Primal Command MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 9 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityRare
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Primal Command offers game-altering choices, ensuring a strong card advantage and strategic flexibility.
  2. Demands significant mana investment and specific colors, which may limit its inclusion in diverse decks.
  3. A multifaceted tool that can pivot strategies, disrupt opponents, and synergize with various deck archetypes.

Text of card

Choose two Target player gains 7 life; or put target noncreature permanent on top of its owner's library; or target player shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library; or search your library for a creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Primal Command provides a multitude of choices that can lead to a significant card advantage. Whether it’s shuffling an opponent’s graveyard back into their library or fetching a creature card, this card ensures that you’re getting more out of the exchange than your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: With the option to search your library for a creature card and put it into your hand, Primal Command can accelerate your resources by placing a crucial creature into play. It’s a valuable trait that can turn the tides of the game by giving you the upper hand in board presence.

Instant Speed: Although Primal Command is a sorcery, its versatile effects can simulate the reactivity of an instant. You can disrupt an opponent’s next draw, bounce a problematic noncreature permanent, or even gain life in crucial moments, making it feel as though you’re impacting the game at instant speed.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Primal Command does not directly require discarding a card, it does necessitate a five mana investment, which in some scenarios could constrain your other plays during a turn or force tough decisions about resource allocation, especially if you’re trying to maintain card advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a hefty three green mana, relegating its potential to green-centric or multicolored decks that can reliably produce this kind of mana, potentially excluding it from color-sparse decks or those that operate on a tighter mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total cost of five mana, Primal Command faces stiff competition from other utility spells in the metagame. Other options may grant similar effects with less mana, leading to more efficient play sequences or allowing for multiple actions within the same turn.


Reasons to Include Primal Command in Your Collection

Versatility: Primal Command’s various modes offer flexibility in gameplay. It can manipulate libraries, retrieve crucial creatures, gain life, or disrupt opponents’ land bases. This adaptability makes it a utility card fitting into numerous deck archetypes, ranging from control to combo builds.

Combo Potential: This card shines in decks that leverage its searching ability to assemble combo pieces or retrieve creatures that can turn the tide of the game. Its interaction with cards that benefit from life gain or that manipulate graveyards can be a game-changer.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta teeming with graveyard-based strategies or aggressive decks, Primal Command’s life gain and creature retrieval are highly beneficial. Its ability to disrupt an adversary’s mana development can also be a potent avenue to securing victory against certain deck types.


How to Beat Primal Command

In the realm of MTG, Primal Command stands out as a versatile and powerful spell within the green faction, known for its multiple modes offering different strategies. Its ability to shuffle a graveyard into its owner’s library, search for a creature card, gain life, or put a noncreature permanent on top of its library makes it a formidable force in any game.

Countering Primal Command calls for strategic plays. It’s crucial to keep counter spells ready, as denying the spell outright is the most direct approach. Cards like Negate or Dispel are valuable tools in this scenario. Alternatively, utilizing instant-speed graveyard hate like Tormod’s Crypt can mitigate the potential value gained from recycling the graveyard. Should Primal Command target a noncreature permanent you control, having a means to sacrifice it in response, such as Ashnod’s Altar, could nullify part of the Command’s effect.

Ultimately, overcoming Primal Command requires anticipation and preparedness. An awareness of your opponent’s mana and potential plays will guide you when to hold back on deploying key resources, saving them until after the threat of Primal Command has been eliminated or negated.


BurnMana Recommendations

Primal Command is not just a card but an arsenal at your fingertips, fitting snugly into various MTG deck strategies. Its ability to control the game’s flow, whether through fetching critical creatures or undoing an opponent’s graveyard tactics, can be a decisive factor in your matches. The card’s adaptability provides a robust response to an ever-shifting meta, where its life gain and disruption capabilities can outpace aggressors or derail complex strategies. Keen to harness the full power of Primal Command? Expand your understanding and explore synergies within your collection that could unlock new pathways to victory. Dive deeper with us and refine your gameplay to the zenith of efficiency and versatility.


Cards like Primal Command

Primal Command is a versatile card in Magic: The Gathering that shines through its flexibility. Comparable to other commands in MTG, such as Cryptic Command, Primal Command offers players a selection of effects to tailor to the situation. Cryptic Command presents instant-speed interaction but lacks the direct lifegain and library manipulation that Primal Command provides.

Harmonize is another card that draws a parallel, offering a steady card draw similar to one of Primal Command’s choices. Despite that, Harmonize doesn’t offer the adaptable utility found in Primal Command’s suite of options, such as shuffling a graveyard into a library or searching for a creature. Green Sun’s Zenith stands out for its ability to fetch creatures directly into play, a feature reminiscent of one of Primal Command’s modes, albeit without the additional choices or life gain.

Ultimately, Primal Command’s strength lies in its multipurpose nature, allowing players to react flexibly to diverse game states. This multi-select approach, combined with the potential to significantly gain life or disrupt opponents, positions Primal Command favorably among green spells in MTG due to its strategic depth and adaptability.

Cryptic Command - MTG Card versions
Harmonize - MTG Card versions
Green Sun's Zenith - MTG Card versions
Cryptic Command - Lorwyn (LRW)
Harmonize - Planar Chaos (PLC)
Green Sun's Zenith - Mirrodin Besieged (MBS)

Cards similar to Primal Command by color, type and mana cost

Stunted Growth - MTG Card versions
Double Play - MTG Card versions
Overrun - MTG Card versions
Spring of Eternal Peace - MTG Card versions
Plow Under - MTG Card versions
Restock - MTG Card versions
Tranquil Path - MTG Card versions
Parallel Evolution - MTG Card versions
Shamanic Revelation - MTG Card versions
Animal Magnetism - MTG Card versions
Rebuking Ceremony - MTG Card versions
All Suns' Dawn - MTG Card versions
Rude Awakening - MTG Card versions
Feast of Worms - MTG Card versions
Natural Spring - MTG Card versions
Predatory Focus - MTG Card versions
Cyclical Evolution - MTG Card versions
Incremental Growth - MTG Card versions
Savage Conception - MTG Card versions
Soul's Majesty - MTG Card versions
Stunted Growth - Masters Edition II (ME2)
Double Play - Unglued (UGL)
Overrun - Starter Commander Decks (SCD)
Spring of Eternal Peace - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Plow Under - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Restock - Invasion (INV)
Tranquil Path - Apocalypse (APC)
Parallel Evolution - The List (PLST)
Shamanic Revelation - Starter Commander Decks (SCD)
Animal Magnetism - Commander Masters (CMM)
Rebuking Ceremony - Darksteel (DST)
All Suns' Dawn - The List (PLST)
Rude Awakening - Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. Liliana (GVL)
Feast of Worms - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Natural Spring - Salvat 2011 (PS11)
Predatory Focus - Guildpact (GPT)
Cyclical Evolution - Future Sight (FUT)
Incremental Growth - Modern Masters (MMA)
Savage Conception - Eventide (EVE)
Soul's Majesty - Commander 2017 (C17)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Primal Command MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Lorwyn, 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 Primal Command and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Primal Command Magic the Gathering card was released in 7 different sets between 2007-10-12 and 2021-04-23. Illustrated by 4 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 624892015normalblackMagali Villeneuve
22007-10-12LorwynLRW 2332003normalblackWayne England
32010-06-18ArchenemyARC 662003normalblackWayne England
42015-08-28Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. EldraziDDP 202015normalblackMagali Villeneuve
52017-03-17Modern Masters 2017MM3 1322015normalblackWayne England
62021-04-23Strixhaven Art SeriesASTX 812015art_seriesborderlessOlena Richards
72021-04-23Strixhaven Art SeriesASTX 81s2015art_seriesborderlessOlena Richards
82021-04-23Strixhaven Mystical ArchiveSTA 552015normalborderlessOlena Richards
92021-04-23Strixhaven Mystical ArchiveSTA 1182015normalborderlessKukka

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Primal Command has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
GladiatorLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2017-03-14 Primal Command won't be put into your graveyard until after it's finished resolving, which means it won't be shuffled into your library as part of its own effect if you target yourself with its third mode.
2017-03-14 Primal Command's modes are performed in the order listed. If you put a noncreature permanent on top of its owner's library and have that player shuffle their graveyard into their library, that card is shuffled away.

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