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Your opponent has an unstoppable army, and you’ll lose on their next turn unless you’re able to pull off a miracle. You untap and draw your nextMagic: The Gatheringcard, and breathe a sigh of relief as you cast Terminus for one mana, returning the army to your opponent’s deck. It was, in fact, a miracle.
Miracle has been a mechanic in Magic since 2012, but hasn’t been printed often due to issues it caused with player behavior in tournaments. It’s a popular mechanic, and occasionally shows up in commander products, so you should be familiar with it.
What Is Miracle?
Miracle is akeyword for an alternate costthat can only be used when:
If you draw a miracle card and intend to cast it for the miracle cost, you mustreveal the card immediately, before it gets mixed into your hand or you draw another card. If you don’t, you cannot play that card for its miracle cost unless you have a way to put it back in your library and draw it again.
Cards cast with miracleignore normal timing restrictions, allowing you to play sorceries, creatures, or other “slow” spells during your draw step and on other players’ turns. So, for example, you could Opt into a Terminus and wipe out all creatures on the board for a total of two mana during your opponent’s attack step.
How To Use Miracle
Miracles are almost as rare in Magic as they are in real life, with only a handful ever printed. The most thematic way to use them is to include one copy in your deck and trust in the Heart of the Cards to deliver it exactly when needed. But if you want something more reliable, there are ways to manipulate fate.
According to Magic’s head developer, Mark Rosewater, miracle caused tournament players to play more slowly in order to avoid telegraphing that they didn’t have miracle cards in their decks, somiracle is unlikely to return to standard format. Since it never caught on in modern or vintage, this guide will mostly consider eternal formats such as commander.
You don’t need to leave your draws entirely up to fate. Cards that manipulate the top of your deck allow you todecide which card you’ll draw next. For example, if you use Sensei’s Divining Top’s first ability and find a miracle as the third card from the top, you can place it at the very top and draw it on your next turn.
Multiple cards in blue have similar effects along with draw. One of the most common, Brainstorm, allows you to draw three cards and then place any two from your hand on top of your deck in the order of your choice, all at instant speed for one mana.You can use this at the end of an opponent’s turn to set yourself up, or, if you have multiple similar effects, you can stack miracles for several turns in a row.
The one-mana tutors, like Mystical Tutor, eachsearch your library for a card and place it on top. Most of these are instants, allowing you to place the miracle of your choice on top of your library exactly when you need it.
The tutors are particularly powerful in conjunction with cantrips like Opt or Expedite, which allow you todraw that card for one more mana. These effects together allow you to put the miracle you need at that moment on top of your library and then draw it, casting it for the miracle cost. Nobody expects a three-mana instant Wrath of God, but that’s what you can do with Terminus.
Best Cards With Miracle
Miracle cards are few and far between, butthey tend to have powerful effects at a high mana cost. The miracle ability is usually much lower, but cannot be used except as you draw the card.
The only card thatgrants miracle to cards that don’t already have itis Aminatou, Veil Piercer. Aminatou gives all the enchantments in your hand miracle with the miracle cost four generic mana less than the mana cost. This extends to enchantment creatures.
Cards you draw with are considered to be in your hand, although it’s important to reveal them andpay the miracle cost before placing them with the rest of the cardsin your hand. Aminatou effectively gives miracle to enchantments as you draw them.
Triumph of Saint Katherine is a gift that keeps on giving:a 5/5 with lifelink for two manais great value, but when it dies it gets shuffled into the top seven cards of your library so that you canexperience the miracle again and again.
The Power Nine are banned in Commander, but Temporal Mastery mimics one, as long as you cast it for the miracle cost.Two mana for an extra turn with no downsideis some of the best value you can find, but with a little deck manipulation, you could cast it as an instant totake a turn out of order, too.
The terminal card in the list is Terminus.Terminus places all creatures on the bottom of their owners’ libraries, clearing the board even more effectively than Wrath of God by getting around indestructible and death triggers. It’s a decent effect for four mana (only otherwise available on Hallowed Burial for five), but for the miracle cost, it’s one of the best removal spells in the game.
