Night Dealings MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	2004-10-01
Set symbol
Set name	Champions of Kamigawa
Set code	CHK
Number	132
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Darrell Riche

Key Takeaways

Night Dealings trades damage dealt to opponents for targeted deck searches, refining future draws.
Its unique counter system allows for strategic game-play manipulation and tempo acceleration.
The card excels in versatility, combo potential, and adaptability to the shifting MTG meta.

Text of card

Whenever a source you control deals damage to another player, put that many theft counters on Night Dealings. , Remove X theft counters from Night Dealings: Search your library for a nonland card with converted mana cost X, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Night Dealings provides a unique method for sneaking your way to card advantage. Each time you deal damage to an opponent, you earn theft counters, which can be traded for tutoring any card in your deck. Not only does this put the card of your choice into your hand, but it also thins your deck, subtly increasing the quality of your future draws.

Resource Acceleration: While Night Dealings doesn’t directly produce mana or tokens, it can certainly be considered a form of resource acceleration. By converting damage into a currency for deck manipulation, you’re effectively bypassing the mana cost associated with traditional tutoring effects. This can lead to significant tempo gains as you deploy threats or answers more efficiently than your opponents.

Instant Speed: Night Dealings operates at a speed that is reactive to your strategies during game play. Although the card itself doesn’t have instant speed, by using it in conjunction with instant-speed cards and effects that deal damage, you are able to stack theft counters swiftly and use them at the most opportune moments, keeping opponents on their toes.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Night Dealings demands players to discard a card to partake in its theft-themed abilities. For those who highly value their hand cards or operate with slim deck margins, this requirement can potentially undercut strategic depth and lead to a vulnerable position if resources become scarce.

Specific Mana Cost: Tailored for black mana deck strategies, this card demands a precise mana compilation–two black and two generic. This cost composition can be restrictive and may not integrate well with multicolor decks that don’t prioritize black mana or those that run on a tight mana curve.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an activation cost that’s on the pricier side, Night Dealings isn’t always the go-to card for stealthy asset acquisition. There are alternative MTG cards that offer more efficient methods for obtaining the upper hand without investing four mana, making it a card that demands careful deck consideration and timing to fully leverage its potential benefits.

Reasons to Include Night Dealings in Your Collection

Versatility: Night Dealings is a flexible card that can adapt to various deck styles, particularly those revolving around utilizing and managing counters. Its ability to search for any card gives it a broad role in multiple strategies.

Combo Potential: This card’s searching mechanism can be a linchpin in setting up powerful combos by fetching key pieces directly from your deck, thus streamlining your victory conditions and synergizing with counter-manipulating strategies.

Meta-Relevance: As the MTG landscape shifts, having access to specific responses to prevalent deck types can be crucial. Night Dealings provides just that, allowing you to tailor your deck to the current meta, making it a valuable asset for competitive play.

How to Beat Night Dealings

Overcoming the strategic advantages of Night Dealings in your Magic: The Gathering matchups requires a nuanced approach. This card thrives in environments where players often activate abilities, allowing it to stack up theft counters quickly. These counters can then be leveraged to search your library for key cards, tilting the game in your favor over time.

To counter this, a strategy is to minimize the triggers Night Dealings can capitalize on. This means either limiting the activations of abilities from your side or employing removals to disrupt Night Dealings before it accrues significant counters. Another tactic is to increase pressure on your opponent to force them into a defensive position, thus reducing their capacity to utilize Night Dealings effectively.

Also, consider using cards that specifically target enchantments, such as Disenchant or Naturalize, offering a direct and cost-effective solution to remove Night Dealings from the board. By integrating these strategies into your gameplay, you enhance your resilience against such cards and improve your likelihood of maintaining control of the match.

Cards like Night Dealings

Night Dealings introduces a unique dynamic to Magic: The Gathering, offering a strategy of accumulating stealth counters and exchanging them to search for cards. Its nearest analog might be Diabolic Tutor, also used to search for cards. While Night Dealings requires setup and interaction, Diabolic Tutor gives immediate results, although it doesn’t offer repeated use.

Another card with a related effect is Dark Petition, which adds both card searching and Spell Mastery to grant mana, albeit used once. In contrast, Night Dealings requires an investment in time and damage to opponents to build counters. There’s also Beseech the Queen, which allows searches depending on the number of lands you control. It caters to a more flexible mana base, unlike Night Dealings which necessitates patient tactics and combat damage for optimal value.

Overall, Night Dealings presents an intriguing trade-off between its stealthy counter accumulation method and the more straightforward, yet possibly less rewarding, single-use card searches of its counterparts. In the long game, Night Dealings can offer sustained value, an aspect that deserves attention from players crafting strategies that thrive over time.

Cards similar to Night Dealings by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Night Dealings MTG card by a specific set like Champions of Kamigawa, 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 Night Dealings and other MTG cards: