Rest for the Weary MTG Card


Rest for the Weary - Worldwake
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeInstant
Abilities Landfall
Released2010-02-05
Set symbol
Set nameWorldwake
Set codeWWK
Number18
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byJames Paick

Key Takeaways

  1. Leverage Rest for the Weary for life preservation against fast-paced strategies and prolong your influence in a match.
  2. Cast it at instant speed for unforeseen game shifts, effectively disrupting your opponent’s combat strategies.
  3. Despite mana and situational limitations, its potential for massive life gain makes it a worthy card in specific MTG decks.

Text of card

Target player gains 4 life. Landfall — If you had a land enter the battlefield under your control this turn, that player gains 8 life instead.

Zendikar is a brutal taskmaster, but sometimes it offers unexpected solace.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Rest for the Weary does not directly allow you to draw cards, it can indirectly contribute to card advantage by preserving life totals. This can be critical in maintaining a presence on the board against aggressive strategies, ensuring you have the longevity to make use of the cards in your hand.

Resource Acceleration: Rest for the Weary doesn’t directly provide resource acceleration in terms of mana. However, the life gained can offer a buffer that allows a player to use life as a resource more freely, effectively accelerating one’s strategic options and plays without the fear of being at a precariously low life total.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Rest for the Weary at instant speed is a significant advantage. It allows a player to wait until the last possible moment before deciding whether to use the spell, potentially disrupting an opponent’s calculations for lethal damage or combat mathematics during their turn.


Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: Rest for the Weary requires a precise blend of mana to cast. This can potentially limit its integration into decks that aren’t heavily focused on white mana, making it less versatile in multi-colored decks where mana resources must be carefully managed.

Discard Requirement: While Rest for the Weary doesn’t have a discard requirement, it can be situational. Its life gain effect is most beneficial in decks geared towards longer gameplay. In faster, more aggressive decks, this card may end up being a dead draw, which indirectly can lead to discarding it for better options.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When evaluating cards based on mana efficiency, Rest for the Weary’s cost to life-gained ratio can be seen as expensive. Lower-cost spells or creatures that offer life gain as a secondary benefit could potentially provide more value and impact on the game, making this card less optimal for decks that aim for a rapid pace and quick turnovers.


Reasons to Include Rest for the Weary in Your Collection

Versatility: This card can be a pivotal inclusion in decks that are oriented towards life gain strategies or that simply need a quick boost in life points to stay in the game.

Combo Potential: Rest for the Weary can synergize with cards and mechanics that capitalize on life gain, like triggering Landfall abilities multiple times in a turn or empowering creatures that grow with your life total.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where aggressive strategies are prevalent, having a quick life gain response can be critical to surviving the early onslaught and stabilizing in later stages of the game.


How to beat

Rest for the Weary stands out in Magic: The Gathering as a life-gain spell that can swiftly change the tide of a game. Players often utilize it to gain a significant life advantage, especially when they’re able to meet its landfall condition for extra life. Tackling this card can rely on redirecting the focus of your gameplay. Employing aggressive strategies that deal damage faster than the life gained or using cards with life total setting abilities like Sorin Markov or Magister Sphinx can overcome the boost provided by Rest for the Weary.

In addition, countering Restoration spells before they resolve, using something like Mana Leak or Negate, can prevent the life gain from occurring altogether. It’s advisable to keep direct damage spells or creatures with evasive abilities ready. This ensures that you maintain pressure on your opponent’s life total, making up for the life gained from their spells. Staying ahead in the race often means negating the impact cards like Rest for the Weary have on the overall match progression.

Being proactive rather than reactive to life gain strategies can keep your opponents on their heels and mitigate the benefits of their life-gain cards, securing your advancements in a game of Magic: The Gathering.


Cards like Rest for the Weary

Rest for the Weary is an interesting option for players looking to gain life in Magic: The Gathering. It stands in line with other life-gain spells like Healing Salve, which also offers a quick life boost. Rest for the Weary differentiates itself with the potential to gain 8 life with landfall, making it a lifesaver in the right deck. Healing Salve, while versatile, offers only 3 life, without any conditions for a bonus.

Comparatively, we have Feed the Clan, which offers the potential for a significant 10 life gain but is contingent on having a creature with power 4 or greater. This requirement might be trickier to fulfill, yet the reward is substantial. Then there’s Chaplain’s Blessing, another simple and straight-to-the-point spell that gives a flat 5 life for a single white mana. It doesn’t require any conditions, but also doesn’t provide the opportunity for that extra life Rest for the Weary can when landfall is triggered.

In summing up, Rest for the Weary holds its own against its counterparts due to its versatility and potential for high life gain, especially in decks geared towards maximizing landfall synergies.

Healing Salve - MTG Card versions
Feed the Clan - MTG Card versions
Chaplain's Blessing - MTG Card versions
Healing Salve - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Feed the Clan - Khans of Tarkir (KTK)
Chaplain's Blessing - Shadows over Innistrad (SOI)

Cards similar to Rest for the Weary by color, type and mana cost

Disenchant - MTG Card versions
Divine Offering - MTG Card versions
Alabaster Potion - MTG Card versions
Invulnerability - MTG Card versions
Remedy - MTG Card versions
Rhystic Shield - MTG Card versions
Samite Ministration - MTG Card versions
Shield Wall - MTG Card versions
Life Burst - MTG Card versions
Shelter - MTG Card versions
Equal Treatment - MTG Card versions
Aura Extraction - MTG Card versions
Raise the Alarm - MTG Card versions
Test of Faith - MTG Card versions
Echoing Calm - MTG Card versions
Dawn Charm - MTG Card versions
Graceful Reprieve - MTG Card versions
Last Breath - MTG Card versions
Angelsong - MTG Card versions
Puncturing Light - MTG Card versions
Disenchant - The Brothers' War (BRO)
Divine Offering - Masters Edition IV (ME4)
Alabaster Potion - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Invulnerability - Tempest (TMP)
Remedy - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Rhystic Shield - Prophecy (PCY)
Samite Ministration - Invasion (INV)
Shield Wall - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Life Burst - Odyssey (ODY)
Shelter - Eternal Masters (EMA)
Equal Treatment - Torment (TOR)
Aura Extraction - Onslaught (ONS)
Raise the Alarm - Mirrodin (MRD)
Test of Faith - Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons (DDG)
Echoing Calm - Darksteel (DST)
Dawn Charm - Commander Legends (CMR)
Graceful Reprieve - Morningtide (MOR)
Last Breath - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Angelsong - The List (PLST)
Puncturing Light - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Rest for the Weary 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 Rest for the Weary and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Rest for the Weary has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2010-03-01 Having more than one land enter the battlefield under your control this turn provides no additional benefit.
2010-03-01 Once the spell resolves, having a land enter the battlefield under your control provides no further benefit.
2010-03-01 The effect of this spell’s landfall ability replaces its normal effect. If you had a land enter the battlefield under your control this turn, only the landfall-based effect happens.
2010-03-01 The landfall ability checks for an action that has happened in the past. It doesn’t matter if a land that entered the battlefield under your control previously in the turn is still on the battlefield, is still under your control, or is still a land.
2010-03-01 Whether you had a land enter the battlefield under your control this turn is checked as this spell resolves, not as you cast it.

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