Turn into a Pumpkin MTG Card

Provides card advantage and supports tactical flexibility by allowing for a card draw on condition. Instant speed play offers reactive potential, vital for tempo control and strategic depth. Lacks synergies with graveyard strategies, presenting a minor limitation in its utility.

Turn into a Pumpkin - Throne of Eldraine

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Instant
Abilities	Adamant,Food
Released	2019-10-04
Set symbol
Set name	Throne of Eldraine
Set code	ELD
Number	69
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Vincent Proce

Text of card

Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. Draw a card. Adamant — If at least three blue mana was spent to cast this spell, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with ", , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")

Cards like Turn into a Pumpkin

Turn into a Pumpkin is a noteworthy piece in the realm of instant speed interaction within Magic: The Gathering. Its closest relatives include cards like Unsummon and Blink of an Eye, which are both known for their ability to bounce creatures back to their owner’s hand. The difference with Turn into a Pumpkin, however, lies in its additional advantage of creating a Food token when its adamant cost is paid, providing not just a tempo play but also a later advantage in the form of life gain or artifact interaction.

Another comparable card is Into the Roil. While it shares the instant speed and modal nature of Turn into a Pumpkin, it allows for the bouncing of any nonland permanent while also sharing the kicker cost mechanic to draw a card. This makes Into the Roil slightly more versatile in terms of target selection. Nonetheless, the charm of Turn into a Pumpkin in a dedicated Food-based strategy in Magic: The Gathering cannot be ignored, as it offers utility that is well-tuned to specific deck designs.

Taking all into account, Turn into a Pumpkin reveals its true strength in synergistic decks, where its ability to disrupt opponents and provide additional value through Food tokens shines brightest in MTG gameplay dynamics.

Cards similar to Turn into a Pumpkin by color, type and mana cost

Careful Consideration - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Turn into a Pumpkin ensures a player maintains momentum by providing the option to draw a card if its adamant condition is met. This fuels your hand, giving tactical flexibility in the match’s progression.

Resource Acceleration: Returning a nonland permanent to its owner’s hand can set an opponent behind, disrupting their board presence and potentially delaying more costly spells or pivotal pieces of their strategy.

Instant Speed: The versatility of being able to cast Turn into a Pumpkin at instant speed cannot be overstated. This timing allows players to react efficiently to opponents’ moves, enabling defensive or opportunistic plays that can preserve a leading position or save from an impending threat.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Unlike cards that offer a straightforward advantage, Turn into a Pumpkin comes with no discard penalty which, in some cases, means you’re missing an opportunity to leverage graveyard strategies or madness abilities.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both blue mana and generic mana, this card demands a certain mana base that’s not always viable in multicolor decks, potentially restricting its play to mainly blue-themed decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that totals four, including two blue, Turn into a Pumpkin may be competing for a deck slot with other lower-cost interaction spells or counters, potentially making it a less attractive option in faster or more mana-efficient decks. Additionally, while the ability to draw a card is a plus, other spells in MTG offer similar or better effects at a lower cost.

Reasons to Include Turn into a Pumpkin in Your Collection

Versatility: With its capability to bounce nonland permanents and draw a card, Turn into a Pumpkin can be slotted into various blue-oriented control and midrange decks. Its additional food token provision can be relevant for decks that leverage life gain or artifact synergies.

Combo Potential: This card has the inherent potential to synergize with decks that thrive on instant-speed interaction, enabling surprise shifts in board state. It also works well with effects that capitalize on casting spells during an opponent’s turn or utilizing food tokens as a resource.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where tempo plays a crucial role, Turn into a Pumpkin shines by disrupting your opponent’s strategy while maintaining card equity. It’s particularly potent against decks that rely on crucial permanents, swinging the momentum in your favor.

How to beat

Turn into a Pumpkin is an intriguing utility card that can disrupt the tempo of your opponent in Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to bounce a nonland permanent back to its owner’s hand affords a window of opportunity to swing the game in your favor. However, there are effective strategies to counter this blue instant spell and maintain control of the board.

One method to counter Turn into a Pumpkin is by utilizing spells that grant your permanents hexproof or indestructible for the turn, such as Lazotep Plating or Heroic Intervention. This not only saves your valuable assets from being returned to your hand but can also leave your opponent’s mana spent to no advantage. Moreover, playing around the card’s mana cost by advancing your board state without overcommitting can minimize the impact of the bounce effect it offers.

In essence, understanding when to extend and when to hold back against blue control spells like Turn into a Pumpkin can be key to outmaneuvering an opponent who relies on tempo to gain a competitive edge. Knowing your deck and anticipating potential threats allows you to sidestep disruption, making Turn into a Pumpkin less of a setback and more of a minor hurdle in your path to victory.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Turn into a Pumpkin MTG card by a specific set like Throne of Eldraine, 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 Turn into a Pumpkin and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Turn into a Pumpkin 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 Turn into a Pumpkin card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2019-10-04	Adamant effects check what mana was actually spent to cast a spell. If an effect allows you to spend mana “as though it were mana” of any color or type, that allows you to spend mana you couldn't otherwise spend, but it doesn't change what mana you spent to cast the spell.
2019-10-04	Food is an artifact type. Even though it appears on some creatures (such as Gingerbrute), it's never a creature type.
2019-10-04	If an effect allows you to cast a spell without paying its mana cost, you can't choose to cast it and pay unless another rule or effect allows you to cast that spell for a cost. Similarly, you can't waive a cost reduction unless that effect says you may.
2019-10-04	If an instant or sorcery spell has an adamant ability, you perform the spell's instructions in order. You don't perform the adamant instruction before the spell resolves or before any other effects printed above it.
2019-10-04	If the target nonland permanent is an illegal target by the time Turn into a Pumpkin tries to resolve, the spell won't resolve. You won't draw a card, and you won't create a Food if you spent three blue mana to cast the spell.
2019-10-04	If you copy a spell that has an adamant ability, no mana was spent to cast the copy at all, so that ability won't apply.
2019-10-04	Some spells that instruct you to create a Food token have targets. You can't cast these spells without choosing all required targets, and if all of those targets become illegal targets, the spell won't resolve and you won't create any Food. If some but not all of those targets become illegal, you'll do as much as possible, including creating Food.
2019-10-04	Whatever you do, don't eat the delicious cards.
2019-10-04	You can't sacrifice a Food token to pay multiple costs. For example, you can't sacrifice a Food token to activate its own ability and also to activate the ability of Tempting Witch.