Melira, the Living Cure MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Creature — Human Scout
Power 3
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Melira enhances long-term strategy by effectively maintaining card advantage through counter neutralization.
  2. While not a direct resource producer, Melira indirectly accelerates board state through interaction with persist creatures.
  3. Transforms instant speed -1/-1 counter spells within your deck into assets, boosting your tactical advantage.

Decks using this card

MTG decks using Melira, the Living Cure. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.

NameFormatArchetypeEvent
Five-Color Legends Standard5c LegendsStandard $1k RCQ Invite Cyphacon MTG Weekend
Abzan Amalia Combo PioneerAbzan Amalia ComboPioneer Challenge 64 2024-02-24
Selesnya Company PioneerSelesnya CompanyPioneer Challenge 64 2024-03-24
Selesnya Humans PioneerSelesnya HumansPioneer Challenge 64 2024-04-13
Bant Poison StandardBant PoisonTraditional Standard Ranked Decklists: April 8, 2024
Five-color Aggro Standard5c LegendsStandard Store hampionship
Selesnya Midrange GladiatorSword and Sandals Showdown: EMEA Week 11 2024
Naya Aggro StandardNaya Legends16 Day2
WG PioneerPioneer Challenge 64 2024-03-16
Domain Ramp StandardDomainMTG SEA Championships Thailand Open Season 2 Round 3

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Melira, the Living Cure MTG card by a specific set like Phyrexia: All Will Be One and Phyrexia: All Will Be One, 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 Melira, the Living Cure and other MTG cards:

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Text of card

If you would get one or more poison counters, instead you get one poison counter and you can't get additional poison counters this turn. Exile Melira, the Living Cure: Choose another target creature or artifact. When it's put into a graveyard this turn, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Melira, the Living Cure is a boon for players focused on long-term strategy. While she doesn’t directly cause you to draw cards, her repetitive ability to neutralize -1/-1 counters not only retains your board presence but essentially negates the effects of numerous opposing strategies. This essentially translates to maintaining card advantage by outlasting your opponent’s resources.

Resource Acceleration: Although Melira doesn’t produce mana or tokens, her presence enhances your deck’s engine, especially in combination with persist creatures. By preventing counters, you can reuse these creatures repeatedly, accelerating your board state without expending additional cards. It’s a subtler form of resource acceleration but a powerful one that consistently develops your offensive and defensive resources.

Instant Speed: Melira’s influence transcends her own speed as a permanent. She transforms the utility of instant speed -1/-1 counter spells and abilities within your deck, allowing you to use them freely without the downside on your own creatures. In a meta where instant speed interaction is key, she provides a tactical advantage, ensuring that you have unfettered access to your creatures’ abilities and can respond to threats immediately without self-sabotage.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Not applicable to Melira, the Living Cure as this card does not require discarding as part of its cost. Players looking for cons related to discard mechanics will need to consider other factors that may impact their game when using this card.

Specific Mana Cost: Melira, the Living Cure demands a precise blend of mana, specifically one green and two other mana types. This can sometimes hamper players running multicolored decks who may struggle to generate the necessary mana efficiently to summon her.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Melira’s impact on the board must be evaluated against other creatures and effects available at similar cost levels. Players might find that, in some cases, the mana invested in Melira could be used for more aggressive plays or cards with immediate impactful abilities.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Melira, the Living Cure offers a flexible role in decks aiming to manipulate counters, safeguarding your creatures from -1/-1 tokens and enabling persistent counter removal.

Combo Potential: This card is notorious for forming formidable combinations, especially with cards like “Murderous Redcap” or “Kitchen Finks,” enabling infinite damage or life gain loops that can swiftly clinch a game.

Meta-Relevance: As the MTG environment fluctuates, Melira remains relevant by disrupting strategies reliant on -1/-1 counters and poison counters, making her a tactical choice against certain meta decks.


How to Beat Melira, the Living Cure

Melira, the Living Cure offers a unique challenge due to her ability to grant you and your creatures protection from poisoning, thereby nullifying the potency of infect strategies prevalent in some MTG decks. Overcoming Melira’s defense requires smart play and strategic deck building. One way to counteract Melira’s protective aura is by utilizing removal spells that bypass her shield, such as those that deal damage indirectly or those that force a player to sacrifice a creature. Additionally, leveraging board wipes that clear all creatures, such as Wrath of God or Damnation, can bypass the issue altogether.

Importantly, the ability to adapt your gameplay to the presence of Melira on the battlefield can turn the tide. Utilize cards that can change her card type or control magic to take Melira for yourself. If your deck includes black colors, consider exile effects which aren’t prevented by her abilities. The key is to neutralize her before your opponent can capitalize on the protection she offers. By doing so, you maintain the upper hand in your MTG matches, ensuring that Melira, the Living Cure doesn’t become the end of your game plan.


Cards like Melira, the Living Cure

Delving into the unique aspects of Melira, the Living Cure in MTG, we see its resemblance to other cards with protective abilities. Melira shines by granting you immunity to poison counters and negating the effects of -1/-1 counters on creatures you control. A parallel can be drawn to Solemnity, which inhibits the use of counters, though it lacks Melira’s specific poison counter immunity and creature-enhancing attributes. Vizier of Remedies, another similar card, offers a reduction mechanic that prevents -1/-1 counters but is less comprehensive compared to Melira’s blanket prevention.

Analogously, Cauldron Haze bestows a unique resilience upon creatures for a single turn, safeguarding them in a manner akin to Melira’s enduring protection. Although it touches upon the idea of counter prevention, Melira’s enduring effect gives her an edge. In assessing similar cards, one must acknowledge that Melira, the Living Cure’s strengths involve a potent blend of defensive strategies not commonly found in one package, particularly her role in enabling combos that exploit her passive abilities.

For players prioritizing resilience and counteracting specific meta strategies, Melira elegantly weaves together ongoing protection with the added benefit of enabling powerful interactions, setting a notable standard in her niche.

Solemnity - MTG Card versions
Vizier of Remedies - MTG Card versions
Cauldron Haze - MTG Card versions
Solemnity - MTG Card versions
Vizier of Remedies - MTG Card versions
Cauldron Haze - MTG Card versions

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Llanowar Knight - MTG Card versions
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Watchwolf - MTG Card versions
Park Heights Pegasus - MTG Card versions
Bronzehide Lion - MTG Card versions
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy - MTG Card versions
Selesnya Evangel - MTG Card versions
Transluminant - MTG Card versions
Selesnya Guildmage - MTG Card versions
Saffi Eriksdotter - MTG Card versions
Gaddock Teeg - MTG Card versions
Medicine Runner - MTG Card versions
Knight of the Skyward Eye - MTG Card versions
Valeron Outlander - MTG Card versions
Steward of Valeron - MTG Card versions
Grizzled Leotau - MTG Card versions
Knotvine Paladin - MTG Card versions
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Printings

The Melira, the Living Cure Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2023-02-03 and 2023-02-03. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 4692015NormalBorderlessMiyuki Aramaki
22023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 2092015NormalBlackMiranda Meeks
32023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One PromosPONE 209s2015NormalBlackMiranda Meeks
42023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 3332015NormalBorderlessMiyuki Aramaki
52023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One PromosPONE 209p2015NormalBlackMiranda Meeks
62023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One Art SeriesAONE 502015Art seriesBorderless

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Melira, the Living Cure has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2023-02-04 Melira's first ability creates a replacement effect. If another replacement effect would also change the number of poison counters a player receives, such as that of Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, the player receiving the counters chooses which one to apply first, regardless of who controls what permanents. This will usually result in that player choosing to apply Melira's effect last and receive one counter. However, if they want to, they could apply Melira's replacement effect first and receive more counters.
2023-02-04 Once Melira's replacement effect has been applied in a turn, additional events that would put poison counters on a player don't happen, regardless of any other replacement effects involved.