Runic Repetition MTG Card
2011-09-30 - Number 72
2019-08-23 - Number 94
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Sorcery |
Key Takeaways
- Runic Repetition allows strategic reclaiming of cards with flashback, enhancing hand options and strategies.
- The card’s constraints and casting cost can limit its inclusion, favoring decks with firm blue mana bases.
- It excels in decks that capitalize on graveyard mechanics, boosting its value as meta-games evolve.
Text of card
Return target exiled card with flashback you own to your hand.
"What some call obsession, I call the quest for perfection."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Runic Repetition offers a unique kind of card advantage by allowing you to return a card with flashback from your exile to your hand. This effectively recoups a resource that is typically harder to access, keeping your hand stocked with options.
Resource Acceleration: By retrieving a flashback card, Runic Repetition accelerates your resource utilization, giving you more flexibility to use your mana across multiple turns. This can lead to casting more powerful spells sooner, swinging the game in your favor.
Instant Speed: The capability to cast Runic Repetition at instant speed grants tactical flexibility. You can wait until the end of your opponent’s turn or respond to actions your opponent has taken, effectively maximizing your turns with additional plays.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One potential downside to Runic Repetition is the necessity of having a card with flashback in your graveyard to get any value from it. This requisite can sometimes prove challenging, particularly in early-game scenarios where such conditions might not be met.
Specific Mana Cost: Runic Repetition demands a precise mana configuration to cast — one blue and two other. This requirement means the card is inherently more suited to decks that reliably produce blue mana, potentially excluding it from more color-flexible strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Priced at three mana, Runic Repetition can be considered steep for its effect, returning merely a single flashback card to your hand. In a game where tempo and mana efficiency are everything, there might be instances where the card does not hold up against more aggressive or resourceful plays.
Reasons to Include Runic Repetition in Your Collection
Versatility: Runic Repetition offers flexibility to decks that utilize flashback or other graveyard-related mechanics. It can return a crucial spell from exile, ensuring that you have access to your powerful effects more than once.
Combo Potential: The card shines when paired with other spells that exile themselves upon use or with mechanics like Suspend, offering a unique way to set up recurring combos within a Magic match.
Meta-Relevance: As meta-games evolve and graveyard manipulation becomes more prevalent, Runic Repetition holds its value by countering strategies that rely on exiling opponents’ spells, inadvertently setting you up to reutilize your own exiled instants and sorceries.
How to beat
Runic Repetition stands out in MTG as a powerful utility spell, capable of retrieving cards with flashback from exile and returning them to a player’s hand. This allows players to reuse spells that have the potency to shift the game’s dynamics. To mitigate the advantage Runic Repetition offers, aiming for control strategies that disrupt the graveyard or exile directly can be efficient. Cards such as Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void prevent spells from hitting the graveyard in the first place, cutting off Runic Repetition’s ability to operate effectively.
Another approach is to limit a player’s access to mana sources, making it harder to cast the targeted spells returned by Runic Repetition. Tactics like land destruction or counterspells like Mana Leak can put a wrench in your opponent’s plans. Additionally, using proactive measures such as hand disruption with cards like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek can extract Runic Repetition before it’s ever cast, leaving your opponent with fewer options to reclaim their game-changing spells.
Overall, confronting Runic Repetition calls for strategic planning and a deck built to counteract or outpace the recursive nature of the card. Through denial of resources or preemptive action, one can reduce the impact of this unique card and maintain the upper hand in the match.
Cards like Runic Repetition
Runic Repetition carves its niche in Magic: The Gathering as a unique card retrieval spell. It’s akin to cards like Mnemonic Nexus, which also plays on the theme of interacting with the graveyard by shuffling it back into the library. However, Runic Repetition specifically targets exiled cards with flashback, allowing players to reuse their effects; Mnemonic Nexus offers no such selectivity.
Call to Mind is another spell that brings cards back from the graveyard to the hand, yet it does not restrict its retrieval to the exiled zone or cards with flashback, providing broader utility. Yet, the precision of Runic Repetition in recurring just the right card gives it an edge in decks tailored to maximize flashback potential. Pulled from Eternity also transports cards from exile to the graveyard; however, it is still a step away from the hand, unlike Runic Repetition which delivers direct access to re-casting opportunities.
In sum, Runic Repetition stands out by specifically targeting one of the game’s subtler zones—exile with the condition of flashback. This focus allows players to streamline their strategy in decks that frequently utilize the graveyard as a resource, making Runic Repetition a strategic choice in the right context.
Cards similar to Runic Repetition by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Runic Repetition MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad and Commander 2019, 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 Runic Repetition and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Runic Repetition Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2011-09-30 and 2019-08-23. Illustrated by Svetlin Velinov.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2011-09-30 | Innistrad | ISD | 72 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov | |
| 2 | 2019-08-23 | Commander 2019 | C19 | 94 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Runic Repetition has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Runic Repetition card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2011-09-22 | A card that’s exiled face down doesn’t have any characteristics or abilities, so it can’t be the target of Runic Repetition. |
| 2011-09-22 | An effect that gives flashback to an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard stops applying once that card has left the stack. The card won’t have flashback while exiled and can’t be the target of Runic Repetition (unless it naturally has flashback). |
| 2011-09-22 | The card could have been exiled for any reason, not just because it was cast using flashback. |
