Mist of Stagnation MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	2002-05-27
Set symbol
Set name	Judgment
Set code	JUD
Number	48
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Mike Ploog

Key Takeaways

Mist of Stagnation promotes strategic graveyard management and potential card advantage by altering graveyard utility.
Decks utilizing this card can potentially accelerate resource access if built with graveyard synergy in mind.
Optimizes advantage for players adept with instant speed responses, heightening the enchantment’s battlefield control.

Text of card

Permanents don't untap during their controllers' untap steps. At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player untaps a permanent for each card in his or her graveyard.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mist of Stagnation puts a unique twist on the concept of card advantage. While it doesn’t directly draw you cards, it forces a situation where your opponents must carefully consider their graveyard resources, potentially limiting their ability to benefit from their own cards. This asymmetry can lead to an indirect card advantage by nullifying the utility of your opponents’ cards, effectively allowing you to pull ahead in the game.

Resource Acceleration: This enchantment can act as a form of resource acceleration for you if you build your deck to take advantage of graveyards. With such a setup, you might be able to use your graveyard more efficiently than your opponent, essentially making every card a potential asset. This differential resource use can give you a significant speed advantage in developing your board and executing your strategy.

Instant Speed: While Mist of Stagnation itself is not an instant, it rewards players who operate well at instant speed. With this card on the battlefield, having instant speed removal or graveyard manipulation becomes much more critical, allowing you to respond to threats immediately and potentially disrupt your opponent’s plans during their turn, keeping the battlefield in a state that favors you.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Mist of Stagnation necessitates maintaining enough cards in hand, as you may be forced to discard if unable to fulfill its upkeep condition. This requirement can be cumbersome, especially if the game state is not in your favor and resources are already stretched thin.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a particular balance of mana types to cast, which may not align with the strategy or color scheme of all decks. The precise blend of blue and colorless mana can sometimes restrict its playability to certain archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost that sits on the higher side of the mana curve, Mist of Stagnation’s impact might not be felt immediately upon casting. In the fast-paced environment of many games, the delay in its effect can mean losing valuable tempo against opponents.

Reasons to Include Mist of Stagnation in Your Collection

Versatility: Mist of Stagnation presents a unique ability to lock down the board, making it a flexible addition to control decks that seek to dictate the pace of the game. Its effect is not limited to just creature strategies, allowing for broad utility across various deck archetypes.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combination with effects that manipulate the number of permanents on the battlefield or in graveyards. Paired with cards that benefit from opponents having tapped resources, it can become a cornerstone in a well-crafted strategy.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where the graveyard plays a significant role, Mist of Stagnation can severely hamper opponents’ plans. It becomes especially potent in environments where permanent count is crucial, impacting the tempo and preventing opponents from fully utilizing their resources.

How to beat

Mist of Stagnation is a unique enchantment in the world of Magic: The Gathering that can significantly impact the flow of the game. Overcoming the constraints it imposes requires strategic planning and deck building. To gain the upper hand against this card, it’s essential to manage your graveyard effectively since Mist of Stagnation relies on the number of cards in it. Employing graveyard hate cards like Relic of Progenitus or Tormod’s Crypt can neutralize the stagnation effect by keeping your graveyard clear.

Another approach is to utilize cards that allow untapping of your permanents or can function without the need for untapped resources. Additionally, consider adding cards to your deck that benefit from having many cards in your graveyard, such as delve mechanics or threshold abilities, turning a potential disadvantage into a strategic boon. Finally, enchantment removal spells are crucial; cards like Disenchant or Naturalize offer simple yet effective solutions to clear the concern directly from the battlefield. By carefully selecting the right cards and strategizing your plays, Mist of Stagnation’s potential to stall your game can be significantly diminished, if not altogether avoided.

Cards like Mist of Stagnation

Mist of Stagnation is a unique enchantment card that brings a tactical twist to Magic: The Gathering. It’s often compared to cards like Frozen Aether, which also aims to control the tempo by forcing opponents’ artifacts, creatures, and lands to enter the battlefield tapped. However, Mist of Stagnation has a distinct ability by relying on the number of cards in players’ graveyards to determine if lands untap during the untap step. This interaction encourages a more graveyard-centric game plan compared to the universal effect of Frozen Aether.

Another card worth mentioning is Opposition, which shares the concept of dictating what remains tapped on your opponent’s battlefield. While Opposition gives the player direct control by tapping creatures to tap down opponents’ resources, Mist of Stagnation controls the game passively and creates a form of parity/trade-off based on graveyard size. Comparing this to Kismet, a card that makes all of the opponent’s permanents enter the battlefield tapped, Mist of Stagnation offers a more complex interactive strategy, with its implications tied to the shared resource of the graveyards.

To sum up, Mist of Stagnation stands out among similar control cards due to its unique graveyard-dependent utility, making it a potentially powerful tool in the right Magic: The Gathering deck that leverages graveyard mechanics.

Cards similar to Mist of Stagnation by color, type and mana cost

Heightened Awareness - MTG Card versions

Reflections of Littjara - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mist of Stagnation MTG card by a specific set like Judgment, 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 Mist of Stagnation and other MTG cards: