Tree of Redemption – Innistrad
Date Reviewed: Jan. 30, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 1.63
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 3.63
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
This is the kind of mechanically unique design that could have appeared in an Un-set once upon a time; as it happened, Tree of Redemption was mostly about reinforcing Innistrad‘s triskaidekaphobia flavor theme, as it’s hard to judge how best to use it in a deck. 13 might be unlucky, but in the context of Magic, it’s a fairly safe life total to be at, and thus a single use will significantly stall your opponent’s plans – as will the fact that you had a blocker that was basically immune to combat damage for a while before that. The wrinkle there is that for four mana, you often want more than just preventing you from dying, and even if you don’t, there are things that do so in a more proactive way. Of course, the advanced use of Tree of Redemption is as a combo card. If you make its toughness more than 13, your opponent gets set back a lot more. If you make your life total arbitrarily large, it becomes truly unkillable by damage. And it is a very safe creature on which to mutate, as long as you remember that the tree part of it still has defender.
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 3.5
A bit of text like on Tree of Redemption is sure to turn heads, right? It’s certainly a fairly unique effect with some fascinating applications; you can use this as a sort of “get out of jail” card if you have life lower than the tree’s 13 toughness, or you can use it to some interesting means. The key here is that Tree of Redemption does not have an “end of turn” clause; until it gets reset somehow, if you set its toughness to what was your life total, that will stay as its toughness until something else changes it.
Honestly, Tree of Redemption is more cute than fun, but it does have applications; I think decks with Arcades, the Strategist have used this as a formidable threat that can make for some big swings out of the blue, and it’s also an acceptable “plan B” in more casual settings. That said, I think this is a bit too cute to shine anywhere, and it’s just a bit too wonky to really make its home in all but the most unusual shells.
Constructed: 1.75
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 3 (can be good as a “second life” in a pinch)
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 3.75 (it doesn’t have many homes, but it’s pretty decent in those)
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