Malevolent Awakening MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Enchantment |
| Released | 2001-10-01 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Odyssey |
| Set code | ODY |
| Number | 147 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Alex Horley-Orlandelli |
Key Takeaways
- Malevolent Awakening offers repeatable creature recovery, crucial for maintaining battlefield presence.
- Instant-speed activation allows players to adapt and react unpredictably against opponents.
- Despite its cost, Malevolent Awakening’s strategic advantage in late-game makes it a valuable asset.
Text of card
o1o Bo B, Sacrifice a creature: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
The most popular pit fighters are brought back for encore performances.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Malevolent Awakening allows you to return creature cards from your graveyard to your hand. This recurring ability can be a crucial tactical move, keeping your hand stocked with threats even as the battlefield changes.
Resource Acceleration: Though not a traditional acceleration card, by enabling the reuse of creatures with enter-the-battlefield effects or high-value targets, Malevolent Awakening can indirectly contribute to your resource management by maximizing the utility of the creatures you possess.
Instant Speed: The beauty of Malevolent Awakening lies in its ability to operate at instant speed, giving you the flexibility to respond during your opponent’s turn. This opens up defensive and offensive strategies, making it harder for your adversaries to anticipate your moves and enabling surprise comebacks or advantageous plays before your turn begins.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Malevolent Awakening necessitates the discard of another creature as part of the activation cost, which can deplete your hand and leave you at a card disadvantage. This can be particularly detrimental if you need to keep your creature count high for other synergies or defenses.
Specific Mana Cost: This card demands both black and generic mana, making it somewhat restrictive in multicolored decks that might not consistently generate the necessary mana types early on or throughout the game, potentially leading to timing issues when the ability is needed most.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a three-mana cost just to put Malevolent Awakening on the battlefield and additional mana to activate its ability, it is seen as a significant investment in a game where economy and speed can often dictate the winner. This may hinder its inclusion in fast-paced decks where mana efficiency is key.
Reasons to Include Malevolent Awakening in Your Collection
Versatility: Malevolent Awakening offers utility in a variety of deck builds, serving as an excellent tool for recursion. Its ability to return creatures from the graveyard to your hand can be a game-changer in the latter stages of a match.
Combo Potential: This card has synergies with strategies that capitalize on sacrificing creatures, whether to fuel its own ability or to trigger other effects within your deck that benefit when creatures die or are brought back.
Meta-Relevance: Given the ever-shifting nature of the MTG meta, having a card in your arsenal that can recover key creatures is invaluable. This makes Malevolent Awakening a resilient choice against control decks that are prevalent in competitive play.
How to beat
Malevolent Awakening is an intriguing enchantment in the MTG arena. Its reanimation ability allows players to return creature cards from the graveyard to the battlefield, a tactical edge that can turn the tides of a game. The key to overpowering this strategy, however, lies in graveyard control and enchantment removal. Cards that exile cards from the graveyard, such as Relic of Progenitus, disrupt the mechanics that Malevolent Awakening relies on. Similarly, efficient enchantment removal spells, such as Disenchant, can quickly dismantle the setup that an opponent has carefully constructed.
Moreover, timing is of the essence when facing such a card. Being proactive can hinder an opponent’s plans, especially if you can remove potential targets or the enchantment itself before it becomes a threat. In competitive play, keeping up mana for instant-speed interaction can prevent an opponent from exploiting the full potential of their reanimation tactics. This shifts the balance to your favor, demanding adaptability and foresight from the opposing player.
In essence, managing the graveyard and being prepared with enchantment-neutralizing options can effectively neutralize Malevolent Awakening. It’s about staying one step ahead and negating the advantages it brings to the game.
Cards like Malevolent Awakening
In the realm of Magic: The Gathering, the card Malevolent Awakening offers an intriguing dynamic for graveyard interaction. When setting this card alongside others with resurrection abilities, we can better understand its unique place within the spectrum. Animate Dead, for example, allows for a more direct approach, reanimating a creature straight from any graveyard to the battlefield. While it’s a more cost-efficient enchantment, it doesn’t provide the repeatable use that Malevolent Awakening does.
Another card to consider is Zombify, which boasts a straightforward mechanic to bring creatures back into play from your graveyard. It’s a one-time event compared to the repeatable option Malevolent Awakening presents, albeit at a higher activation cost. Moreover, Victimize is a contender with a compelling sacrifice aspect, allowing a player to return not one, but two creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield. While this sorcery can offer a significant two-for-one deal, it lacks the flexible timing of activation that Malevolent Awakening possesses, being an enchantment.
Overall, Malevolent Awakening’s ability to repeatedly exchange the expendable for the powerful gives it a steady presence in the late game. This, coupled with the tactical advantage of instant speed activation, makes it a card worth considering for decks that thrive on graveyard synergy and recurring value.
Cards similar to Malevolent Awakening by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Malevolent Awakening 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 Malevolent Awakening 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
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Malevolent Awakening has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
