Manifest dread in Magic: The Gathering was a new keyword action introduced through the Duskmourn House of Horror set.
The manifest dread mechanic in MTG is a spinoff of the manifest keyword first introduced through the Duskmourn House of Horror set. Much like the original, the ability has a player lay a Magic card face down on the battlefield. But WotC buffed the action by also allowing you to look at the top two cards of your library, with one ending up face-down on the battlefield and the other getting pitched to the graveyard. Here’s how manifest dread works in MTG.
What is manifest dread in MTG?
The keyword action manifest dread can appear on a variety of MTG cards, from Instants to permanents. It is a keyword action that provides a board state advantage while fueling graveyard shenanigans.
- Manifest dread definition: Look at the top two cards of your library, putting one onto the battlefield face-down as a 2/2 creature and the other into the graveyard. If the face-down card is a creature, it can be turned face-up at any time by paying its mana cost.
All MTG manifest dread details
The face-down card on the battlefield is a Colorless 2/2 creature with no name, creature type, mana cost, or abilities. Flipping a face-down creature up doesn’t use the stack, which means an opponent can’t respond to the action. You may flip at any time.
A player attempting to remove your face-down card can be potentially countered by paying the mana cost of the face-down creature and flipping it in response. Turing a face-down card up doesn’t trigger enter-the-battlefield abilities. Any face-down card that attacked or was tapped will remain tapped after turning the card face-up.
MTG manifest dread cards examples in the Duskmourn set
At the time of writing, Duskmourn spoilers are still dropping. But we do have some good examples of how manifest dread works in MTG.
One of my favorite Duskmourn cards revealed so far is Hauntwoods Shrieker. The Beast Mutant synergizes with manifest dread by having a paid ability of 1G that can reveal the face-down permanent, and if it is a creature, turn it face-up without paying its mana cost. This is a great way to cheat out powerful creatures for free.
The manifest dread keyword action isn’t limited to creatures only, though. You can find it on spells like Unwanted Remake, a one-drop Instant that destroys a target creature.
