players to return a creature from their graveyard directly onto the battlefield. While it’s a one-time effect and doesn’t require the creature to be white, its upfront cost of four mana is comparable to the activation ability of Dreams of the Dead. Meanwhile, cards like Zombify and Exhume also serve the purpose of returning creatures from the graveyard to play. Each of these spells presents varied strategic advantages, cost, and nuances that set Dreams of the Dead apart as a tool for players, especially in formats where manipulating the colors and attributes of creatures is pivotal.

These comparisons highlight the focused utility Dreams of the Dead offers for decks centered around white creatures and control strategies, enabling players to leverage their graveyard as an extension of their hand with more selective criteria.

Animate Dead - MTG Card versions
Resurrection - MTG Card versions
Zombify - MTG Card versions
Exhume - MTG Card versions
Animate Dead - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Resurrection - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Zombify - Odyssey (ODY)
Exhume - Urza's Saga (USG)

Cards similar to Dreams of the Dead by color, type and mana cost

Steal Artifact - MTG Card versions
Control Magic - MTG Card versions
Animate Artifact - MTG Card versions
Merseine - MTG Card versions
Zur's Weirding - MTG Card versions
Mystic Decree - MTG Card versions
Psychic Vortex - MTG Card versions
Abduction - MTG Card versions
Zephid's Embrace - MTG Card versions
Browse - MTG Card versions
Opposition - MTG Card versions
Collective Restraint - MTG Card versions
Delusions of Mediocrity - MTG Card versions
Thassa, Deep-Dwelling - MTG Card versions
Necroduality - MTG Card versions
Bident of Thassa - MTG Card versions
Ashiok's Erasure - MTG Card versions
Annex - MTG Card versions
Coastal Piracy - MTG Card versions
Treasure Trove - MTG Card versions
Steal Artifact - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Control Magic - Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska (DDM)
Animate Artifact - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Merseine - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Zur's Weirding - The List (PLST)
Mystic Decree - Masters Edition IV (ME4)
Psychic Vortex - Weatherlight (WTH)
Abduction - World Championship Decks 1997 (WC97)
Zephid's Embrace - Urza's Saga (USG)
Browse - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Opposition - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Collective Restraint - The List (PLST)
Delusions of Mediocrity - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Thassa, Deep-Dwelling - Theros Beyond Death Promos (PTHB)
Necroduality - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Bident of Thassa - Theros (THS)
Ashiok's Erasure - Theros Beyond Death Promos (PTHB)
Annex - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Coastal Piracy - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Treasure Trove - Eighth Edition (8ED)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Dreams of the Dead MTG card by a specific set like Ice Age and Masters Edition II, 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 Dreams of the Dead and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Dreams of the Dead Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1995-06-03 and 2008-09-22. Illustrated by Heather Hudson.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11995-06-03Ice AgeICE 661993normalblackHeather Hudson
22008-09-22Masters Edition IIME2 461997normalblackHeather Hudson

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Dreams of the Dead has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Dreams of the Dead 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 This is a replacement effect.
2008-10-01 If a creature returned to the battlefield with Dreams of the Dead would leave the battlefield for any reason, it’s exiled instead — unless the spell or ability that’s causing the creature to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If it later returns the creature card to the battlefield (as Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp might, for example), the creature card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence.
2013-04-15 If a permanent has multiple instances of cumulative upkeep, each triggers separately. However, the age counters are not connected to any particular ability; each cumulative upkeep ability will count the total number of age counters on the permanent at the time that ability resolves.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks