Yosei, the Morning Star MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost6
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Creature — Dragon Spirit
Abilities Flying
Power 5
Toughness 5

Key Takeaways

  1. Yosei grants control by tapping opponents’ permanents, affecting the game’s flow even post-battlefield.
  2. Its ability to impact the board instantaneously enables strategic disruption or combo setups.
  3. However, Yosei’s specific mana cost and high investment can limit its deck versatility.

Text of card

Flying When Yosei, the Morning Star is put into a graveyard from play, target player skips his or her next untap step. Tap up to five target permanents that player controls.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Yosei the Morning Star presents a strategic edge through its unique ability to impact the game even after it leaves the battlefield. When it dies, you can tap up to five target permanents your opponent controls, which remain frozen during their next untap step, effectively granting you a form of indirect card advantage by nullifying the potential of multiple enemy cards.

Resource Acceleration: While Yosei itself doesn’t directly generate resources, it significantly disrupts your opponent’s, providing a temporary setback that can accelerate your position in the game. By stalling your opponent, you effectively gain a time advantage, allowing you to develop your board and strategy uninhibited.

Instant Speed: Although Yosei is a creature that operates at sorcery speed, its death-trigger ability can be leveraged at instant speed during your opponent’s turn or in response to removal, ensuring you can always find an optimal moment to utilize its game-swinging effect.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Unlike some other powerful creatures, Yosei the Morning Star does not impose a discard cost, which may at first seem beneficial. Discard mechanics can often fuel graveyard synergy or initiate other effects that benefit the player. Therefore, the absence of a discard effect actually removes a potential avenue for strategic depth and combo potential in certain decks.

Specific Mana Cost: Yosei the Morning Star demands a rigorous color commitment with a casting cost that includes four white mana. This specificity can restrict its inclusion in multicolored or color-flexible decks, potentially making it a less versatile choice compared to other legendary dragons or creatures with a more forgiving mana cost.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The six total mana required to summon Yosei can be a significant setback as it competes for a slot in your deck against other impactful cards with similar mana costs. Given that this investment only introduces a single thread to the battlefield, players might opt for other cards that can influence the game state more immediately or provide a better cost-to-effect ratio.


Reasons to Include Yosei the Morning Star in Your Collection

Versatility: Yosei the Morning Star offers its wielder a unique degree of control over the game, slotting effectively into various deck archetypes, particularly those centered around control or utilizing creatures with impactful death triggers.

Combo Potential: With its ability to lock down an opponent’s board upon death, Yosei can be integral in combos that seek to manipulate or exploit such locking mechanisms for strategic advantages, often leading to game-winning setups.

Meta-Relevance: In a landscape where stalling opponent strategies and preventing their combos are crucial, Yosei’s presence can swing matches in your favor, making it a valuable asset against many of the prevalent decks in the current meta.


How to beat

Yosei, the Morning Star holds a formidable presence on the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. This impactful dragon can lock down an opponent upon its demise, tapping five permanents and skipping the next untap phase for them. To tackle Yosei’s controlling effect, consider running instant-speed removals like Path to Exile or Murderous Rider to deal with it on your own terms, thus mitigating the chance of an opponent tailoring their game plan around Yosei’s death trigger.

Exile effects are particularly effective, as they prevent the trigger from ever taking place. Moreover, graveyard manipulation through cards like Relic of Progenitus or Tormod’s Crypt can also nullify the advantage by exiling Yosei before the trigger resolves. Additionally, targeting Yosei with abilities or spells that bounce it back to its owner’s hand can ensure that the death trigger is avoided, and counteracting Yosei’s effect with creature abilities that untap permanents or simply playing fewer cards to minimize Yosei’s impact are alternative strategies.

Understanding and preparing for these encounters with Yosei, the Morning Star is crucial for maintaining control of the game and ultimately leading you to victory against decks that utilize this powerful dragon card.


