Struggle // Survive MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityUncommon
TypeSorcery
Abilities Aftermath

Key Takeaways

  1. Struggle // Survive serves a dual purpose: creature removal and disrupting opponent’s graveyard strategies.
  2. Its instant speed allows for strategic responses to threats, ensuring tactical flexibility in matches.
  3. Requires a specific mana setup, which may limit its inclusion in diverse deck types.

Text of card

Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Then exile it.) Each player shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Struggle // Survive can put a creature fight scenario in your favor while the Survive half offers graveyard disruption against your opponent, granting the potential to hinder their strategies and cycling key cards back into their library, thus diluting their future draws. This versatility gives players an edge in terms of card utility and situational control.

Resource Acceleration: The aftermath ability of Survive can be crucial in longer games, allowing you to effectively reset your graveyard by shuffling creatures back into your library which is tantamount to drawing those creatures over time. This mechanic can serve as a form of resource acceleration by rebalancing your deck with desired creatures essential for upcoming turns.

Instant Speed: The instant speed of Struggle allows players to react swiftly to threats on the board, maintaining tactical flexibility. This timing is particularly significant because it enables you to utilize your mana efficiently, holding up resources for either Struggle or other reactive plays depending on the unfolding game state.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Struggle // Survive demands you to toss away another card just to cast it. In high-stakes matches where every card in hand counts, this forced discard can put you at a disadvantage by shrinking your options.

Specific Mana Cost: The card’s split nature involves both red and green mana for Struggle and green and white for Survive. Because of this, playing it seamlessly into your game plan requires a deck tailored to these particular color combinations, possibly limiting the range of decks it can be effectively played in.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Struggle’s half has a mana cost that scales with the targeted creature’s power, which might be high, while Survive’s half can be cumbersome at a three mana value. Other cards offer graveyard disruption or damage effects at a more economical rate, making Struggle // Survive seem pricey in contrast.


Reasons to Include Struggle // Survive in Your Collection

Versatility: Struggle // Survive is adaptable to various decks, functioning as a solid removal option with Struggle, or as graveyard disruption with Survive. This makes it valuable in different game scenarios.

Combo Potential: Survive’s ability to shuffle any number of target player’s graveyard into their library can be tactically combined with cards that punish or capitalize on opponents drawing or shuffling their library.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta heavy with graveyard-based strategies, the Survive half becomes a crucial tool. It disrupts the synergy of graveyard-reliant decks, making it a strategic choice for maintaining an edge.


How to beat

Struggle // Survive is an intriguing card that finds its way into various Magic: The Gathering decks, primarily due to its flexibility in dealing with creatures and graveyard management. To tackle the Struggle side of the card, one of the best strategies is to maintain a board state that doesn’t rely on a single powerful creature. Since Struggle targets only one creature, diversifying your threats can dilute its impact. Employing creatures with hexproof or shroud can prevent them from becoming the target, ensuring their safety from Struggle’s reach.

Against the Survive half of the card, graveyard-based strategies should be careful. A timely response with graveyard hate cards can disrupt this effect, erasing its benefits. Utilizing cards like Tormod’s Crypt or Bojuka Bog can exile graveyards in response to Survive, protecting your deck’s graveyard synergy. Additionally, cards with flashback or other abilities that allow you to play them from the graveyard can be used in anticipation of a Survive cast, negating the potential downside of having your graveyard shuffled back into your library.

Overall, the key to overcoming Struggle // Survive is adaptability and preemptive tactics. Effectively managing the board and being mindful of graveyard interactions are surefire methods to diminish the card’s effectiveness against your game plan.


BurnMana Recommendations

Exploring the dynamic battlefield of MTG is a continuous adventure. Struggle // Survive offers intriguing utility, balancing fight mechanics with a strategic shuffle effect, ideal for managing both creatures and graveyards. Whether you’re looking to disrupt your opponent’s plans or preserve your resources for the long haul, the versatility of this card can be a game-changer. To further refine your deck and outplay opponents, consider the full spectrum of tactics this card opens up. Embrace the adaptability, and take advantage of its unique strengths. Dive deeper into the strategies and ensure your deck is resilient, versatile, and ready for any challenge ahead.


