Death's Duet MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Allows retrieval of creature cards and preserves in-game resource flow for strategic advantage.
  2. Demands card discard and specific mana, posing a potential challenge in tight games.
  3. Provides adaptability and meta-relevance, valuable in graveyard-focused deck strategies.

Text of card

Return two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.

Life has always been a dance. It is only fitting that death sing the tune.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Death’s Duet offers the strategic upper hand by bringing creatures back from your graveyard to your hand. This allows for a revival of key pieces in your deck, maintaining a solid flow of resources and options during play.

Resource Acceleration: By enabling the recovery of creatures, Death’s Duet can effectively multiply the usable assets in your game, ensuring that you’re not falling behind when it comes to deploying forces or responding to your opponent’s moves.

Instant Speed: The ability to act at instant speed gives a player the flexibility to respond to an opponent’s actions or to end-of-turn tactics, keeping them alert and ready for whatever comes their way. Death’s Duet can be a surprise twist that turns the tide, disrupting your opponent’s strategy at the most opportune moment.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Death’s Duet forces players to discard a card in addition to its mana cost, which can deplete your hand, especially during tight game scenarios where card advantage is critical.

Specific Mana Cost: The card’s mana cost is locked into black mana, restricting its utility to decks that run heavily on that color or dual-color decks that can accommodate such specific mana requirements without hampering their mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana cost associated with Death’s Duet may be considered steep for its effects. For players aiming to optimize their plays and mana efficiency, there might be alternative spells that achieve similar outcomes without the added cost and discard conditions.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Death’s Duet offers adaptability for a variety of deck strategies. As a card effective in recurring creatures from the graveyard, it can be pivotal in decks that focus on sacrifice and recursion themes.

Combo Potential: The capability to return two target creature cards to your hand heightens the combo potential, seamlessly fitting into engine strategies and setting up powerful plays with creatures designed to enter and leave the battlefield.

Meta-Relevance: Given that graveyard-based tactics are a recurrent theme in many metagames, Death’s Duet can establish itself as a key component to outmaneuvering opponent strategies that rely on permanent removal.


How to Beat Death’s Duet

Death’s Duet is a spell that brings versatility and strategic depth to the battlefield in MTG. It’s an intricate card that allows a player to fetch creatures from their graveyard, which in the hands of a savvy player, can significantly swing the momentum of the game. This dual recovery can be challenging if not countered effectively.

To overcome Death’s Duet, it is crucial to anticipate your opponent’s graveyard recursion tactics. Leveraging graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void to eliminate graveyard interactions can effectively nullify Death’s Duet’s potential. Implementing exile effects through cards like Scavenging Ooze or Bojuka Bog ensures that key creatures are not accessible for a replay. Additionally, keeping instant-speed removal in hand to deal with creatures as they’re resurrected can minimize the impact of Death’s Duet, maintaining control over the game’s pace.

Ultimately, understanding and disrupting your opponent’s game plan is essential in neutralizing Death’s Duet. By managing the graveyard and being ready to respond to reanimation plays, you maintain an upper hand, keeping this potent card from becoming a game-changing threat.


Cards like Death's Duet

Exploring the strategic depths of Magic: The Gathering, Death’s Duet offers a nuanced dynamic to creature retrieval mechanics. With a direct comparison, it’s akin to cards like Unearth and Disentomb, which also permit players to return creatures from the graveyard to their hand. Unearth offers return potential at a low cost with the limitation of CMC 3 or less, whereas Death’s Duet allows for more flexibility by not restricting the mana cost of the creatures it can retrieve.

Delve into the spectrum of similar effects, Macabre Waltz also parallels the functionality of Death’s Duet. Whereas Macabre Waltz requires the player to discard a card, Death’s Duet does not, potentially providing a card advantage without additional cost. Nonetheless, Macabre Waltz has the convenience of a lower mana cost, making it a more accessible option in the early game. Recovery, while similar in concept, offers not only creature retrieval but also the versatility of pulling a sorcery from the graveyard, which Death’s Duet lacks.

Ultimately, Death’s Duet competes favorably against these alternatives within the MTG universe. Its unrestrictive nature and capacity for pure card advantage play a pivotal role for players seeking to maximize their retrieval options from the graveyard without incurring extra costs or conditions.

Unearth - MTG Card versions
Disentomb - MTG Card versions
Macabre Waltz - MTG Card versions
Unearth - Urza's Legacy (ULG)
Disentomb - Magic 2010 (M10)
Macabre Waltz - Dissension (DIS)

Cards similar to Death's Duet by color, type and mana cost

Darkpact - MTG Card versions
Demonic Attorney - MTG Card versions
Jovial Evil - MTG Card versions
Inquisition - MTG Card versions
Infernal Contract - MTG Card versions
Touch of Death - MTG Card versions
Wicked Pact - MTG Card versions
Nature's Ruin - MTG Card versions
Buried Alive - MTG Card versions
Choking Sands - MTG Card versions
Brush with Death - MTG Card versions
Perish - MTG Card versions
Stupor - MTG Card versions
Coercion - MTG Card versions
Hand of Death - MTG Card versions
Grim Tutor - MTG Card versions
Forced March - MTG Card versions
Soul Burn - MTG Card versions
Noxious Vapors - MTG Card versions
Mind Rot - MTG Card versions
Darkpact - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Demonic Attorney - Summer Magic / Edgar (SUM)
Jovial Evil - Legends (LEG)
Inquisition - The Dark (DRK)
Infernal Contract - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Touch of Death - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Wicked Pact - Starter 1999 (S99)
Nature's Ruin - Portal (POR)
Buried Alive - World Championship Decks 2003 (WC03)
Choking Sands - World Championship Decks 1997 (WC97)
Brush with Death - Stronghold (STH)
Perish - The List (PLST)
Stupor - Arena League 2000 (PAL00)
Coercion - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Hand of Death - Starter 2000 (S00)
Grim Tutor - Core Set 2021 Promos (PM21)
Forced March - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Soul Burn - Invasion (INV)
Noxious Vapors - Planeshift (PLS)
Mind Rot - Kaladesh Remastered (KLR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Death's Duet MTG card by a specific set like Exodus and Tempest Remastered, 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 Death's Duet and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Death's Duet Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1998-06-15 and 2015-05-06. Illustrated by Keith Parkinson.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11998-06-15ExodusEXO 601997normalblackKeith Parkinson
22015-05-06Tempest RemasteredTPR 1012015normalblackKeith Parkinson

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Death's Duet has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

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