Howling Gale MTG Card


Howling Gale - Odyssey
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityUncommon
TypeInstant
Abilities Flashback
Released2001-10-01
Set symbol
Set nameOdyssey
Set codeODY
Number244
Frame1997
LayoutNormal
BorderBlack
Illustred byGreg Staples

Key Takeaways

  1. Howling Gale disrupts graveyards and draws cards, maintaining hand resources while counteracting opponent’s plays.
  2. Flexibility as an instant, it offers reactive plays and smart mana utilization at instant speed.
  3. While requiring discarding, it’s restrictive in multi-color decks and can be resource-intensive.

Text of card

Howling Gale deals 1 damage to each creature with flying and each player. Flashback o1o G (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Howling Gale offers the potential to disrupt your opponent’s graveyard strategy while you draw a card, keeping your hand replenished for future plays.

Resource Acceleration: While Howling Gale doesn’t directly accelerate resources, it can potentially slow down your opponent’s, especially if they rely on graveyard synergies, giving you a relative advantage.

Instant Speed: Being an instant, Howling Gale enables strategic flexibility, allowing you to react to threats swiftly or making the best use of your mana at the end of your opponent’s turn.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Howling Gale card requires the player to discard another card, which can deplete your hand and reduce your available options, especially in the late game when resources are critical.

Specific Mana Cost: Howling Gale demands both green mana and generic mana, making it somewhat restrictive as it asks for a particular type of mana source, potentially affecting the flexibility in multi-color decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: This card’s overall cost might be considered steep for the effect it provides. Above all, when there are alternative spells in the environment that could disrupt opponents’ plays or provide better tempo advantages at a lower mana investment.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Howling Gale fits into a variety of deck builds, particularly those that need an effective way to disrupt opponents’ strategies through instant-speed interaction with their graveyards. Additionally, it offers protection against decks that rely on flashback or other graveyard-based mechanics.

Combo Potential: This card works well in decks designed to capitalize on spells with flashback, allowing you to hinder your opponent’s moves while bolstering your own tactics. Its potential to be played from the graveyard adds an extra layer of utility, meshing seamlessly with strategies that exploit casting spells from unconventional zones.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where graveyard manipulation is common, Howling Gale can serve as a targeted control element, weakening your opponents’ graveyard strategies. Its weather-themed ability makes it a niche yet potent card against specific deck archetypes, maintaining its relevance in fluctuating gameplay environments.


How to beat

Howling Gale is an intriguing MTG card with the unique ability to disrupt an opponent’s graveyards, specifically targeting sorceries and instants. This green instant is not just a countermeasure against flashback mechanics but also serves as a line of defense against spells that rely on a plump graveyard for potency. The trick to conquering Howling Gale is to minimize the number of instants and sorceries in your graveyard, which it seeks to exile and diminish your plans with.

To effectively play against Howling Gale, consider diversifying your strategy with creatures and other non-instant or sorcery spells, thus reducing Howling Gale’s potential impact on your game plan. Additionally, employing cards that grant you or your spells hexproof can prevent Howling Gale from targeting them directly, securing your key components from being exiled. By considering these strategic adjustments and anticipating its insertion into the game, you can successfully navigate and beat the challenges imposed by Howling Gale.


Cards like Howling Gale

Howling Gale holds a unique position amongst the array of disruption tools in Magic: The Gathering. This card shares its space with cards like Squall Line and Hurricane, which also deal damage to each creature with flying and each player. Yet, Howling Gale differentiates itself with its flash ability, allowing players to cast it at any time, much like an instant.

The card Cyclonic Rift is another that echoes disruption, albeit through a different mechanism by returning nonland permanents to their owner’s hands. Although it doesn’t deal damage, the instant-speed and overload option present strategic implications that Howling Gale does not. Then, considering Gale Force, its focus is narrower, targeting only creatures with flying, but it compensates with its ability to destroy rather than just deal damage. This permanent solution to airborne threats is a significant tactical advantage over Howling Gale’s temporary setback.

Examining these cards illustrates that while Howling Gale offers a flexible and immediate response to flying creatures, alternatives like Cyclonic Rift and Gale Force serve different yet impactful roles that could be more suitable in certain scenarios or deck strategies within Magic: The Gathering.

Squall Line - MTG Card versions
Hurricane - MTG Card versions
Cyclonic Rift - MTG Card versions
Gale Force - MTG Card versions
Squall Line - MTG Card versions
Hurricane - MTG Card versions
Cyclonic Rift - MTG Card versions
Gale Force - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Howling Gale by color, type and mana cost

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Heavy Fog - MTG Card versions
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Tranquil Domain - MTG Card versions
Resuscitate - MTG Card versions
Heavy Fog - MTG Card versions
Aggressive Urge - MTG Card versions
Tangle - MTG Card versions
Krosan Reclamation - MTG Card versions
Seedtime - MTG Card versions
Nourish - MTG Card versions
Wear Away - MTG Card versions
Might of the Nephilim - MTG Card versions
Resize - MTG Card versions
Squall Line - MTG Card versions
Regenerate - MTG Card versions
Tel-Jilad Defiance - MTG Card versions
Tribute to the Wild - MTG Card versions
Plummet - MTG Card versions
Titanic Growth - MTG Card versions
Sheltering Word - MTG Card versions
Druid's Deliverance - MTG Card versions
Naturalize - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Howling Gale MTG card by a specific set like Odyssey, 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 Howling Gale and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Howling Gale has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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