Tree of Redemption MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityMythic
TypeCreature — Plant
Abilities Defender
Power 0
Toughness 13

Key Takeaways

  1. Tree of Redemption offers virtual card advantage by negating damage without expending resources.
  2. Its instant-speed ability provides strategic flexibility and can surprise and disrupt opponents.
  3. Despite a high mana cost, its defensive presence can deter attacks and shape gameplay.

Text of card

Defender : Exchange your life total with Tree of Redemption's toughness.

The executioner's tree in Thraben Cathedral holds the power to absolve more than the souls of the hanged.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Tree of Redemption doesn’t directly allow you to draw cards, but its ability to exchange life totals with its toughness can be a form of virtual card advantage. It effectively negates the damage dealt by your opponent, saving your cards in hand or on the battlefield by not having to block or use removal spells as often.

Resource Acceleration: While Tree of Redemption doesn’t produce mana or treasure tokens, it does provide a stable defensive option that can preserve your other resources. By maintaining a consistent board presence, you can save the spells and creatures typically spent on preventing damage to your life total, thus accelerating your resource availability indirectly.

Instant Speed: Tree of Redemption’s ability can be activated at instant speed, allowing critical timing in response to combat or spells that target your life total. This flexibility can surprise opponents and disrupt their strategies, often preserving your life in crucial moments or enabling defensive strategies when your opponent least expects it.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Tree of Redemption doesn’t force you to discard cards, it requires that you swap life totals with its toughness, locking you into that life total unless you can switch it back.

Specific Mana Cost: Specifically demanding one green and three generic mana, this card can be somewhat restrictive, particularly in multicolored decks that might struggle to meet the green mana requirement consistently.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a four mana cost to get Tree of Redemption onto the battlefield, it’s costlier than other defensive options available. Considering it does not impact the board immediately or change the state of the game significantly when cast, other cards may offer more immediate or versatile defensive utility for the same or lower mana investment.


Reasons to Include Tree of Redemption in Your Collection

Versatility: Tree of Redemption can adapt to various defensive strategies. Its ability to exchange health totals with its toughness provides a unique way to stabilize your life points, making it useful across multiple game states.

Combo Potential: This card’s life-swapping ability can be exploited with effects that respond to life gain or life payment, creating opportunities for interesting and potentially game-winning combos.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta-game characterized by aggressive decks, Tree of Redemption can be a key card to thwart your opponent’s plans. Its presence alone can deter attacks and force opponents to deal with it before they can push for lethal damage.


How to beat

Tree of Redemption stands out in the realm of unique creatures with its ability to swap its toughness with a player’s life total. This trait can become a barrier for an aggressive strategy, as it resets life tallies and prolongs the game. To effectively counteract Tree of Redemption, there are a few tactics a player can undertake. Removal spells that don’t depend on dealing damage, like Path to Exile or Murder, can bypass the need to deplete its toughness. Additionally, effects that reduce the toughness or alter stats, such as Grasp of Darkness or Dismember, can eliminate it regardless of the current life total equivalence.

Another strategic approach involves denying the activation of its ability through cards like Stony Silence or Pithing Needle, which prohibit the use of activated abilities. Also, bouncing it back to the hand with a spell like Unsummon can reset any life gain advantage the opponent has acquired. While Tree of Redemption can be a formidable hurdle, understanding its strengths and weaknesses can guide you to include the right answers in your deck and ensure you’re prepared to dismantle its defenses during gameplay.


BurnMana Recommendations

For those who enjoy a strategic edge in their MTG battles, Tree of Redemption is a unique addition to contemplate. With its ability to adjust life totals, it offers a defensive maneuver that could turn the tides of combat in your favor. It isn’t just about surviving hits, it’s about crafting a build that capitalizes on endurance and calculated plays. If the idea of developing intricate strategies and exploring combo potentials with Tree of Redemption excites you, delve deeper with us. Gather insights, strengthen your collection, and tailor your deck to outlast and outplay your opponents in the MTG arena.


Cards like Tree of Redemption

Tree of Redemption stands among the unique life total swapping cards in the realm of MTG. Harking back to cards with similar mechanics, one can’t help but draw parallels to its predecessor, Tree of Perdition. Both trees share the ability to exchange life totals, yet Tree of Redemption swaps with its toughness, potentially providing a substantial life boon to its controller. In contrast, Tree of Perdition, flips the script, targeting the opponent’s life total and bringing a different strategic value to the game.

Another card that echoes the life-swapping theme is Axis of Mortality. While not a creature, this enchantment offers a more flexible approach, allowing for swaps between any two players at the beginning of your upkeep. This can translate into multiple tactical advantages over the course of a game. Then there’s the formidable Sorin Markov, a planeswalker with the power to set a player’s life total to 10, disregarding any previous totals. Despite different applications, each card provides creative ways to manipulate life totals, important in turning the tides during a match.

Elements like these make Tree of Redemption a notable card, offering defensive capabilities and life total manipulation that can be pivotal in the late game. Its inclusion in decks emphasizes strategy over raw power, marking its distinct niche within MTG’s diverse card pool.

Tree of Perdition - MTG Card versions
Axis of Mortality - MTG Card versions
Sorin Markov - MTG Card versions
Tree of Perdition - Eldritch Moon (EMN)
Axis of Mortality - Ixalan (XLN)
Sorin Markov - Zendikar (ZEN)

Cards similar to Tree of Redemption by color, type and mana cost

Giant Spider - MTG Card versions
Marsh Viper - MTG Card versions
Scarwood Bandits - MTG Card versions
Carnivorous Plant - MTG Card versions
Erhnam Djinn - MTG Card versions
War Mammoth - MTG Card versions
Aurochs - MTG Card versions
Lhurgoyf - MTG Card versions
Jackalope Herd - MTG Card versions
Golden Bear - MTG Card versions
Argothian Swine - MTG Card versions
Elvish Piper - MTG Card versions
Erithizon - MTG Card versions
Skyshroud Cutter - MTG Card versions
Ulvenwald Oddity // Ulvenwald Behemoth - MTG Card versions
Fungusaur - MTG Card versions
Viridian Lorebearers - MTG Card versions
Monkey Monkey Monkey - MTG Card versions
Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker - MTG Card versions
Order of the Sacred Bell - MTG Card versions
Giant Spider - Tenth Edition (10E)
Marsh Viper - The Dark (DRK)
Scarwood Bandits - The Dark (DRK)
Carnivorous Plant - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Erhnam Djinn - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
War Mammoth - Introductory Two-Player Set (ITP)
Aurochs - Masters Edition II (ME2)
Lhurgoyf - World Championship Decks 1997 (WC97)
Jackalope Herd - Exodus (EXO)
Golden Bear - Portal Second Age (P02)
Argothian Swine - Urza's Saga (USG)
Elvish Piper - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Erithizon - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Skyshroud Cutter - Nemesis (NEM)
Ulvenwald Oddity // Ulvenwald Behemoth - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Fungusaur - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Viridian Lorebearers - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Monkey Monkey Monkey - Unhinged (UNH)
Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker - Saviors of Kamigawa (SOK)
Order of the Sacred Bell - Ninth Edition (9ED)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Tree of Redemption MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad and Masters 25, 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 Tree of Redemption and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Tree of Redemption Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2011-09-30 and 2018-03-16. Illustrated by Vincent Proce.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12011-09-30InnistradISD 2072003normalblackVincent Proce
22018-03-16Masters 25A25 1912015normalblackVincent Proce

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Tree of Redemption has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2018-03-16 Any toughness-modifying effects, counters, Auras, or Equipment will apply after its toughness is set to your former life total. For example, say Tree of Redemption is enchanted with Lunarch Mantle (which makes it 2/15) and your life total is 7. After the exchange, Tree of Redemption would be a 2/9 creature (its toughness became 7, which was then modified by Lunarch Mantle) and your life total would be 15.
2018-03-16 If Tree of Redemption isn’t on the battlefield when its activated ability resolves, the exchange can’t happen and the ability will have no effect.
2018-03-16 When its activated ability resolves, Tree of Redemption’s toughness will become your former life total and you will gain or lose an amount of life necessary so that your life total equals Tree of Redemption’s former toughness. Other effects that interact with life gain or life loss will interact with this effect accordingly.

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