Chainer, Nightmare Adept MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityMythic
TypeLegendary Creature — Human Minion
Power 3
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. Chainer enhances card flow and threat potential by enabling haste on reanimated creatures.
  2. The card’s mandatory discard and specified mana needs can limit its strategic versatility.
  3. Its unique synergy with various creature-based strategies justifies its inclusion in collections.

Text of card

Discard a card: You may cast a creature card from your graveyard this turn. Activate this ability only once each turn. Whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, if you didn't cast it from your hand, it gains haste until your next turn.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Chainer, Nightmare Adept enables a consistent flow of cards into your hand by allowing you to play an additional creature from your graveyard each turn. This relentless ability can be a major contributing factor to outpacing your opponents in terms of available resources and options.

Resource Acceleration: By giving your creatures from the graveyard haste, Chainer effectively accelerates your resource utilization. This means that any creature you reanimate is immediately a threat, allowing for swift and impactful plays that can pressure your opponents without the usual summoning sickness slowdown.

Instant Speed: Although Chainer himself does not operate at instant speed, his ability allows you to capitalize on creatures with instant-speed effects. Having such creatures in your graveyard turns them into pseudo-instants, providing unexpected interactions and tricks that can greatly sway the course of the game in your favor.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the key drawbacks of Chainer, Nightmare Adept, is the requirement to discard a card which can be a steep price, especially when running out of hand options. This compulsory discard can sometimes setback your game plan, hindering your ability to keep the necessary cards in hand to respond to opponents’ threats.

Specific Mana Cost: Chainer’s activation cost demands a specific mana arrangement, requiring both red and black mana. This necessity can make it challenging to incorporate him into multi-colored decks, confining him largely to red-black combinations and potentially stifling deck-building creativity.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana value of four, Chainer enters the battlefield later than many other impactful commanders or creatures in the same cost range. For some players, this may feel inefficient when considering the speed of the game and the need for earlier board presence or more immediate impacts on the game state.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Chainer, Nightmare Adept is an adaptive choice for Commander players, seamlessly fitting into varied strategies that appreciate reanimation and a touch of chaos. As a red and black card, it pairs well with a multitude of creature-based tactics while granting you instant access to your reanimated creatures.

Combo Potential: Chainer’s ability to give haste to creatures you cast from your graveyard can unlock explosive combinations, setting the stage for game-winning turns. It is especially potent in setups focusing on creatures with enter the battlefield or leave the battlefield effects, offering endless opportunities for synergy and interaction.

Meta-Relevance: In a constantly evolving meta, the ability to recur value from the graveyard is always relevant. Chainer, Nightmare Adept fits well in metas heavy with creature strategies, giving players the upper hand by recycling key pieces and maintaining pressure on opponents with an unyielding stream of threats.


How to beat

Chainer, Nightmare Adept is a formidable commander in MTG, known for its ability to reanimate creatures and grant them haste. To counter this powerful card, players must adopt strategies that target the graveyard. Employing graveyard hate cards such as Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze can disrupt Chainer’s reanimation plan by removing creatures from the graveyard before they can be brought back. Additionally, instant speed removal like Swords to Plowshares can be effective for managing creatures as soon as they hit the field. Spell-based strategies can further hinder Chainer’s deck by countering key spells or using control elements to manage the pace of the game.Another approach is to limit the number of cards your opponent has access to, using discard effects to diminish their resources and applying pressure to prevent them from setting up their board. Since Chainer requires a card to be discarded before casting a creature from the graveyard, reducing the opponent’s hand size cripples this mechanic. It’s essential to stay vigilant and respond quickly, as Chainer can quickly turn the tide by overwhelming the board with hasty, resurrected threats.


BurnMana Recommendations

If Chainer, Nightmare Adept has caught your interest, we’ve got insights that will help you harness its full potential. Leverage Chainer’s reanimation prowess to outmaneuver your opponents, giving life to a relentless assault of creatures that come back swinging. With careful deck construction, you can mitigate its weaknesses and capitalize on instant-speed interactions, leaving opponents struggling to keep up. For those facing this mighty adversary, remember that graveyard disruption and timely removal are your best allies. Dive deeper with us to unlock the secrets of building an unstoppable Chainer deck or crafting a strategy to dismantle it. The complex dance of MTG strategy awaits your mastery.


Cards like Chainer, Nightmare Adept

In the realm of reanimator strategies within MTG, Chainer, Nightmare Adept shines as a unique engine for recurring creatures from the graveyard. Its closest relative in terms of functionality could be Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, which also allows for reanimation of creatures with power 2 or less at a mere cost of two mana. Yet, Chainer offers more flexibility by permitting any creature card in your graveyard to gain haste, irrespective of its power.

Another parallel can be drawn with Feldon of the Third Path. While Feldon offers a way to create token copies of creatures in the graveyard, Chainer stands out by placing the actual creature onto the battlefield, fully equipped with haste and ready to swing into action immediately. Where Feldon’s creations are temporary, Chainer ensures the creatures’ effects can be harnessed turn after turn.

Evaluating these comparisons spotlights Chainer’s prowess within MTG. This adept nightmare weaves a potent combination of reanimation and haste, bypassing the common limitation of waiting a turn to utilize revived creatures. Such an immediate impact makes Chainer a focal point in decks built around graveyard synergies and fast-paced gameplay.

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - MTG Card versions
Feldon of the Third Path - MTG Card versions
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - Fate Reforged Promos (PFRF)
Feldon of the Third Path - Commander 2014 (C14)

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Blim, Comedic Genius - Commander Legends (CMR)
Rakdos Firewheeler - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Rakdos, Lord of Riots - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Immersturm Predator - Kaldheim (KHM)
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Singe-Mind Ogre - Alara Reborn (ARB)
Olivia Voldaren - Secret Lair Drop (SLD)
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch - Dragon's Maze (DGM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Chainer, Nightmare Adept MTG card by a specific set like Commander 2019 and Modern Horizons 2, 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 Chainer, Nightmare Adept and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Chainer, Nightmare Adept Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2019-08-23 and 2021-08-26. Illustrated by Steve Prescott.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12019-08-23Commander 2019C19 392015normalblackSteve Prescott
22021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 4191997normalblackSteve Prescott
32021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 2892015normalblackSteve Prescott
42021-08-26Jumpstart: Historic HorizonsJ21 6832015normalblackSteve Prescott

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Chainer, Nightmare Adept has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
GladiatorLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2019-08-23 Chainer's first ability doesn't change when you can cast the creature card. You can normally only cast it during your turn while the stack is empty, but if the creature card has flash, you can cast it at other times.
2019-08-23 Chainer's last ability triggers if Chainer enters the battlefield without being cast from your hand.
2019-08-23 Chainer's last ability triggers if the entering creature was cast from a zone other than your hand, or if it wasn't cast at all and is entering the battlefield from anywhere (including from your hand).
2019-08-23 If you somehow activate Chainer's first ability more than once during a turn (perhaps because Chainer left the battlefield and returned), you can cast a creature card for each ability's permission. Similarly, if another effect allows you to cast a creature card from your graveyard, you may use that permission and later use Chainer's permission to cast another creature card.
2019-08-23 You don't choose a creature card to cast while activating or resolving Chainer's first ability. The ability creates a permission for you to cast a creature card from your graveyard later in the turn.

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