Omen of Fire MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Instant
Released	1996-06-10
Set symbol
Set name	Alliances
Set code	ALL
Number	75
Frame	1993
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Pete Venters

Key Takeaways

Omen of Fire can disrupt opponents’ mana, granting a strategic advantage through superior board position.
Instant speed enables unexpected plays, crucial for outmaneuvering adversaries during crucial game moments.
Despite its power, it demands a hefty mana investment and hand resources, making timing essential.

Text of card

Return all islands to their owners' hands. Each player sacrifices a plains or a white permanent for each white permanent he or she controls.

"Let Balduvia burn to warm Kjeldor's hearth!" —General Varchild

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When Omen of Fire hits the field, it has the potential to disrupt your opponent’s mana base while allowing you to reclaim lands from your graveyard, setting you up for subsequent plays. This can easily turn the tide, making it a valuable tool for gaining an upper hand in card economy.

Resource Acceleration: Omen of Fire offers a powerful effect that can significantly set back your opponents. By returning all Islands to their owners’ hands and potentially destroying enchantments, you open the way to accelerate your board presence without the threat of counterspells or other instant responses for a turn.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Omen of Fire at instant speed is a distinct tactical advantage. It allows for surprise maneuvers, upsetting the opponent’s strategies during their upkeep or at the end of their turn, thus maintaining the element of surprise and allowing for a more controlled and strategic game play.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Omen of Fire demands a considerable commitment beyond its cast. Players are compelled to relinquish two cards from hand, which can hamper your hand advantage and be particularly taxing if your options are already exhausted.

Specific Mana Cost: With its necessity for both red and additional colors of mana, it can challenge your deck’s mana base, making it a tricky fit outside of multicolored decks that specifically cater to such requirements.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The card comes with a weighty mana cost, demanding a total of five mana—three of which must be red. In fast-paced games, this can make Omen of Fire a cumbersome and potentially lackluster option compared to other lower-cost alternatives that might enable a more efficient use of your mana and resources.

Reasons to Include Omen of Fire in Your Collection

Versatility: Omen of Fire stands out for its flexibility within various deck archetypes. This card can be particularly impactful in formats where land control and nonbasic land disruption are pivotal. Working well in red-based control or midrange decks, it resets the board state by removing opponents’ nonbasic lands and clearing out small creatures.

Combo Potential: The ability to return all Islands to their owners’ hands and then cast those lands again opens up combo possibilities. Omen of Fire can be a linchpin in strategies aiming to capitalize on landfall mechanics or decks that leverage the recasting of lands for profit. Moreover, this card can work in tandem with spells or abilities that punish opponents whenever a new land enters the battlefield.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames where nonbasic lands are ubiquitous and essential for complex mana bases, Omen of Fire can serve as a powerful check on such strategies. By disrupting your opponents’ land setups, it can provide a significant advantage, especially in games where tempo and resource denial are crucial for victory.

How to beat

Omen of Fire is a unique and impactful card within the MTG landscape, offering a specific blend of mana disruption and board control. To effectively navigate against this card, strategic planning and deck composition are key. Employing land recovery strategies, such as utilizing cards like Terra Eternal or Splendid Reclamation, can mitigate the devastating land destruction effect of Omen of Fire. It’s also critical to have instant-speed removal or counterspells like Negate or Disenchant at the ready to intercept the spell before its effects can manifest on the battlefield.

Moreover, being vigilant of the game state and your opponent’s mana resources is another vital approach. Omen of Fire requires a significant mana investment, and being aware of when your opponent is positioned to potentially cast it can inform your own play decisions, particularly in regards to land deployment and protecting key permanents. It becomes a game of anticipation, and sometimes it’s prudent to bait out Omen of Fire when the outcome can be managed or recovered from, rather than when it can swing the game irreversibly in your opponent’s favor.

Ultimately, beating Omen of Fire involves astute play, where one must be reactive yet composed, positioning oneself to minimize its impact and swiftly recover any losses, thus neutralizing the threat and maintaining control of the game.

Cards like Omen of Fire

Omen of Fire stands out in the realm of disruption spells in Magic: The Gathering. This card causes a powerful shift on the board by not only destroying all nonbasic lands but also forcing opponents to return all their nonred creatures to their hands. Cards like Boil also target nonbasic lands but are limited to only destroying Islands, making Omen of Fire a more comprehensive solution for land disruption.

Comparatively, we see Invoke Catastrophe holding a similar position in the world of sweeping destruction. Invoke Catastrophe also offers flexibility with the dual option of destroying all artifacts or all lands, giving players strategic choice in their approach to board control. Omen of Fire specifically carves its niche by also neutralizing a wide range of creatures, which Invoke Catastrophe does not.

Assessing these types of spells, Omen of Fire has a unique place among MTG cards. Its ability to disrupt multiple elements of an opponent’s strategy by targeting not only land bases but also creature presence makes it a formidable and often unexpected game changer.

Cards similar to Omen of Fire by color, type and mana cost

Beacon of Destruction - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Omen of Fire MTG card by a specific set like Alliances, 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 Omen of Fire and other MTG cards: