Dawn of the Dead MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	2002-02-04
Set symbol
Set name	Torment
Set code	TOR
Number	59
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Pete Venters

Key Takeaways

Offers a steady source of creature recursion, creating unyielding board pressure against opponents each turn.
Enables potent combos and plays, integrating with sacrifice and enter the battlefield strategies for game-changing effects.
Mired by higher mana costs and upkeep conditions, this card demands skillful mana and graveyard management.

Text of card

At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target creature card from your graveyard to play. That creature gains haste until end of turn. Remove it from the game at end of turn.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Dawn of the Dead grants you the benefit of recurring a creature from your graveyard at the beginning of your upkeep. This ongoing effect can provide you with a creature every turn, bolstering your board presence and ensuring a consistent advantage over your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: By bringing creatures back to the battlefield, Dawn of the Dead can effectively reduce the mana cost of some of your most powerful spells. This allows you to allocate resources elsewhere, potentially accelerating your game plan and giving you the upper hand.

Instant Speed: While Dawn of the Dead itself isn’t an instant, it allows for instant speed plays. Since creatures are returned to the battlefield at the beginning of your upkeep, you gain immediate access before your main phase to options such as sacrificing the creature for an effect or surprising your opponent with combat tricks. This can disrupt your opponent’s strategies by forcing them to deal with unexpected threats every turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Dawn of the Dead requires you to exile a creature from your graveyard during each of your upkeep phases. Not having a creature to exile can be a setback, especially in decks not designed for self-mill or without ample graveyard stocking strategies.

Specific Mana Cost: Its casting cost demands one black and two generic mana, necessitating a stable black mana source. This can pose a challenge in multicolored decks or when facing mana-color fixing issues.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: At an overall cost of five mana, Dawn of the Dead is on the costlier side. For such an investment, players might expect immediate game-changing effects, while this card’s benefit is conditional and unfolds over several turns.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Dawn of the Dead offers a unique capability to recur creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield every turn. This repeatable action can be pivotal in various deck builds, particularly those centered around sacrifice or enter the battlefield effects.

Combo Potential: This card can be a linchpin in creating powerful interactions with creatures that have death triggers or when combined with cards that grant haste to freshly summoned creatures. The ability to bring back key creatures can lead to game-changing turns.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where graveyard strategies continue to play a significant role, Dawn of the Dead remains a relevant addition. With its ability to disrupt typical graveyard hate and continually create pressure, it’s a consideration for any player looking to stay competitive.

How to beat

Dawn of the Dead is a powerful enchantment in MTG that brings creatures back from the graveyard at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. This black enchantment offers a recurrent advantage by reanimating a creature with haste until the end of turn. However, the creature is exiled if it’s still on the field at the end of the turn and this comes at the cost of life each upkeep. To combat this, graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void can prevent creatures from returning. Instant speed removal can also disrupt this strategy by targeting the reanimated creature before the end of the turn.

Counterspells are another effective way to address Dawn of the Dead. By preventing it from hitting the field in the first place, this takes the recurring threat out of the equation. Artifact removal spells like Abrade or Nature’s Claim can take care of cards that might otherwise mitigate the life loss Dawn of the Dead incurs. Addressing this card effectively requires planning and understanding of the right time and the right tool to use from your sideboard.

Tackling Dawn of the Dead head-on means preparing your deck with cards that can neutralize its effects, ensuring you’re ready to face anything that tries to return from the graveyard.

Cards like Dawn of the Dead

Dawn of the Dead brings a unique flair to reanimation strategies in MTG. This enchantment offers a comparable effect to cards such as Reanimation and Animate Dead, which are staples for bringing creatures back from the graveyard. Dawn of the Dead distinguishes itself with its temporary recursion, allowing you to reanimate a creature at the beginning of your upkeep, with the caveat that it gains haste and you must exile it at your next end step unless you pay its upkeep cost.

Comparing it to Zombify, which permanently brings a creature back to the battlefield, Dawn of the Dead provides a repeatable effect, albeit with a higher initial cost and an ongoing maintenance cost. Meanwhile, Unearth allows for a one-time cheap reanimation with the same end step exile restriction; however, its low cost only targets low power creatures unlike the less restrictive Dawn of the Dead. Then there’s Whip of Erebos, it grants not only reanimation but also lifelink to your creatures, although they’re exiled if they would leave the battlefield.

When evaluating the dynamics and tactical advantages of various resurrection spells, Dawn of the Dead carves out its niche, offering continuous pressure and utility, especially in decks constructed to leverage the temporary nature of its reanimated threats.

Cards similar to Dawn of the Dead by color, type and mana cost

Screams of the Damned - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Dawn of the Dead MTG card by a specific set like Torment, 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 Dawn of the Dead and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Dawn of the Dead has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	The creature is only exiled if it is still on the battlefield at the beginning of the end step.
2008-08-01	If the creature leaves the battlefield, but returns to the battlefield before the triggered ability resolves, you won’t exile it. This is because it is treated as a different object than the one to which the ability refers.