Escape Velocity MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Enchant,Escape
Released	2020-01-24
Set symbol
Set name	Theros Beyond Death
Set code	THB
Number	132
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Mathias Kollros

Key Takeaways

Grants card advantage with the possibility to draw extra cards, boosting resource gain during combat.
Low casting cost and haste, accelerates gameplay, facilitating aggressive strategies and dynamic turns.
Flash ability increases versatility, allowing for sudden plays that can catch opponents unprepared.

Text of card

Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and has haste. Escape—, Exile two other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)

"Not even death can catch me now!"

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Escape Velocity offers a unique advantage by potentially drawing an additional card each turn when the enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, making it a potent tool for outpacing your opponent in resources.

Resource Acceleration: This card enables faster plays thanks to its relatively low casting cost and the ability to grant haste to the creature it enchants. This could lead to quicker attacks and a more dynamic game pace.

Instant Speed: Escape Velocity’s Flash feature allows you to use it opportunistically, catching your opponent off guard by enchanting a creature during their turn or immediately before yours begins, thereby maximizing its impact on the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Escape Velocity provides a potent boost with its escape mechanic, the card requires you to discard itself or another card to utilize this feature. For players, having to discard can be a significant downside, especially when resources in hand are already scarce or each card is strategically important.

Specific Mana Cost: Escape Velocity’s initial casting cost demands red mana. This can restrict deck-building options, as it necessitates a commitment to red mana sources. For those running multicolored decks or decks with very tight mana curves, fitting Escape Velocity in can sometimes pose a challenge.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: To use Escape Velocity’s escape ability, you’re looking at paying not only the two mana but also exiling two cards from your graveyard. Even though the enchantment can recur from the graveyard, the combined cost can be steep. There are cards in competition for a slot in your deck that might deliver similar or better value without this recurring mana investment, thereby casting a shadow on Escape Velocity’s efficiency in certain strategies.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Escape Velocity’s enchantment nature and low mana cost make it easily slotted into various aggressive and tempo-oriented decks. Its ability to grant haste to creatures can turn the tide of a game, enabling swift attacks regardless of the creature’s size or abilities.

Combo Potential: The Escape mechanic permits recurability from the graveyard, pairing nicely with strategies emphasizing graveyard interaction or self-mill. This recurring aspect ensures that the card can be a consistent part of your combo setup throughout the game.

Meta-Relevance: In a game state that prizes speed and disruption, Escape Velocity shines by allowing newly played creatures to bypass summoning sickness and contribute immediately. Such immediate impact makes it a pertinent inclusion for game formats that favor quick, decisive plays.

How to beat

Escape Velocity is an intriguing card that can turn the tides of a game by granting haste to a creature and boasting the ability to return from the graveyard to the battlefield. This persistent capacity to accelerate your gameplay can be a challenge to overcome. To successfully counter Escape Velocity, it’s essential to focus on graveyard control. Cards that remove graveyard contents, like Nihil Spellbomb or Scavenging Ooze, can shut down its recurring capability, rendering it a one-time use card without further impact.

An alternative strategy involves the use of enchantment removal. Since Escape Velocity is an aura, running spells like Disenchant or reliable activities with versatile removal like Golgari Charm, can effectively handle it. Timing is crucial; removing Escape Velocity before it gets cast from the graveyard can save you from facing an unexpectedly hasty threat.

Lastly, deploying creatures with reach or features that can block flying creatures provides a stout line of defense against creatures that might gain haste. This allows you to absorb the initial onslaught and stabilize your battlefield presence. By remaining adaptive and proactive, tackling the challenges posed by Escape Velocity becomes a manageable endeavor.

Cards like Escape Velocity

Escape Velocity enters the Magic: The Gathering scene as a fresh take on the aura that boosts creatures. Visiting familiar territory, it echoes components of cards like Rancor, which also offers a creature greater attack power and trample. However, Escape Velocity comes with its own twist—providing haste and an escape mechanism. While Rancor’s resilience is in its return to hand ability, Escape Velocity leverages the graveyard, giving a second wind to your offensive strategy.

Comparable in intent, Fervent Charge is an older aura that also buffs creatures and grants haste. Yet, its stipulation for attacking to trigger makes it less versatile than the direct and immediate benefit provided by Escape Velocity. Another relative in this niche is Hammerhand, which grants a similar immediate speed advantage but lacks the recurrent playability Escape Velocity offers through its escape feature.

In sum, Escape Velocity distinguishes itself in the world of creature auras. It balances immediacy with longevity, ensuring that your power plays stay sharp both in early sprints and protracted battles, effectively carving a unique spot for itself amongst Magic: The Gathering’s myriad of enchantments.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Escape Velocity MTG card by a specific set like Theros Beyond Death, 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 Escape Velocity and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Escape Velocity has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2020-01-24	After an escaped spell resolves, it returns to its owner’s graveyard if it’s not a permanent spell. If it is a permanent spell, it enters the battlefield and will return to its owner’s graveyard if it dies later. Perhaps it will escape again—good underworld security is so hard to come by these days.
2020-01-24	Escape’s permission doesn’t change when you may cast the spell from your graveyard.
2020-01-24	If a card has multiple abilities giving you permission to cast it, such as two escape abilities or an escape ability and a flashback ability, you choose which one to apply. The others have no effect.
2020-01-24	If a card with escape is put into your graveyard during your turn, you’ll be able to cast it right away if it’s legal to do so, before an opponent can take any actions.
2020-01-24	If you cast a spell with its escape permission, you can’t choose to apply any other alternative costs or to cast it without paying its mana cost. If it has any additional costs, you must pay those.
2020-01-24	Once you begin casting a spell with escape, it immediately moves to the stack. Players can’t take any other actions until you’re done casting the spell.
2020-01-24	To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying (such as an escape cost), add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The converted mana cost of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was and no matter whether an alternative cost was paid.