Seize the Storm MTG Card

Generates elementals whose strength equals your graveyard’s instants/sorceries, growing your offensive potential. Empowers strategies reliant on casting numerous spells, offering conversion from graveyard spells to board presence. Challenges opponents with its ability to swiftly escalate threats, demanding specific counters and graveyard control.

Seize the Storm - Innistrad: Midnight Hunt (MID)

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt (MID)
2021-09-24 - Number 158

Seize the Storm - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)

Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
2022-01-28 - Number 158

Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
2022-12-02 - Number 598

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Flashback

Text of card

Create a red Elemental creature token with trample and "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard plus the number of cards with flashback you own in exile." Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Cards like Seize the Storm

Seize the Storm carves its own niche in the realm of token creation cards within Magic: The Gathering. It bears a resemblance to other red spells, like Young Pyromancer, which also excels at generating tokens. However, Seize the Storm distinguishes itself with tokens that can potentially be much larger based on the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard. Young Pyromancer’s tokens are consistently 1/1, highlighting a trade-off between quantity and quality.

Comparatively, we have Guttersnipe, which indirectly creates a threatening board presence by dealing damage directly to each opponent whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell. While not making tokens, the pressure it applies is synchronous with Seize the Storm’s aggressive strategy. Then there’s Metallurgic Summonings, a wider-reaching card that delves into blue’s territory, creating tokens based on the casting cost of the instants and sorceries played, showcasing a more versatile but color-restrictive option.

In evaluating Seize the Storm against its alternatives, it stands out in decks that aim to cast numerous instants and sorceries to build a single, formidable threat, as opposed to several smaller ones. Its unique scaling potential offers a different angle of attack, especially in longer games where graveyards tend to fill up, making it a considerable choice for deck builders.

Metallurgic Summonings - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Seize the Storm by color, type and mana cost

Explosive Revelation - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Seize the Storm excels at creating multiple instances of advantage. Each time you cast an instant or sorcery, the card generates a red Elemental creature token with power and toughness equal to the total number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard plus the one just cast. This incentivizes a strategy built around spell-slinging, turning every cast into potential for a substantial threat on the board.

Resource Acceleration: While Seize the Storm doesn’t directly accelerate resources in terms of adding mana, it indirectly accelerates your board presence. By converting your spells into tangible creature tokens, Seize the Storm provides a resource conversion from spells in your graveyard to power on the battlefield, ensuring that every spell you cast contributes to accelerating your win condition.

Instant Speed: Though Seize the Storm is a sorcery itself, the tokens it creates benefit from decks that operate at instant speed. Post-casting Seize the Storm, every instant spell you cast not only adds to your spells cast for the turn but also retroactively powers up the previously created elemental, which can be a game-changer during surprise combat phases or at the end of your opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Seize the Storm necessitates discarding a card, which could deplete your hand and leave you at a disadvantage, especially in games where hand size and card advantage are crucial.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires a combination of three mana, including at least one red. This can be restrictive and might not fit seamlessly into decks that aren’t heavily weighted towards red mana production.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of five mana, Seize the Storm can be considered steep. This makes it a card that you might draw early but are unable to play until the later stages of the game, potentially slowing your momentum against faster, more aggressive decks.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Seize the Storm adapts to a variety of playstyles, making it a strong addition to decks that thrive on casting a multitude of instant and sorcery spells.

Combo Potential: The card has inherent synergy with strategies focused on spell casting or graveyard mechanics, offering a repeatable source of creature generation that scales with your spells.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where spellslinger decks are prevalent, Seize the Storm can become a powerhouse, effectively turning every casted spell into a potential threat.

How to beat

Seize the Storm is a dynamic card that can swiftly turn the tides of a Magic: The Gathering game in favor of the player casting it. This red sorcery creates a red Elemental creature token with trample and power/toughness equal to the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard plus the number of cards with flashback you own in exile. It’s clear that its strength lies in a deck heavy with those card types.

However, even the most formidable cards have their vulnerabilities. To effectively counter Seize the Storm, players need to focus on graveyard and exile zone disruption strategies. Cards like Tormod’s Crypt and Leyline of the Void can swiftly remove the tools necessary for Seize the Storm to maximize its potential. Additionally, instant-speed removal spells such as Path to Exile or Rapid Hybridization can neutralize the Elemental token as soon as it hits the battlefield, mitigating the immediate threat.

Moreover, denying your opponent the chance to cast the spell through countermeasures like Counterspell or Negate is another strategy to keep in your arsenal. With the right approach and timely execution, you can dismantle your opponent’s strategy and keep Seize the Storm from ever truly taking hold of the game.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Seize the Storm MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Double Feature, 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 Seize the Storm and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Seize the Storm Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-12-02. Illustrated by Deruchenko Alexander.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2021-09-24	Innistrad: Midnight Hunt	MID	158	2015	Normal	Black	Deruchenko Alexander
2	2022-01-28	Innistrad: Double Feature	DBL	158	2015	Normal	Black	Deruchenko Alexander
3	2022-12-02	Jumpstart 2022	J22	598	2015	Normal	Black	Deruchenko Alexander

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Seize the Storm has restrictions

Format	Legality
Standard	Legal
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Future	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2021-09-24	"Flashback -ost]" means "You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying -ost] rather than paying its mana cost" and "If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack."
2021-09-24	A spell cast using flashback will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, is countered, or leaves the stack in some other way.
2021-09-24	If a card with flashback is put into your graveyard during your turn, you can cast it if it's legal to do so before any other player can take any actions.
2021-09-24	If you cast Seize the Storm with no instant or sorcery cards in your graveyard and no cards with flashback in exile, the Elemental will start as a 0/0 creature. However, state-based actions won't be checked until after Seize the Storm has finished resolving. The Elemental will then be a 1/1 creature and survive because Seize the Storm will either be in your graveyard or in exile.
2021-09-24	The power and toughness of the Elemental token will change as the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard and the number of cards with flashback you own in exile change.
2021-09-24	To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a flashback cost) you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was.
2021-09-24	While a spell is on the stack, it is neither in your graveyard nor in exile, so it won't contribute to the Elemental's power and toughness. For example, with Seize the Storm in your graveyard and no cards in exile, the 1/1 Elemental in the above scenario will become 0/0 and die if you cast Seize the Storm from your graveyard using flashback.
2021-09-24	You can cast a spell using flashback even if it was somehow put into your graveyard without having been cast.
2021-09-24	You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions, including those based on the card's type. For instance, you can cast a sorcery using flashback only when you could normally cast a sorcery.