About Face MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 1 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Instant |
| Released | 1999-02-15 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Urza's Legacy |
| Set code | ULG |
| Number | 73 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Melissa A. Benson |
Key Takeaways
- About Face enables resourcefulness by transforming adversities into strategic advantages on the battlefield.
- The card’s instant speed allows for mid-battle surprises, enhancing flexibility and control in gameplay.
- While powerful, using About Face requires careful planning due to its specific mana cost and potential risks.
Text of card
Switch target creature's power and toughness until end of turn. Effects that alter the creature's power alter its toughness instead, and vice versa, this turn.
The overconfident are the most vulnerable.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: While About Face does not directly allow you to draw cards, its unique effect can act as a form of card advantage by turning an unfavorable situation into a beneficial one, often making one card on the board more valuable.
Resource Acceleration: The About Face card is key in combos or interactions that can lead to an explosive turn. By flipping power and toughness, it can enable resource acceleration by maximizing the potential of creatures that have abilities tied to their power.
Instant Speed: As an instant, About Face can be used flexibly, responding to battlefield changes during either player’s turn. This adaptability to the game states makes About Face a tactical tool in many MTG decks catered around surprise and control.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: About Face requires careful deck building and timing since swapping power and toughness may necessitate discarding cards that could be crucial for later plays, making it a potential setback in situations where card advantage is key.
Specific Mana Cost: With its need for red mana, About Face’s inclusion might restrict your deck’s color flexibility. Its place is in red-focused or at least red-inclusive decks, potentially clashing with mono-colored or other color strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The card’s ability might not always justify the cost, especially when considering that one mana could be used for various other utility spells. Understanding the meta and knowing when the card’s effect is worth its mana cost is vital for effectively utilizing About Face.
Reasons to Include About Face in Your Collection
Versatility: About Face is a unique element for any collection as it offers the ability to instantly swap a creature’s power and toughness, a feature that can be used in various deck builds. This flexibility can particularly enhance strategies that revolve around creatures with high toughness, turning them into offensive powerhouses in an unexpected turn of the game.
Combo Potential: Players who delight in concocting intricate combos will appreciate the interaction options that About Face provides. It pairs well with creatures and abilities that are dependent on power or toughness values, seamlessly integrating into combos that rely on manipulating these statistics for game-winning plays.
Meta-Relevance: In a shifting MTG landscape where the state of play can be unpredictable, having a card like About Face can give players an edge. Its ability to disrupt opponent’s calculations or vastly enhance your own creature mid-combat can turn the tables in a meta where creature combat is pivotal.
How to beat
About Face is an intriguing utility card in Magic: The Gathering. It’s a one-mana instant that toggles the power and toughness of any one creature until end of turn. This versatile card can turn formidable opponents into weak threats, or enhance the impact of your own creatures in combat situations. But like any card, it has vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
To effectively counter About Face, it’s important to have removal spells on hand that can negate its swap effect. Since it’s an instant, countering it with spells like Dispel or Negate can neutralize its potential during decisive combat phases or in response to your strategies. Additionally, creatures with indestructible or protection from red can blunt the impact of About Face, as it is a red spell. Playing cautiously and holding onto instant-speed interaction can ensure that this card doesn’t disrupt your board state or turn a game against you.
Considering these strategies, players can navigate their way around About Face, mitigating its impact and maintaining control over the flow of the game. It’s about understanding the timing and having the right answers at the right moment.
Cards like About Face
About Face is an intriguing instant spell in Magic: The Gathering, capable of flipping power and toughness of a target creature. It parallels other switch effects like Twisted Image which swaps stats and also allows a player to draw a card. Yet, About Face stands out with its one red mana cost, making it efficiently quick to play within the heat of battle.
Switcheroo offers a related concept but extends to exchanging control of two creatures, embodying a different aspect of versatility. It’s more costly and operates at sorcery speed. Then there’s Inside Out, a card that not only switches stats as About Face does, but also draws a card. However, it requires both blue and red mana, potentially limiting its use to certain decks.
Each card offering this unique mechanic adds a layer of complexity and strategic depth. About Face shines with its low-cost efficiency and surprise factor, defining its place among the subtle yet impactful spells that can turn the tides of a duel in Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to About Face by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase About Face MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Legacy, 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 About Face 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
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where About Face has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering About Face card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2005-11-01 | Note that the wording "Effects that alter the creature's power alter its toughness instead, and vice versa, this turn" has been removed. |
| 2021-03-19 | Because damage remains marked on a creature until the damage is removed as the turn ends, nonlethal damage dealt to a creature may become lethal if you switch its power and toughness during that turn. |
| 2021-03-19 | Effects that switch a creature's power and toughness apply after all other effects, regardless of when those effects began to apply. For instance, if you target a 1/2 creature then give it +2/+0 later in the turn, it's a 2/3 creature, not a 4/1 creature. |
| 2021-03-19 | Switching a creature's power and toughness twice (or any even number of times) effectively returns the creature to the power and toughness it had before any switches. |
