Agadeem Occultist MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Rare
Type	Creature — Human Shaman Ally
Released	2010-02-05
Set symbol
Set name	Worldwake
Set code	WWK
Power	0
Toughness	2
Number	48
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Vance Kovacs

Key Takeaways

Agadeem Occultist enables card advantage by animating creatures from any graveyard, enhancing strategic resourcefulness.
Its reanimation ability bypasses casting costs, offering a form of mana and resource acceleration.
Action anticipation is key, as opponents must factor potential graveyard interactions with their strategies.

Text of card

: Put target creature card from an opponent's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control if its converted mana cost is less than or equal to the number of Allies you control.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Agadeem Occultist can put creatures directly into play from any graveyard, effectively turning your opponent’s creatures into resources for you and potentially granting card advantage as you utilize those creatures for your own strategies.

Resource Acceleration: By using Agadeem Occultist’s ability to reanimate dead creatures, you bypass the need for casting them from your hand, essentially accelerating your resource deployment without spending additional mana.

Instant Speed: Although Agadeem Occultist’s ability is not at instant speed, it does create a dynamic wherein opponents must consider the potential for instant speed interactions in your graveyard, possibly affecting their strategy during their own turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Agadeem Occultist doesn’t require a discard, it demands you to have a certain type of creature card in your graveyard to utilize its ability effectively. This condition often pushes you to strategize your gameplay around milling or self-discard, which may not always align with your deck’s primary strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: The Occultist requires a specific blend of mana including black, which can be a bit inflexible. This sometimes constrains its incorporation to mono-black or black-inclusive multicolor decks, restraining its versatility across the diverse deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, including one black, Agadeem Occultist’s activated ability also incurs additional mana expenses. This can be somewhat steep, considering other cards might resurrect creatures from the graveyard with less mana investment or provide more immediate board presence. Therefore, it necessitates careful mana management and turns planning.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Agadeem Occultist offers a unique mechanic of putting creatures from opponents’ graveyards onto the battlefield under your control. This ability makes it an asset in diverse strategies, adapting to the riches of graveyard play across various game states.

Combo Potential: With the right assortment of creatures in enemy graveyards, Agadeem Occultist can become a linchpin for powerful combos, setting up unexpected synergies and interactions that can give you the edge in a tightly contested match.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where graveyard manipulation is ever-prevalent, the value of being able to recycle and utilize your opponent’s resources cannot be overstated, making Agadeem Occultist a worthwhile inclusion in a metagame filled with potent graveyard strategies.

How to beat

Agadeem Occultist offers a unique challenge on the battleground with its ability to utilize creatures from opponents’ graveyards in Magic: The Gathering. To strategically counter this formidable ally tribal card, one effective tactic is to control graveyards. Employing cards like Grafdigger’s Cage or Relic of Progenitus disrupts the Occultist’s ability to target and reanimate creatures. It’s essential to have a response ready as soon as the Occultist hits the field or to maintain a vigilant stance with graveyard hate effects.

Moreover, preventing it from establishing a board presence by using removal spells that exile, such as Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares, ensures that it cannot be a recurring threat. Additionally, because the Occultist requires a sizeable number of allies to exploit its potential fully, minimizing the number of ally creatures can stifle its effectiveness. Without substantial tribal synergy, Agadeem Occultist’s influence wanes.

Lastly, applying pressure with an aggressive game plan can divert the opponent’s resources, forcing them to defend rather than focusing on leveraging the Occultist’s reanimation strategy. In essence, by addressing the graveyard, removing or neutralizing the Occultist promptly, and reducing tribal synergy, players can defuse the latent threat posed by the Agadeem Occultist.

Cards like Agadeem Occultist

Agadeem Occultist stands out in Magic: The Gathering as a niche card specifically designed for tribal decks, particularly ones that capitalize on the Rogue creature type. Its ability to put target creature cards from an opponent’s graveyard onto the battlefield under your control makes it akin to cards like Havengul Lich. Both cards have a knack for using the graveyard as a resource, but Agadeem Occultist is more restricted in targeting than the Lich, which doesn’t limit its reanimation ability to a creature type.

Another similar card is Puppeteer Clique, which also reanimates creatures from an opponent’s graveyard, but with a focus on temporary theft with a flying twist. Agadeem Occultist potentially provides a permanent gain of creatures, tied to the number of Rogues you control, setting the stage for long-term advantages in-game. Patriarch’s Bidding is another comparison point, offering a tribal-themed reanimation, yet this spell sweeps the board, resurrecting all creatures of the chosen type from all graveyards, a much less selective approach than Agadeem Occultist’s careful pilfering.

Agadeem Occultist’s unique blend of tribal support and graveyard manipulation creates a specific, yet potent, role within the rogue archetype in Magic: The Gathering, attracting players who seek to carve out victories with clever graveyard dynamics and creature control.

Cards similar to Agadeem Occultist by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Agadeem Occultist MTG card by a specific set like Worldwake, 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 Agadeem Occultist and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Agadeem Occultist has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2010-03-01	You may target any creature card in an opponent’s graveyard with Agadeem Occultist’s ability. You check whether the targeted card’s mana value is less than or equal to the number of Allies you control when the ability resolves. If you control too few Allies at that point, the ability does nothing.