Wear Away MTG Card


Wear Away - Champions of Kamigawa
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeInstant — Arcane
Abilities Splice
Released2004-10-01
Set symbol
Set nameChampions of Kamigawa
Set codeCHK
Number250
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byTim Hildebrandt

Key Takeaways

  1. Wear Away offers strategic board control with its instant-speed artifact and enchantment removal capabilities.
  2. Its green mana requirement limits versatility, posing a challenge in multicolored deck strategies.
  3. While potent, it requires careful hand management due to the discard requirement to maximize effectiveness.

Text of card

Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Splice onto Arcane (As you play an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Wear Away functions as an effective tool for gaining card advantage, particularly in matchups where artifacts and enchantments are key to your opponent’s strategy. By removing these crucial pieces, you often disrupt their game plan while maintaining your own pace.

Resource Acceleration: While Wear Away doesn’t directly generate additional mana or resources, it keeps the board clear of potential obstacles, allowing your own resources to be spent more efficiently. This can indirectly accelerate your gameplay by removing mana-generating artifacts or cost-reducing enchantments that would benefit your opponent.

Instant Speed: The power of Wear Away is significantly enhanced by its status as an instant. This allows you to react swiftly to threats or use the card strategically during your opponent’s turn. Instant speed removal gives you the flexibility to wait for the most opportune moment before committing, keeping your opponents on their toes and making it difficult for them to predict your moves.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Wear Away comes with the stipulation that it can only be played with a specific discard action. This requirement can present a problem when your hand is already running low on cards, or you’re holding onto key pieces for your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires green mana, making it less versatile in decks that run multiple colors or those that might not always have the necessary green mana sources available when needed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that demands two green mana, Wear Away can be a bit expensive compared to other options in the game that might remove artifacts or enchantments for less. This can slow down your gameplay, particularly in the early stages when mana efficiency is crucial.


Reasons to Include Wear Away in Your Collection

Versatility: Wear Away is a green instant that allows players to target and destroy enchantments. This card can be a crucial addition to any deck that faces enchantment-heavy opponents or metas inundated with powerful enchantment combos.

Combo Potential: With its low-cost and instant-speed, Wear Away can be easily combined with other spells in a turn. It can seamlessly fit into a strategy that keeps the board clear of opponent’s enchantments, allowing for your own plays to dominate the field.

Meta-Relevance: Given that enchantments can often be the linchpin of many popular deck archetypes, having Wear Away in your collection means you’re prepared to dismantle key pieces of their strategy. This relevance rises in metas where enchantments like “Shark Typhoon” or “Omniscience” are prevalent.


How to beat

Wear Away, a green instant card from the world of Magic: The Gathering, presents players with the strategic advantage of eliminating artifacts or enchantments. Its versatility is akin to that of Naturalize, allowing for a surprise disruption of an opponent’s game plan during any phase of their turn. To counteract the potential of this card, savvy players focus on timing and redundancy in their deck construction. It’s essential to deploy key artifacts and enchantments when the possibility of a Wear Away is low or when having backups to reinforce your board presence.

Another approach involves leveraging the card’s two modes—one which directly destroys the target and the Entwine option providing maximum flexibility at a higher cost. By understanding your opponent’s mana availability and predicting their playstyle, you can anticipate whether they seek to optimize their use of Wear Away. Concentrating on baiting its cast with less essential permanents can preserve more critical assets for the later phases of the match. Wear Away, while powerful, can be outmaneuvered through clever deck utilization and strategic foresight in the ever-evolving magic duels.


Cards like Wear Away

In the realm of artifact and enchantment removal, Wear Away is a steadfast option for Magic: The Gathering players. This efficient green spell shares a purpose with Naturalize, a classic card that also destroys target artifact or enchantment without delay. Wear Away’s unique edge lies in its “splice onto Arcane” feature, allowing a player to attach it to another Arcane spell and gaining both effects with one cast, a tactical advantage not present in Naturalize.

Another similar card is Krosan Grip, which not only shatters an opponent’s utility but does so with the safety net of split second, preventing the opponent from reacting in time. This level of control surpasses Wear Away, which does not include such a speed guarantee. Disenchant also figures into this conversation, providing a white color alternative for removal with the added flexibility of being able to be cast at instant speed, just like Wear Away.

Assessing these options, Wear Away is a solid choice among its peers for those looking to loop in synergies with Arcane spells, though other cards might be preferable when instant speed or preemptive disruption is key in a player’s strategy.

Naturalize - MTG Card versions
Krosan Grip - MTG Card versions
Disenchant - MTG Card versions
Naturalize - Onslaught (ONS)
Krosan Grip - Time Spiral (TSP)
Disenchant - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)

Cards similar to Wear Away by color, type and mana cost

Tranquil Domain - MTG Card versions
Resuscitate - MTG Card versions
Heavy Fog - MTG Card versions
Aggressive Urge - MTG Card versions
Tangle - MTG Card versions
Krosan Reclamation - MTG Card versions
Seedtime - MTG Card versions
Nourish - MTG Card versions
Vital Surge - MTG Card versions
Predator's Strike - MTG Card versions
Might of the Nephilim - MTG Card versions
Resize - MTG Card versions
Squall Line - MTG Card versions
Regenerate - MTG Card versions
Naturalize - MTG Card versions
Tel-Jilad Defiance - MTG Card versions
Tribute to the Wild - MTG Card versions
Plummet - MTG Card versions
Titanic Growth - MTG Card versions
Sheltering Word - MTG Card versions
Tranquil Domain - Mirage (MIR)
Resuscitate - Exodus (EXO)
Heavy Fog - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Aggressive Urge - Jumpstart (JMP)
Tangle - World Championship Decks 2001 (WC01)
Krosan Reclamation - Judgment (JUD)
Seedtime - Judgment (JUD)
Nourish - Darksteel (DST)
Vital Surge - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Predator's Strike - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Might of the Nephilim - Dissension (DIS)
Resize - Coldsnap (CSP)
Squall Line - Time Spiral (TSP)
Regenerate - Magic 2010 (M10)
Naturalize - Core Set 2019 (M19)
Tel-Jilad Defiance - Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)
Tribute to the Wild - Commander Anthology Volume II (CM2)
Plummet - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
Titanic Growth - Wilds of Eldraine (WOE)
Sheltering Word - Avacyn Restored (AVR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Wear Away 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 Wear Away and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Wear Away has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2013-06-07 A card with a splice ability can’t be spliced onto itself because the spell is on the stack (and not in your hand) when you reveal the cards you want to splice onto it.
2013-06-07 If all of the spell’s targets are illegal when the spell tries to resolve, it won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen.
2013-06-07 You choose all targets for the spell after revealing cards you want to splice, including any targets required by the text of any of those cards. You may choose a different target for each instance of the word “target” on the resulting spell.
2013-06-07 You reveal all cards you intend to splice at the same time. Each individual card can be spliced only once onto any one spell.

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