Deny Reality MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 8 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityCommon
TypeSorcery
Abilities Cascade

Key Takeaways

  1. Cascade offers card advantage by potentially doubling output from a single Deny Reality cast.
  2. Instant speed allows strategic responses and maximizes mana efficiency during gameplay.
  3. Deny Reality’s five mana cost may deter use despite its potential board impact.

Text of card

Cascade (When you play this spell, remove cards from the top of your library from the game until you remove a nonland card that costs less. You may play it without paying its mana cost. Put the removed cards on the bottom in a random order.) Return target permanent to its owner's hand.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Deny Reality capitalizes on cascade, a powerful mechanic that can potentially turn one spell into two. When you cast this, not only do you get to bounce a target permanent, but you also get to cast a card with a lesser mana cost for free, potentially doubling your output with a single card. This advantage can significantly swing the board state in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: While not providing direct mana acceleration, the cascade effect inherent in Deny Reality can effectively reduce the cost of your next spell. This is an indirect but valuable form of resource acceleration, as it may allow you to deploy another spell without spending additional mana, effectively giving you a tempo boost over your opponent.

Instant Speed: Deny Reality’s instant speed grants you great flexibility in gameplay. You’re able to respond to your opponent’s moves on their turn, which keeps them guessing and disrupts their strategy. The ability to cast it during their end step, for example, allows you to maximize mana efficiency and maintain the element of surprise, leveraging your resources at the most opportune moment.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Deny Reality mandates that you dispose of a card from your hand to facilitate its cascade mechanic. This transaction can backfire when your hand is running sparse, unnecessarily thinning down your resources when you might need them the most. For those trying to maintain card advantage, this can turn into a less-than-advantageous decision.

Specific Mana Cost: With a precise mana structure that includes blue mana, Deny Reality is pigeonholed into blue-centric or multi-color decks. This restricts the card’s universality and can be a stumbling block in monocolored or color-restricted strategies, as they might not be able to accommodate its casting cost without complicating the mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Totalling five mana to cast, Deny Reality is on the higher tier of mana requirements for its effects when judged against other options within the game. This steep cost might dissuade players from including it in their decks, opting instead for alternatives that pack a similar punch without the hefty mana investment.


Reasons to Include Deny Reality in Your Collection

Versatility: Deny Reality is not just a run-of-the-mill bounce spell. Its ability to target any permanent adds significant flexibility to your control toolkit. Whether you’re facing an imposing creature or a problematic enchantment, this card can help stabilize your board presence.

Combo Potential: As a card with cascade, Deny Reality offers an added layer of value, potentially setting off a chain reaction of spell casts. This can be incredibly potent in decks designed to exploit the cascade mechanic or those that synergize with spell-casting.

Meta-Relevance: With fluctuating metagames, having a card that can adapt to various strategies is essential. Deny Reality can be a key player in metas filled with non-creature permanents, providing disruption and unexpected value through its cascade ability.


How to Beat Deny Reality

The strategic depth of Magic: The Gathering often presents players with the challenge of overcoming powerful cards. Deny Reality, a spell that can cascade and disrupt opponents’ plans, is no exception. When facing this card, it is crucial to prioritize spells that are uncounterable. Cards like Vexing Shusher offer such an ability, ensuring your vital spells aren’t negated. Moreover, incorporating instant-speed removal or bounce spells into your deck can give you an edge, as you can wait until the cascade trigger resolves to eliminate the threat without committing too much to the board beforehand.

It is also effective to apply pressure early in the game. Aggressive strategies can limit the time an opponent has to set up their cascading sequences, pushing them back on their heels before Deny Reality can make an impact. Lastly, running counter magic of your own can be advantageous. A well-timed Counterspell or Negate can protect your board presence and prevent the often game-swinging effects that cascade can bring to the table from coming to fruition in the first place.

By adapting to and anticipating the power of Deny Reality, you’ll be better equipped to maintain control of the game landscape and emerge victorious.


BurnMana Recommendations

Every MTG player strives to ensure each card in their deck isn’t just a standalone player, but a part of a powerful symphony that propels them to victory. With its cascade potential, Deny Reality is a card that can orchestrate a series of beneficial plays, disrupting opponents and accelerating your strategies in one clever move. As you continue to build your deck, consider the adaptability and surprise factor that Deny Reality offers. Its capacity to turn the game in your favor cannot be underestimated. Keen to delve into its tactical depth and discover how it can fortify your deck? Join us for a comprehensive session on maximizing Deny Reality’s impact and securing your wins with finesse.