Cards like Struggle // Survive

Struggle // Survive is a versatile card in Magic: The Gathering that offers both creature removal and graveyard disruption. It can be likened to other modal double-faced cards like Farm // Market, which presents a similar flexibility. While Farm // Market provides a creature removal on one side and a card drawing option on the other, Struggle // Survive grants targeted damage to creatures and a shuffle effect to stymie graveyard strategies.

Comparatively, we also have the card Decimate which, for the same four mana cost as Struggle, delivers a broader destruction effect, hitting an artifact, creature, enchantment, and land all at once. However, it lacks the adaptability of a modal card. Alternatively, Cindervines is another related option, indirectly providing removal through its continuous damage effect to opponents who cast noncreature spells and the ability to sacrifice for direct artifact or enchantment destruction.

In examining Struggle // Survive against its peers, it’s distinguished by its adaptability to directly affect the battlefield and subtly manipulate each player’s library. This multifaceted approach ensures its standing as a valuable consideration in decks geared toward reacting to varied in-game situations.

Farm // Market - MTG Card versions
Decimate - MTG Card versions
Cindervines - MTG Card versions
Farm // Market - Hour of Devastation (HOU)
Decimate - Odyssey (ODY)
Cindervines - Ravnica Allegiance Promos (PRNA)

Cards similar to Struggle // Survive by color, type and mana cost

Assault // Battery - MTG Card versions
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Escape to the Wilds - MTG Card versions
Steady Tortoise // Harried Dash - MTG Card versions
Last Night Together - MTG Card versions
Assault // Battery - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Frenzied Tilling - Gatecrash (GTC)
Escape to the Wilds - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate (CLB)
Steady Tortoise // Harried Dash - Alchemy: Wilds of Eldraine (YWOE)
Last Night Together - Doctor Who (WHO)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Struggle // Survive MTG card by a specific set like Hour of Devastation and Amonkhet Remastered, 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 Struggle // Survive and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Struggle // Survive Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2017-07-14 and 2023-04-21. Illustrated by Eric Deschamps.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12017-07-14Hour of DevastationHOU 1512015aftermathblackEric Deschamps
22020-08-13Amonkhet RemasteredAKR 2652015aftermathblackEric Deschamps
32020-09-25Zendikar Rising CommanderZNC 1022015aftermathblackEric Deschamps
42023-04-21March of the Machine CommanderMOC 3392015aftermathblackEric Deschamps

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Struggle // Survive has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2017-04-18 A spell with aftermath cast from a graveyard will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, it's countered, or it leaves the stack in some other way.
2017-04-18 All split cards have two card faces on a single card, and you put a split card onto the stack with only the half you're casting. The characteristics of the half of the card you didn't cast are ignored while the spell is on the stack. For example, if an effect prevents you from casting green spells, you can cast Destined of Destined // Lead, but not Lead.
2017-04-18 Each split card has two names. If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose one, but not both.
2017-04-18 Each split card is a single card. For example, if you discard one, you've discarded one card, not two. If an effect counts the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard, Destined // Lead counts once, not twice.
2017-04-18 If another effect allows you to cast a split card with aftermath from a graveyard, you may cast either half. If you cast the half that has aftermath, you'll exile the card if it would leave the stack.
2017-04-18 If another effect allows you to cast a split card with aftermath from any zone other than a graveyard, you can't cast the half with aftermath.
2017-04-18 If you cast the first half of a split card with aftermath during your turn, you'll have priority immediately after it resolves. You can cast the half with aftermath from your graveyard before any player can take any other action if it's legal for you to do so.
2017-04-18 Split cards with aftermath have a new frame treatment—the half you can cast from your hand is oriented the same as other cards you'd cast from your hand, while the half you can cast from your graveyard is a traditional split card half. This frame treatment is for your convenience and has no rules significance.
2017-04-18 While not on the stack, the characteristics of a split card are the combination of its two halves. For example, Destined // Lead is a green and black card, it is both an instant card and a sorcery card, and its mana value is 6. This means that if an effect allows you to cast a card with mana value 2 from your hand, you can't cast Destined. This is a change from the previous rules for split cards.
2017-07-14 If a player has no cards in their graveyard when Survive resolves, that player just shuffles their library.
2017-07-14 Once you've started to cast a spell with aftermath from your graveyard, the card is immediately moved to the stack. Opponents can't try to stop the ability by exiling the card with an effect such as that of Crook of Condemnation.

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