Tragic Poet MTG Card
1999-02-15 - Number 24
2018-04-27 - Number 37
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 1 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Human |
| Power | 1 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Key Takeaways
- The Poet’s ability to return enchantments heightens deck resilience and enables repeatable strategies.
- Its specific mana cost and sacrifice requirement may limit deck compatibility and strategic options.
- With graveyard strategies in vogue, Tragic Poet can be a subtle yet pivotal piece to MTG gameplay.
Text of card
oc T, Sacrifice Tragic Poet: Return target enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand.
"I would weep, but my tears have been stolen; I would shout, but my voice has been taken. Thus, I write."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Tragic Poet has the ability to return an enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand. This recycling effect allows for reuse of powerful enchantments, effectively creating card advantage as it can lead to more twists in a match than what’s on the board.
Resource Acceleration: Although not directly increasing your mana pool, the Poet’s ability can accelerate your game plan by bringing back key enchantments that might be costly to cast otherwise, saving you from spending additional resources to draw or search for those cards again.
Instant Speed: While the activation of Tragic Poet’s ability isn’t at instant speed, it can be utilized just before your turn begins during the end step of an opponent. This sets up for a potentially impactful play on your turn without giving away your intentions too early, which can safeguard your strategy against instant speed responses.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: When deploying Tragic Poet, you’ll have to sacrifice your own card. This could be a strategic drawback especially if every card in your hand is vital for your game plan.
Specific Mana Cost: Tragic Poet requires white mana to cast. This specificity can restrict its inclusion to decks that are able to generate white mana consistently, potentially leaving out a variety of other strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its ability to return an enchantment from your graveyard to your hand, other options available might do so at a lower cost. The mana you invest in the Poet could possibly be allocated to broader impact plays.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Tragic Poet offers flexible options for decks centered around enchantments. Its ability to return an enchantment from your graveyard to your hand allows for recurring valuable auras or sagas in a variety of deck archetypes.
Combo Potential: This card synergizes well with powerful enchantments that have entered MTG’s extensive card pool over the years. Combining it with sacrificial effects or graveyard strategies could yield potent interactions for creative deck builders.
Meta-Relevance: With certain formats favoring decks that utilize the graveyard as a resource, Tragic Poet gains importance. Its low mana cost and the ability to recur key pieces from the graveyard can be a strategic advantage in such environments.
How to beat
Tragic Poet is a unique utility creature in the world of Magic: The Gathering, contributing to strategies that revolve around enchantments. This card allows players to return target enchantment card from their graveyard to their hand, giving decks an added layer of resilience and recursion. Despite its utility, Tragic Poet can be mitigated or outright countered by understanding the dynamics of graveyard interaction and the timing of its ability.
To get the upper hand against Tragic Poet, players can focus on graveyard hate strategies. Cards like Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void can inhibit graveyard-based plays, neutralizing the Poet’s ability to recover enchantments. Additionally, instant speed removal spells such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile can disrupt the Poet before its ability activates, ensuring that key enchantments remain in the graveyard. Lastly, strategic counterplay, which involves instant speed interaction when the Poet’s ability is on the stack, offers an effective solution to thwart your opponent’s plans.
Respecting what Tragic Poet brings to the matchup is essential, but so is knowing how to adapt and employ your deck’s tools to maintain control. Hence, a blend of timing, disruption, and grave manipulation can ensure that the Tragic Poet’s tale is one of brief triumph followed by your tactical victory.
Cards like Tragic Poet
Tragic Poet is an understated yet potentially influential card in Magic: The Gathering. Its closest relative in function is Auramancer, another creature that allows players to return enchantments from their graveyard to their hand. However, Tragic Poet offers a unique advantage with its one mana cost and the flexibility to use the ability instantaneously. Auramancer, with a cost of three mana, doesn’t have the same immediacy.
Analogously, Monk Idealist enters the comparison, also tasked with the return of enchantments from the graveyard to the player’s hand. Like Auramancer, Monk Idealist commands a higher mana cost compared to Tragic Poet, which gives the Poet an edge in faster-paced decks that benefit from lower mana curves. While both Auramancer and Monk Idealist present steadier creature bodies, the speed and lower cost of Tragic Poet are invaluable assets.
Through this lens, it becomes clear that Tragic Poet holds its ground in decks focused on enchantments, offering quick recovery options and a low investment, that can tip the scales in pivotal moments of the game.
Cards similar to Tragic Poet by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Tragic Poet MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Legacy and Dominaria, 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 Tragic Poet 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
Printings
The Tragic Poet Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1999-02-15 and 2018-04-27. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1999-02-15 | Urza's Legacy | ULG | 24 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Quinton Hoover | |
| 2 | 2018-04-27 | Dominaria | DOM | 37 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Anthony Palumbo |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Tragic Poet has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
