Spirit of the Season MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Treefolk Spirit |
| Released | 2020-02-29 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Unsanctioned |
| Set code | UND |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 3 |
| Number | 70 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Silver |
| Illustred by | Emrah Elmasli |
| Un-set :-) | This card is part of an Un-set |
Key Takeaways
- Spirit of the Season excels in resource acceleration and late-game card advantage in Spirit-based decks.
- Instant speed spell synergy allows for impactful, game-changing plays with this card.
- Attention to mana and hand resource management is crucial when integrating this card into your strategy.
Text of card
When Spirit of the Season enters the battlefield, it gains haste if it's summer. Put a +1/+1 counter on it if it's autumn. You gain 5 life if it's winter. If it's spring, search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Summoned for all the wrong seasons.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Spirit of the Season offers a unique card advantage by replenishing your hand during the late game. When it enters the battlefield, you gain a number of life points and draw cards equal to the number of Spirits you control, which can significantly turn the tides by providing both life buffer and fresh options.
Resource Acceleration: This festive card can serve as a resource accelerator in Spirit tribal decks. Its potential to draw multiple cards means you could land more Spirits quickly, enhancing your board presence and setting the pace for a high-spirited finale.
Instant Speed: While Spirit of the Season isn’t an instant itself, it synergizes well with decks that utilize instant speed spells. By quickly swelling your spirit squad during opponents’ turns, Spirit of the Season can be more impactful when it takes the stage, leveraging the full spectral force of your ethereal allies.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: With Spirit of the Season, there’s a catch. Its ability mandates discarding another card, potentially draining your hand of valuable resources. For players looking to maintain card advantage, this requirement can be a setback, particularly if your strategic reservoir runs dry at the wrong moment.
Specific Mana Cost: Harnessing the essence of the Spirit of the Season demands a particular blend of mana. The cost, rooted in a specific color combination, can confine the card’s compatibility to decks where those mana types flow abundantly, making it less versatile across the broader spectrum of deck builds.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Allocating resources for Spirit of the Season means investing a not insignificant amount of mana. Weighed against other cards with similar effects, its mana cost might be viewed as steep. Savvy players often look for the most cost-effective ways to gain an advantage, and the relatively high mana cost could steer them towards alternatives that pack more punch per mana spent.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: ‘Spirit of the Season’ is a unique addition to decks that thrive on seasonal themes or those aiming to manipulate the number of counters on permanents. Its ability to fit in a diverse range of strategies makes it a valuable pick.
Combo Potential: This card’s capability to generate Gift counters can synergistically combine with other cards that benefit from counters, opening the door to powerful combo plays that can outmaneuver the opposition.
Meta-Relevance: In game environments where long-term tactics prevail, ‘Spirit of the Season’ proves its worth by offering incremental advantages that can lead to a dominant position on the battlefield.
How to beat
Spirit of the Season is an intriguing card that presents itself as both a challenge and an opportunity for players in the MTG universe. To effectively counter this card, one must understand its seasonal advantage mechanic which can prove to be a key turning point if left unchecked. It gains power in the winter and offers life gain in the spring, a multiple-season utility that makes it a versatile threat.
To keep Spirit of the Season from tipping the scales, consider employing removal spells swiftly, making sure it doesn’t stay on the battlefield long enough to cycle through its beneficial seasons. Instant speed interaction is particularly effective, like Murder or Path to Exile, since they can disrupt your opponent’s strategy before they capitalize on those advantages. Spotlighting graveyard manipulation is another savvy move—diminishing the impact of cards that return from the graveyard—since Spirit of the Season is less threatening if it can’t make its seasonal comeback.
Overall, remaining vigilant and ready to respond with pinpoint removal will ensure that Spirit of the Season is more of a fleeting memory than a lasting emblem of the game’s changing tides.
Cards like Spirit of the Season
Spirit of the Season is a novel seasonal treat among the green creature cards in Magic: The Gathering. Comparable to cards like Oakenform, Spirit of the Season offers an enticing bonus to a creature’s power and toughness. Yet, Oakenform strictly provides a static buff without the versatility Spirit of the Season offers in bolstering not only one creature but potentially empowering multiple creatures across the battlefield if conditions are met.
In the same category, we see Trusty Packbeast, a creature that brings an artifact back from the graveyard upon entering the battlefield. While Spirit of the Season doesn’t interact with the graveyard, it can give a similar or greater increase in total power across creatures and life gain, thus offering a different kind of long-term value. Then we have Ironshell Beetle, a simple card with a similar cost that gives a one-time boost to a creature. Ironshell Beetle, however, doesn’t match the recurring seasonal potential of Spirit of the Season, which can turn the tides of the game during each player’s upkeep under the right conditions.
Ultimately, for fans of green and nuanced strategies, Spirit of the Season stands out as a unique card with the potential to deliver a lasting impact across multiple turns, setting it apart from its single-use counterparts.
Cards similar to Spirit of the Season by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Spirit of the Season MTG card by a specific set like Unsanctioned, 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 Spirit of the Season and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Spirit of the Season card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2020-02-29 | If your location doesn’t use a four-season system, you may need to get creative. Perhaps there is an analog you can use? |
| 2020-02-29 | Ignore the weather when determining which season it is. For example, if it’s snowing in spring, it’s still spring. |
| 2020-02-29 | To determine the season, use the calendar or whatever applies in your location. |