Cards like Deny Reality

Deny Reality is an interesting spell in Magic: The Gathering, not just for its cascading ability, but also due to the nature of its targeting versatility. Similar to Disperse, it allows players to return a nonland permanent to its owner’s hand, granting a temporary reprieve from potential threats. Unlike Disperse, however, Deny Reality’s cascade effect can turn the tides by potentially casting another spell for free, offering both disruption and value.

Looking at Echoing Truth, we can draw parallels in the bounce effect, but Deny Reality’s cascade could arguably provide a more significant advantage. Echoing Truth, while it can target multiple copies of a token or a particular card, lacks the potential for a follow-up play through cascade. Another spell in this camp is Into the Roil. It also bounces and provides card draw if kicked, showing that while it can offer direct value, it doesn’t present the same serendipitous element of surprise that comes with cascading into an unexpected spell.

Ultimately, among spells with the ability to return nonland permanents to a player’s hand, Deny Reality holds a unique position in Magic: The Gathering. Its true strength lies in the blend of disruption and the excitement of peering into the unknown with its cascade feature.

Disperse - MTG Card versions
Echoing Truth - MTG Card versions
Into the Roil - MTG Card versions
Disperse - Morningtide (MOR)
Echoing Truth - Darksteel (DST)
Into the Roil - Zendikar (ZEN)

Cards similar to Deny Reality by color, type and mana cost

Ribbons of Night - MTG Card versions
Coerced Confession - MTG Card versions
Psychic Intrusion - MTG Card versions
Extract from Darkness - MTG Card versions
Tezzeret's Betrayal - MTG Card versions
Enter the God-Eternals - MTG Card versions
Ribbons of Night - Ravnica: Clue Edition (CLU)
Coerced Confession - Gatecrash (GTC)
Psychic Intrusion - Theros (THS)
Extract from Darkness - Tales of Middle-earth Commander (LTC)
Tezzeret's Betrayal - The List (PLST)
Enter the God-Eternals - Starter Commander Decks (SCD)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Deny Reality MTG card by a specific set like Alara Reborn and Planechase 2012, 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 Deny Reality and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Deny Reality Magic the Gathering card was released in 6 different sets between 2009-04-30 and 2022-10-07. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12009-04-30Alara RebornARB 192003normalblackJean-Sébastien Rossbach
22012-06-01Planechase 2012PC2 852003normalblackJean-Sébastien Rossbach
32016-11-25Planechase AnthologyPCA 852015normalblackJean-Sébastien Rossbach
42019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 14152015normalblackJean-Sébastien Rossbach
52020-09-26The ListPLST PCA-852015normalblackJean-Sébastien Rossbach
62020-09-26The ListPLST ARB-192003normalblackJean-Sébastien Rossbach
72022-10-07Warhammer 40,000 Commander40K 2232015normalblackArtur Nakhodkin
82022-10-07Warhammer 40,000 Commander40K 223★2015normalblackArtur Nakhodkin

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Deny Reality has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2021-06-18 A spell's mana value is determined only by its mana cost. Ignore any alternative costs, additional costs, cost increases, or cost reductions.
2021-06-18 Cascade triggers when you cast the spell, meaning that it resolves before that spell. If you end up casting the exiled card, it will go on the stack above the spell with cascade.
2021-06-18 Due to a recent rules change to cascade, not only do you stop exiling cards if you exile a nonland card with lesser mana value than the spell with cascade, but the resulting spell you cast must also have lesser mana value. Previously, in cases where a card's mana value differed from the resulting spell, such as with some modal double-faced cards or cards with an Adventure, you could cast a spell with a higher mana value than the exiled card.
2021-06-18 If a spell with cascade is countered, the cascade ability will still resolve normally.
2021-06-18 If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18 If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those to cast the card.
2021-06-18 The mana value of a split card is determined by the combined mana cost of its two halves. If cascade allows you to cast a split card, you may cast either half but not both halves.
2021-06-18 When the cascade ability resolves, you must exile cards. The only optional part of the ability is whether or not you cast the last card exiled.
2021-06-18 You exile the cards face up. All players will be able to see them.

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