BurnMana Recommendations

Understanding the strengths and limitations of Yosei the Morning Star is key to wielding this iconic card effectively in your MTG deck. Its capacity to control the battlefield post-mortem can offer a tactical advantage, often tipping the scales of the game. However, integrating Yosei into your lineup necessitates strategic deck building, given its color specificity and mana cost. For those looking to explore the depths of control-based gameplay or discover combos that showcase Yosei’s disruptive prowess, the journey is intricate yet rewarding. Elevate your MTG arsenal by learning more about Yosei the Morning Star and other legendary creatures that can harmonize with your strategy to achieve victory.


Cards like Yosei, the Morning Star

Yosei, the Morning Star is a powerful fixture in the roster of legendary creatures within MTG. It shares the stage with other impactful dragons like Kokusho, the Evening Star. Both are part of the Kamigawa block’s iconic dragon cycle and command a strong board presence. Yosei stands out with its ability to lock down an opponent by tapping up to five permanents and not allowing them to untap during the next turn. This is a control not shared by Kokusho, which focuses on life exchange dynamics.

Their similarities are striking, yet their strategic roles are distinct. Keiga, the Tide Star is another kin from the cycle and operates in the realm of creature control, a differing tactic from Yosei’s disruptive potential. Compared to Keiga, which requires the death of the dragon to gain control of an opponent’s creature, Yosei tends to impact the game state more immediately upon its demise.

Determining the value of legendary dragons in a deck demands a close look at their effects on gameplay. With its unique lockdown ability, Yosei, the Morning Star offers a blend of control and disruption that can severely stifle opponents, setting it apart in MTG’s pantheon of legendary creatures.

Kokusho, the Evening Star - MTG Card versions
Keiga, the Tide Star - MTG Card versions
Kokusho, the Evening Star - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Keiga, the Tide Star - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)

Cards similar to Yosei, the Morning Star by color, type and mana cost

Personal Incarnation - MTG Card versions
Pearl Dragon - MTG Card versions
Alabaster Dragon - MTG Card versions
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Personal Incarnation - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
Pearl Dragon - Mirage (MIR)
Alabaster Dragon - Weatherlight (WTH)
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Guardian Archon - Commander 2021 (C21)
Archon of Coronation - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Shieldmage Elder - Onslaught (ONS)
Gempalm Avenger - Legions (LGN)
Noble Templar - Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Kiora (DDO)
Silverstorm Samurai - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Oathsworn Giant - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Kjeldoran Gargoyle - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Duskrider Peregrine - Time Spiral Remastered (TSR)
Crovax, Ascendant Hero - Planar Chaos (PLC)
Lairwatch Giant - Lorwyn (LRW)
Spirit of the Hearth - Salvat 2011 (PS11)
Sun Titan - Kaldheim Commander (KHC)
Auriok Survivors - New Phyrexia (NPH)
Aegis Angel - Magic Origins (ORI)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Yosei, the Morning Star 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 Yosei, the Morning Star and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Yosei, the Morning Star Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2004-10-01 and 2017-11-17. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12004-10-01Champions of KamigawaCHK 502003normalblackHiro Izawa
22013-06-07Modern MastersMMA 352003normalblackHiro Izawa
32017-11-17Iconic MastersIMA 392015normalblackChris Rahn

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Yosei, the Morning Star has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2017-11-17 If a permanent won’t untap during its controller’s next untap step, that effect waits to apply until its controller has an untap step that isn’t skipped.
2017-11-17 If all of the permanents targeted by Yosei’s ability become illegal targets, nothing becomes tapped, but the target player still skips their untap step.
2017-11-17 If any of the targets of Yosei’s ability are illegal, they won’t be tapped.
2017-11-17 If more than one effect instructs a player to skip their next untap step, such as if Yosei dies more than once in a turn, that player skips that many untap steps. This is different from effects that state that something doesn’t untap during an untap step.
2017-11-17 If the player becomes an illegal target, the target permanents are tapped, but the player doesn’t skip their untap step.

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