Personal Incarnation MTG Card
1993-08-05 - Number 31
1993-10-04 - Number 32
1993-12-01 - Number 32
1993-12-10 - Number 32
1993-12-10 - Number 32
1994-04-01 - Number 31
1994-04-01 - Number 31
1994-06-21 - Number 31
1995-04-01 - Number 40
1995-04-01 - Number 40
1997-03-24 - Number 51
2011-01-10 - Number 22
2022-11-28 - Number 31
2022-11-28 - Number 328
| Card sets | Released in 14 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 6 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Avatar Incarnation |
| Power | 6 |
| Toughness | 6 |
Text of card
Caster can redirect any or all damage done to Personal Incarnation to self instead. The source of the damage is unchanged. If Personal Incarnation is destroyed, caster loses half his or her remaining life points, rounding up the loss.
Cards like Personal Incarnation
Personal Incarnation is a unique creature card that offers a different twist on gameplay in Magic: The Gathering. It holds similarities with cards like Dauntless Bodyguard, which also focuses on protecting your life total, though Dauntless Bodyguard does so by potentially sacrificing itself for a valuable creature. Personal Incarnation works directly with your life points, with damage to it reflecting on your own life, creating a high-risk, high-reward scenario.
Analogous to this concept, but with less risk, is Cho-Manno, Revolutionary. Cho-Manno redirects all damage that would be dealt to you to himself, without the repercussion of halving your life. While the scope of protection is narrower than Personal Incarnation, the safety net it provides is much sturdier. Then, there’s Pariah’s Shield, which can redirect damage from you to a creature of your choice, much like the ability of Personal Incarnation but with more flexibility and control over the outcome.
Although these cards offer protective measures, Personal Incarnation stands out due to its direct life link between player and creature. It demands a carefully strategized approach, providing a gameplay experience that balances brinkmanship with potential for significant strategic advantage.
Cards similar to Personal Incarnation by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: When delving into the nuances of Personal Incarnation, its unique ability to essentially double your life total can tip the scales, offering a late-game dominance. This white card holds potential for strategic defenses, cleverly deterring opponents from attacking, knowing that any damage inflicted could pivot game outcomes quite substantially.
Resource Acceleration: Though not directly influencing mana resources, the presence of Personal Incarnation on the battlefield represents a form of resource acceleration by fortifying your life total. With more life to leverage, you can afford to invest in high-risk, high-reward strategies without the immediate threath of defeat.
Instant Speed: While Personal Incarnation itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it demands an equally strategic response. Its ability offers a layer of protection that can instantly alter the course of combat, forcing opponents to reconsider their actions. It synergizes well with spells and abilities that manipulate or gain life at instant speed, turning it into a formidable and resilient threat.
Card Cons
Specific Mana Cost: Personal Incarnation demands an exacting combination of mana, including a hefty concentration of white mana. This requirement can pose a deckbuilding challenge, particularly in multi-colored decks that could struggle to consistently produce the necessary white mana.
Discard Requirement: While Personal Incarnation doesn’t directly ask for a card to be discarded, its principle of sacrificing half your life points to save it from destruction could be seen as a metaphorical discard—trading valuable life for card retention, which can be a steep price in tight situations.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Personal Incarnation’s cost is substantial, standing at six mana with four of those needing to be white. This significant investment might not always pay off, especially considering that there are creatures with lower mana costs and comparable or even superior stats and effects.
Reasons to Include Personal Incarnation in Your Collection
Versatility: Personal Incarnation offers a unique approach to gameplay, allowing for a direct influence on your life total. This opens up new strategic avenues in life-based decks or in games where life manipulation plays a key role.
Combo Potential: Personal Incarnation can synergize with cards that protect or bounce creatures to its owner’s hand, providing opportunities to avoid the life loss drawback or to exploit mechanics that trigger upon a creature leaving the battlefield.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where high-toughness creatures dominate and direct damage spells are prevalent, Personal Incarnation can be a game-changer by absorbing damage that would affect your life total, thus altering the pace and outcome of matches in your favor.
How to beat Personal Incarnation
Personal Incarnation is a unique creature card that demands attention in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. Its ability, which ties its life force to its controller’s, can turn the tides of a duel when used effectively. Players facing this card on the opposing side require strategic moves to counteract its formidable presence on the battlefield.
To navigate around Personal Incarnation, players should focus on removal spells that don’t inflict damage, as damaging the card directly will hurt the owner’s life total equivalently. Control tactics such as exile or return-to-hand effects offer clean solutions. Board wipes are effective, circumventing the creature’s formidable lifelink ability. Additionally, players could exploit its drawback by forcing the controller to sacrifice it or by redirecting damage to it, which in turn depletes the opponent’s life. Strategies that minimize interaction with it or sidestep its ability altogether can ensure an upper hand during a match against Personal Incarnation.
Although a challenge to combat due to its intertwined fate with its controller, the right mix of tactics can see Personal Incarnation as a double-edged sword rather than an insurmountable obstacle. Players who adeptly manage their removal resources and anticipate counters can overcome the unique challenges posed by this remarkable card.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Personal Incarnation MTG card by a specific set like Limited Edition Alpha and Limited Edition Beta, 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 Personal Incarnation and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
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Printings
The Personal Incarnation Magic the Gathering card was released in 13 different sets between 1993-08-05 and 2022-11-28. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1993-08-05 | Limited Edition Alpha | LEA | 31 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 2 | 1993-10-04 | Limited Edition Beta | LEB | 32 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 3 | 1993-12-01 | Unlimited Edition | 2ED | 32 | 1993 | Normal | White | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 4 | 1993-12-10 | Intl. Collectors' Edition | CEI | 32 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 5 | 1993-12-10 | Collectors' Edition | CED | 32 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 6 | 1994-04-01 | Foreign Black Border | FBB | 31 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 7 | 1994-04-01 | Revised Edition | 3ED | 31 | 1993 | Normal | White | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 8 | 1994-06-21 | Summer Magic / Edgar | SUM | 31 | 1993 | Normal | White | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 9 | 1995-04-01 | Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border | 4BB | 40 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 10 | 1995-04-01 | Fourth Edition | 4ED | 40 | 1993 | Normal | White | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 11 | 1997-03-24 | Fifth Edition | 5ED | 51 | 1997 | Normal | White | Kev Walker | |
| 12 | 2011-01-10 | Masters Edition IV | ME4 | 22 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 13 | 2022-11-28 | 30th Anniversary Edition | 30A | 31 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt | |
| 14 | 2022-11-28 | 30th Anniversary Edition | 30A | 328 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Kev Brockschmidt |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Personal Incarnation has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Oldschool | Legal |
| 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 Personal Incarnation card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | The owner of the Incarnation loses life when it is destroyed, not the controller. So if you control your opponent’s Incarnation you can let it die to make them lose life. |
| 2004-10-04 | You do not lose life if this card is exiled or sent someplace without going to the graveyard first. |
| 2007-02-01 | If you attempt to halve a negative life total, you halve 0. This means that the life total stays the same. A life total of -10 would remain -10. |