Winter's Night MTG Card
1996-06-10 - Number 114
2008-09-22 - Number 200
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | World Enchantment |
Key Takeaways
- Can create card advantage by impeding opponents, potentially dictating the game’s pace.
- Enhances decks that capitalize on opponents’ tapped lands through strategic combos.
- Requires careful deck construction given its demand for snow-covered land types.
Text of card
Whenever a snow-covered land is tapped for mana, it produces one additional mana of the same type and does not untap during its controller's next untap phase.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Winter’s Night can augment your access to additional cards by slowing down your opponents. This subtle edge can trickle into a card advantage as you maintain the pace and dictate the flow of the game.
Resource Acceleration: Although not directly generating extra mana, Winter’s Night can effectively accelerate your resources by disrupting your opponents’ land utilization, potentially giving you a leg up in mana availability and tempo control as you play your strategies efficiently.
Instant Speed: While Winter’s Night itself is not an instant, its ability to impact lands at any point in a turn cycle means you can orchestrate the plays around it with instant-speed actions, ensuring you’re always a step ahead while your opponents grapple with the hindrance on their mana.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One of the limiting factors of Winter’s Night is the need to discard a card to gain the potential mana advantage. This requirement can be particularly penalizing when your hand is running low, as it forces a choice between maintaining card advantage and leveraging the card’s benefits.
Specific Mana Cost: Winter’s Night demands a specific mana cost that includes snow-covered lands. This can restrict its inclusion to decks that can reliably generate this type of mana, potentially excluding it from a vast array of other deck builds where its effect might be desirable.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a relatively high mana cost for its enchantment effect, Winter’s Night may not always be the most efficient choice. There are cards with lower mana demands that can provide similar or better mana acceleration, which could be more suitable for decks looking for quicker tempo or trying to maintain momentum in the early stages of play.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Winter’s Night offers a unique approach to mana management that can seamlessly integrate into a variety of deck styles. Its ability to impact lands keeps opponents on their toes and can give an analytical player the upper hand in resource allocation.
Combo Potential: This card is a staple for synergistic plays in snow-covered decks or strategies that capitalize on opponent’s tapped lands. Its potential to combo with cards that punish tapped lands or benefit from the additional snow mana can turn the tides of a game.
Meta-Relevance: With an ever-changing competitive landscape, Winter’s Night can be particularly disruptive against decks that depend on untapped lands for quick plays. In a meta full of instant-speed interactions and untap abilities, adding a copy of Winter’s Night can be a clever strategic move.
How to beat Winter’s Night
Winter’s Night stands out in Magic: The Gathering as a unique enchantment that can significantly disrupt mana bases. When facing this card, the key to success lies in adapting your strategy to manage its effects on your land usage efficiently. Utilizing creatures or artifacts that generate mana can be a lifesaver, bypassing the need to rely solely on lands for your spells.
Artifact mana sources such as Sol Ring or Mana Crypt can sustain your spell casting without the drawback of Winter’s Night. Another effective strategy involves cards like Chromatic Lantern, which not only provides mana of any color but also negates the need to tap lands, thereby avoiding Winter’s Night’s delaying influence completely. Cards with mana abilities that don’t require tapping, or spells that untap lands, offer a further buffer against this chilling enchantment.
Ultimately, maintaining a flexible approach and incorporating non-land mana sources are key in mitigating the impact of Winter’s Night. By focusing on alternative mana strategies, you can effectively navigate and overcome the icy grip of this enchantment in your Magic: The Gathering games.
Cards like Winter's Night
Winter’s Night stands out in the realm of land-affecting enchantments in Magic: The Gathering. It brings to mind comparisons with other cards like Ritual of Subdual, which also constricts the use of lands by requiring players to pay an additional cost to untap them. However, Ritual of Subdual affects all players equally, while Winter’s Night allows the caster to strategically place the enchantment to selectively target opponents.
Another similar card is the Winter Orb, well-known for its ability to freeze lands and slow down game progression. Even though Winter Orb is non-discriminatory and impacts all untapped lands, Winter’s Night provides a unique season-based twist, as it hinges on the tap phase correlating with the season described. Additionally, there is the One with Nature enchantment, a card that resembles Winter’s Night in its thematic elements, though its focus is more on land ramp rather than the stalling tactics that Winter’s Night employs.
All things considered, Winter’s Night has a special place among Magic’s tactical enchantments. Its seasonally-bound effect and ability to hinder opponents’ mana differentiate it from similar cards, marking its territory as a spell of choice for players looking to strategically control the battlefield.
Cards similar to Winter's Night by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Winter's Night MTG card by a specific set like Alliances 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 Winter's Night and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See Magic products
Printings
The Winter's Night Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1996-06-10 and 2008-09-22. Illustrated by Rob Alexander.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996-06-10 | Alliances | ALL | 114 | 1993 | normal | black | Rob Alexander | |
| 2 | 2008-09-22 | Masters Edition II | ME2 | 200 | 1997 | normal | black | Rob Alexander |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Winter's Night has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Winter's Night card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-10-01 | If a land affected by Winter’s Night is untapped at the time its controller’s next untap step begins, the “doesn’t untap” effect doesn’t do anything. It won’t apply at some later time when that land is tapped. |
| 2008-10-01 | This has the supertype world. When a world permanent enters the battlefield, any world permanents that were already on the battlefield are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is a state-based action called the “world rule.” The new world permanent stays on the battlefield. If two world permanents enter the battlefield at the same time, they’re both put into their owners’ graveyards. |
| 2008-10-01 | Winter’s Night doesn’t track the lands’ controllers. If an affected land changes controllers before its old controller’s next untap step, Winter’s Night will prevent it from being untapped during its new controller’s next untap step. |
