Petals of Insight MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityUncommon
TypeSorcery — Arcane

Key Takeaways

  1. Enhances card draw flexibility and can shuffle your library to optimize card selection and game strategy.
  2. Supports spell-slinging synergies and can feed your hand for more plays, leading to resource acceleration.
  3. Functions at sorcery speed, fitting seamlessly into main phases and allowing for well-timed strategic plays.

Text of card

Look at the top three cards of your library. You may put those cards on the bottom of your library in any order. If you do, return Petals of Insight to its owner's hand. Otherwise, draw three cards.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Petals of Insight is designed to potentialize your card draw, offering flexibility to sift through the top three cards of your library. The mechanic allows you to rearrange them or shuffle your library, then if Petals of Insight is among the cards revealed, return it to your hand. This process can essentially be repeated to filter through your deck and ensure you don’t miss out on critical draws.

Resource Acceleration: The card allows for synergistic plays with spell-slinging strategies, offering a steady flow of spells that can trigger numerous abilities or enhance the potency of your other cards that benefit from spells being cast. Although it doesn’t directly produce mana or tokens, it accelerates resource utilization by continually feeding your hand with opportunities for advantageous plays.

Instant Speed: While Petals of Insight operates at sorcery speed, it still affords you the flexibility to manage resources effectively during your main phases. It fits into your game plan without the requirement to leave mana unused during your opponent’s turn, allowing for more strategic and responsive gameplay.


Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: The casting requirement for Petals of Insight necessitates three blue mana sources, making it tricky for multicolored decks to reliably incorporate without proper mana fixing.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total cost of five mana, including three of which must be blue, Petals of Insight can be demanding on your mana resources, often taking up most if not all your mana in the mid-game turns.

Discard Requirement: Although Petals of Insight doesn’t directly call for a discard, its high mana cost can make it compete with other key cards in your hand you may need to play, indirectly pressuring you to discard potentially valuable plays for later turns.


Reasons to Include Petals of Insight in Your Collection

Versatility: Petals of Insight offers a unique flexibility in its usage. This card can serve as an engine for drawing cards repeatedly, ensuring that you never run out of options. It’s effective in decks that capitalize on spell casting or seek to achieve a high volume of card throughput.

Combo Potential: This particular spell has great synergy with effects that trigger on spell casting or when drawing cards. It can be an integral part of infinite combos, enabling various ways to win a game through resource manipulation and sequence plays.

Meta-Relevance: As the game evolves, cards that can adapt to various situations rise in value. Petals of Insight can be relevant in different metas, especially where the ability to sift through your deck for answers or combo pieces is crucial to outmaneuvering opponents.


How to beat

Overcoming Petals of Insight in a game of Magic: The Gathering requires strategic planning. This card allows a player to manipulate their deck, ensuring they draw into useful spells by returning Petals of Insight back to their hand if they choose. To counteract this, you can employ disruption tactics. One way is to deplete their resources so they can’t afford the mana cost to cast it multiple times. Hand disruption spells like Thoughtseize or Duress are effective in removing Petals of Insight before it can be played. Furthermore, cards like Narset, Parter of Veils can prevent the card draw advantage Petals of Insight offers.

Alternatively, countering the spell with cards like Counterspell or Mana Leak ensures it doesn’t hit the table in the first place. If the card is already in play, using removal that exiles it like Scavenging Ooze or Relic of Progenitus can be advantageous since Petals of Insight won’t return to their hand. Keeping pressure on your opponent and forcing them to respond to threats rather than setting up their combo with Petals of Insight is also a viable strategy. Staying ahead on board and keeping their mana tapped leaves them less able to make use of this recursive spell’s benefits.


Cards like Petals of Insight

Petals of Insight stands out in the world of MTG as a spell that allows players to manipulate their library and ensure a consistent draw, enveloping them in a loop of strategic choices. It shares space with other cards such as Mystic Speculation and See the Truth. Mystic Speculation, like Petals of Insight, offers repeated library manipulation, albeit through scrying rather than drawing, feeding into a player’s strategy of shaping their upcoming turns without directly netting extra cards.

Another card to consider is See the Truth, which doesn’t offer repeated use but does provide a potent advantage if cast from anywhere other than your hand, resulting in three cards drawn. While not reusable like Petals of Insight, the potential for a significant one-time card advantage can be pivotal. Moreover, as Petals of Insight is beholden to its five-mana cost for continuous use, the two-mana See the Truth offers a cost-efficient alternative for a one-off effect.

In summary, while Petals of Insight is a unique engine for ongoing library manipulation and drawing within MTG, other spells like Mystic Speculation and See the Truth offer different angles of assimilating card advantage and strategic depth to a player’s game, each with their trade-offs and situational benefits.

Mystic Speculation - MTG Card versions
See the Truth - MTG Card versions
Mystic Speculation - MTG Card versions
See the Truth - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Petals of Insight MTG card by a specific set like Champions of Kamigawa and Modern Masters, 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 Petals of Insight and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Petals of Insight Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2004-10-01 and 2013-06-07. Illustrated by Anthony S. Waters.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12004-10-01Champions of KamigawaCHK 792003NormalBlackAnthony S. Waters
22013-06-07Modern MastersMMA 602003NormalBlackAnthony S. Waters

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Petals of Insight has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2013-06-07 If you choose to put the three cards on the bottom of your library, Petals of Insight will return to your hand directly from the stack. It never goes to a graveyard.

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