Season of the Witch MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	1994-08-01
Set symbol
Set name	The Dark
Set code	DRK
Number	52
Frame	1993
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Jesper Myrfors

Key Takeaways

Evolving gameplay with persistent creature pressure and a card advantage through disciplined play.
Indirect resource acceleration with a passive board-thinning effect simplifying player attacks.
Strategic card considerations include high costs and color specificity that may impact deck efficiency.

Text of card

At the end of each player's turn, all of his or her untapped creatures that could have attacked but did not are destroyed. If you do not pay 2 life during your upkeep, Season of the Witch is destroyed. Effects that prevent or redirect damage may not be used to counter this loss of life.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Season of the Witch offers a recurring mechanism that can potentially remove opposing creatures from the board each turn, presenting a continuous pressure and potential card advantage over your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing traditional mana acceleration, the card’s passive ability to thin out the board can indirectly accelerate your game plan by eliminating blockers or potential threats, allowing your attacks to proceed unimpeded.

Instant Speed: Although Season of the Witch operates at sorcery speed, its enduring effect works during each player’s upkeep, providing a persistent presence that is akin to having an effect ready at all times. This quality ensures that the card’s influence is felt even when not actively casting spells, maintaining a pseudo ‘instant speed’ pressure on the game state.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Season of the Witch forces players to discard a card at the beginning of their upkeep if they wish to keep it on the field. This can create a significant drawback for those who are already struggling to maintain card advantage, turning the spell into a potential liability in prolonged matches.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires a precise combination of mana colors to cast, including double black mana. This mana specificity can prove restrictive, particularly in multicolored decks where mana flexibility is crucial for seamlessly executing a game strategy.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While the abilities of Season of the Witch can be impactful, its casting and maintenance costs may outweigh its benefits. With a mana cost of three, including two from black, and an additional cost to maintain or activate its features, other cards may provide similar or superior effects with less resource investment, making this card a less optimal choice for many decks looking to maximize efficiency.

Reasons to Include Season of the Witch in Your Collection

Versatility: Season of the Witch offers a dynamic approach to board control, fitting seamlessly into decks that value consistent creature interaction. Its ability to influence the gameplay each turn makes it a useful tool in various strategies.

Combo Potential: This card is a springboard for creative combos, taking advantage of forced combat and end-of-turn effects. It pairs well with cards that punish tapped creatures or benefit from opponents losing creatures.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where creature-based strategies are prevalent, Season of the Witch serves as a persistent threat to opposing creatures, shaping the battlefield to your advantage over time.

How to beat

Season of the Witch is a unique card that can shape the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. It stands out with its ability to force mandatory creature attacks each turn, adding strategic depth to both offensive and defensive gameplay. What separates it further is its self-regulatory mechanism, which requires upkeep in the form of sacrificing a creature, lest one suffers life point penalties.

To navigate against this spell, consider cards that spawn creature tokens, ensuring you have expendable units for the required sacrifice. Token generators like Raise the Alarm or Saproling Migration can be significant assets. Alternatively, using control decks with removal spells ensures that the creatures intended for consistent attacks can be dealt with effectively. Spot removals such as Doom Blade or broader sweepers like Wrath of God can clear the field, mitigating Season of the Witch’s impact.

Lastly, using enchantment removals like Disenchant or Naturalize allows players to address Season of the Witch directly. The capacity to disrupt your opponent’s enchantments can easily turn the tides of the game. Playing around its strengths while exploiting its upkeep weakness is key to outmaneuvering the witch’s season on the battlefield.

Cards like Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch stands out in the realm of upkeep trigger cards in MTG. It draws a parallel to Dread, which also ensures a constant pressure on the board by demanding a creature to be sacrificed during upkeep if a certain condition is not met. However, unlike Dread, Season of the Witch requires the player to pay two mana during each of their upkeeps if they want to maintain control over this demanding enchantment.

Likewise, we can look at Braids, Cabal Minion as another analogous card. Like Season of the Witch, Braids enforces a sacrifice at the beginning of each player’s upkeep, potentially disrupting their board presence. It’s similar in its ability to shape the game’s strategy but does so in a way that is compulsory and can affect all players equally. In contrast, Season of the Witch gives its controller a modicum of choice with potentially less symmetrical impact.

Assessing these mechanics within the broader ecosystem of MTG cards, Season of the Witch offers a unique challenge and strategy to those adept at leveraging upkeep triggers and resource management to gain board advantage.

Braids, Cabal Minion - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Season of the Witch by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Season of the Witch MTG card by a specific set like The Dark, 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 Season of the Witch and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Season of the Witch has restrictions

Format	Legality
Oldschool	Legal
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2013-09-20	A creature won’t be destroyed if it was unable to attack that turn, even if you had a way to enable it to attack. For example, a creature that had summoning sickness wouldn’t be destroyed even if you had a way to give it haste.
2013-09-20	At the beginning of every end step, regardless of whose turn it is, the second ability triggers. When it resolves every creature that could have been declared as an attacker during that turn’s Declare Attackers Step but wasn’t will be destroyed.