Curse of Unbinding MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost7
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment — Aura Curse
Abilities Enchant

Key Takeaways

  1. Its ability to exile cards from the top of an opponent’s library offers consistent strategic advantage.
  2. Curse of Unbinding enables playing high-cost permanents, potentially bypassing your own resource limits.
  3. While it requires careful hand management and a specific mana setup, its potential impact is vast.

Text of card

Enchant player At the beginning of enchanted player's upkeep, that player reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. Put that card onto the battlefield under your control. That player puts the rest of the revealed cards into their graveyard.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Curse of Unbinding boasts a pivotal trait that adds exceptional value to your gameplay, mainly through its repeatable ability to exile cards from the top of an opponent’s library. This provides consistent leverage by potentially accessing additional resources every turn.

Resource Acceleration: Although not directly involving Treasure tokens or mana production, Curse of Unbinding excels in a different form of resource acceleration: it has the potential to cheat out high-cost permanents from your opponent’s library. This can significantly advance your board state without tapping into your own resources.

Instant Speed: The enchantment itself may not be instant speed, but it synergizes well with instant speed responses. The threat of unknowingly unveiling a powerful instant from your opponent’s deck can deter them from acting too quickly or aggressively, thus providing a sort of psychological edge during the game.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While casting Curse of Unbinding can be a game-changer, players need to be mindful of its demand for discarding a card. This can be especially challenging if you’re already facing a hand with limited options, forcing you to make a tough decision that may not always have a favorable outcome.

Specific Mana Cost: The mana cost of Curse of Unbinding includes a requirement for blue mana which means that it is restricted to decks that can produce that color. This constraint can limit deck-building options and potentially prevent its inclusion in certain strategies where the color pie doesn’t align.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Investing seven mana into a single spell is no small commitment. With other cards in the format providing significant impact or establishing board presence for a more modest mana investment, Curse of Unbinding could be considered a luxury that not every game situation can afford.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Curse of Unbinding boasts a broad appeal across various deck archetypes due to its nature as an enchantment that can steadily extract value from opponents’ libraries.

Combo Potential: This card shines in synergistic interactions, enabling players to capitalize on the spells cast from others’ decks, potentially unlocking new avenues for combo plays and unexpected turnarounds.

Meta-Relevance: Particularly in environments where longer games are prevalent, Curse of Unbinding can provide a persistent threat, disrupting opponents and leveraging the long game to your advantage.


How to beat

Curse of Unbinding is a unique enchantment in MTG, known for its ability to put cards from a player’s library into their graveyard at the upkeep. This mechanic, often referred to as ‘milling’, can rapidly deplete a player’s deck, edging them towards a loss. To counteract Curse of Unbinding, one should consider incorporating cards that can remove enchantments. Cards like Disenchant or Naturalize are excellent answers to this threat as they can destroy Curse of Unbinding outright. Having instant-speed solutions allows players to respond directly to the enchantment being played, minimizing its impact.

Another strategy involves using cards that shuffle your graveyard back into your library, such as Elixir of Immortality. This turns the potential detriment of Curse of Unbinding into an advantage by essentially refreshing your deck. Additionally, leveraging graveyard synergy through cards that benefit from having a well-stocked graveyard, like creatures with the delve mechanic or abilities that trigger upon a card entering the graveyard, can make the Curse less effective against you. Employing these strategies will help ensure that Curse of Unbinding doesn’t seal one’s fate in the game.

Bearing this in mind, the key to victory against Curse of Unbinding lies in timely enchantment removal, strategic reshuffling, and transforming milling into an asset. These tactics will aid in maintaining control of the game despite the pressures imposed by this powerful enchantment card.


BurnMana Recommendations

Encountering Curse of Unbinding on the battlefield undeniably alters the dynamics of your MTG match. Understanding its strengths and pitfalls is crucial for harnessing its power or defending against it. This enchantment’s capacity to exile cards from an opponent’s library and cheat out high-cost permanents can provide you with a crucial edge. However, its high mana cost and specific color requirement call for strategic deck-building. Whether you’re looking to disrupt your opponent’s strategy, leverage long game advantages, or find enchantments with milling capabilities, integrating or countering Curse of Unbinding is an engaging challenge. Discover more ways to optimize your MTG experience with our insights and strategies.


Cards like Curse of Unbinding

Exploring the intricacies of blue enchantments in Magic: The Gathering, Curse of Unbinding presents a unique twist on the mill strategy. Like its kin, Patient Rebuilding, it attaches itself to opponents and steadily mills their library. Yet, Curse of Unbinding stands out by mill more cards and allowing for direct play of the revealed cards with mana matching their colors, directly impacting the board state with the opponent’s resources.

Analogous to Sphinx’s Tutelage, another card that accelerates the milling process, Curse of Unbinding compounds the effect with its occurrence during each of the cursed player’s upkeeps. This frequency surpasses Fraying Sanity, which doubles the number of cards milled but depends on other cards to initiate the effect. Curse of Unbinding’s autonomous trigger could create a relentless pressure that’s harder for opponents to mitigate.

Consequently, while each mill-focused enchantment in MTG carries its particular advantages, Curse of Unbinding makes a potent case for a top slot in a dedicated mill deck, balancing consistent effects with the surprise factor of playing what lurks within an adversary’s deck.

Patient Rebuilding - MTG Card versions
Sphinx's Tutelage - MTG Card versions
Fraying Sanity - MTG Card versions
Patient Rebuilding - Core Set 2019 (M19)
Sphinx's Tutelage - Magic Origins (ORI)
Fraying Sanity - Hour of Devastation (HOU)

Cards similar to Curse of Unbinding by color, type and mana cost

Day of the Dragons - MTG Card versions
Meishin, the Mind Cage - MTG Card versions
Eye of the Storm - MTG Card versions
Take Possession - MTG Card versions
Thought Reflection - MTG Card versions
Cast Through Time - MTG Card versions
Spirit Away - MTG Card versions
Dismiss into Dream - MTG Card versions
Mind's Dilation - MTG Card versions
Lay Claim - MTG Card versions
Swarm Intelligence - MTG Card versions
Kiora Bests the Sea God - MTG Card versions
Day of the Dragons - Kaldheim Commander (KHC)
Meishin, the Mind Cage - Saviors of Kamigawa (SOK)
Eye of the Storm - The List (PLST)
Take Possession - Modern Masters (MMA)
Thought Reflection - Double Masters (2XM)
Cast Through Time - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)
Spirit Away - Avacyn Restored (AVR)
Dismiss into Dream - Magic 2014 (M14)
Mind's Dilation - Shadows over Innistrad Remastered (SIR)
Lay Claim - Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
Swarm Intelligence - Commander 2021 (C21)
Kiora Bests the Sea God - Theros Beyond Death Promos (PTHB)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Curse of Unbinding MTG card by a specific set like Midnight Hunt Commander and Midnight Hunt Commander, 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 Curse of Unbinding and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Curse of Unbinding Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2021-09-24. Illustrated by Sebastian Giacobino.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12021-09-24Midnight Hunt CommanderMIC 122015normalblackSebastian Giacobino
22021-09-24Midnight Hunt CommanderMIC 502015normalblackSebastian Giacobino

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Curse of Unbinding has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2021-09-24 The controller of Curse of Unbinding puts the creature card onto the battlefield under their control. This may not be the same player as the enchanted player.

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