Elemental Summoning MTG Card

Elemental Summoning - Strixhaven: School of Mages

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery — Lesson
Released	2021-04-23
Set symbol
Set name	Strixhaven: School of Mages
Set code	STX
Number	183
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Marta Nael

Key Takeaways

Elemental Summoning provides card advantage by adding powerful creatures to your hand, crucial for maintaining a card flow.
It enables resource acceleration, allowing players to expand their board presence rapidly and pivot strategies effectively.
The capability to cast at instant speed offers strategic flexibility, often resulting in unexpected and advantageous plays.

Text of card

Create a 4/4 blue and red Elemental creature token.

"You've made a splash. Now show me a torrent." —Uvilda, Prismari dean

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Elemental Summoning ensures that you stay ahead by introducing potent creatures to your hand, which can be especially useful in matches where maintaining card flow is pivotal for success.

Resource Acceleration: By generating a formidable presence on the board with just one card, Elemental Summoning can effectively accelerate your resource deployment, enabling you to invest mana into other strategic areas of your gameplay.

Instant Speed: The versatility of Elemental Summoning being castable at instant speed provides the tactical advantage of surprise, allowing you to adapt to the battlefield’s state during the most opportune moment—perhaps at the end of your opponent’s turn—maximizing your elemental impact.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Elemental Summoning mandates that you discard another card from your hand to cast it. This can deplete your hand size, potentially leaving you at a disadvantage if you need those resources for later turns or for sudden responses to your opponent’s moves.

Specific Mana Cost: This spell requires a mix of both generic and specifically colored mana to cast, necessitating a dedicated mana base. Ensuring you have the right mana at the right time can be a challenge, especially in multicolored decks that might compete for those mana resources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that can be steep relative to other spells in its class, Elemental Summoning might not always be the most mana-efficient option for summoning creatures. Especially when compared to other creature spells or summoning options that offer additional benefits or lower cost alternatives.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Elemental Summoning seamlessly adapts to various deck strategies, as summoning creatures is a universal need. This card can be a game-changer, whether you’re looking to beef up your board presence or need a blocker in a pinch.

Combo Potential: This card shines when combined with synergistic elements that amplify the power of elemental creatures. It can set off a chain of potent interactions, especially in a deck built with elemental tribal themes in mind.

Meta-Relevance: Given its adaptability, Elemental Summoning holds its ground in multiple formats. In a meta dense with creature-based strategies, it can provide that critical edge by fielding formidable elemental creatures that can sway the tide of battle. Its impact in games is reflected in how it keeps pace with the evolving competitive landscape.

How to beat Elemental Summoning

Elemental Summoning is a card that stands out for its potential to change the tide of the game in Magic: The Gathering. It allows players to create a potent Elemental creature token that can quickly become a substantial threat on the board. This move can create a sense of urgency for the opposing player, necessitating a strategized response to mitigate the impact of the summoned creature.

To effectively counter Elemental Summoning, control decks can lean on counterspells or removals such as “Negate” or “Murderous Rider.” On the other side, tempo decks might use bounce spells like “Unsummon” to temporarily deal with the Elemental threat, buying time to fortify their position and set up a more definitive answer. Aggressive strategies might not aim to deal with the summoned creature directly but rather focus on racing the opponent and winning before the Elemental’s impact can be felt.

Considering the adaptability of Magic: The Gathering, each game will prompt distinct avenues to address Elemental Summoning’s effect on the game state. Thus, understanding your deck’s strengths and the corresponding weaknesses of Elemental Summoning is crucial to turning the challenge it poses into an opportunity for a strategic victory.

Cards like Elemental Summoning

The allure of summoning formidable creatures in Magic: The Gathering is captured perfectly by Elemental Summoning. This spell echoes the impact of other creature conjuring sorceries, such as Thunderkin Awakener, which also specializes in calling Elementals to the battlefield. Elemental Summoning, however, differentiates itself with its ability to create a substantial token creature that can alter the board’s dynamics immediately.

Comparing it to Glacial Revelation, another Elemental-centric spell, Elemental Summoning excels in providing immediate board presence, whereas Glacial Revelation digs deeper into the library for Elemental cards, setting up future plays rather than affecting the current turn. Additionally, the simplicity and directness of Elemental Summoning make it an assertive choice when the strategy is to apply pressure on the opponent right away. Moreover, Tempt with Vengeance offers a scalable option, often generating multiple Elemental tokens based on the mana spent, potentially flooding the board and overwhelming opponents.

Assessing its position among similar card types in Magic: The Gathering, Elemental Summoning stands as a robust option for decks keen on mustering creatures swiftly and efficaciously. Its comparative value lies in its simplicity and the immediate impact it has on gameplay.

Tempt with Vengeance - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Elemental Summoning MTG card by a specific set like Strixhaven: School of Mages, 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 Elemental Summoning and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Elemental Summoning has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2021-04-16	Although you may want to include Lessons in your sideboard if you’re playing with cards that instruct you to learn, Lesson cards can be included in your main deck like other instant or sorcery cards.
2021-04-16	Lesson is a spell subtype found on some instant and sorcery cards in the Strixhaven set. The Lesson subtype has no special rules associated with it.