Manifest in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on February 29, 2024

Whisperwood Elemental | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

I once sought advice from a self-help book that boasted 15 ways to manifest my dreams and make them a reality. I worked hard, dedicated my time and energy to the process, made personal compromises and sacrifices….

Then Fate Reforged released and I realized I could just manifest my creatures in Magic: The Gathering instead. And what a revelation it was! Turns out casting a Cloudform is way easier than getting a sixpack.

You probably didn’t come here for my abdominal status, so allow me to don the L1 judge hat and show you, yes you, how to manifest your cards in MTG.

How Does Manifest Work?

Cloudform | Illustration by Noah Bradley

When you manifest a card, put it facedown on the battlefield and treat it as a 2/2 colorless creature with no name or abilities. If it’s a creature, you can turn it faceup at any time by paying its mana cost. This special action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to, much like activating a mana ability. Non-creatures can still be manifested, but they can’t be turned faceup.

Unlike morph, you can only manifest when a spell or ability instructs you to do so. Cards like Write into Being and Sultai Emissary manifest as part of the resolution of their effects, but you can’t just manifest whenever you want to.

The History of Manifest in MTG

Manifest was introduced in 2015’s Fate Reforged as a riff off the morph mechanic. Fate included 18 cards that manifest, and Dragons of Tarkir included one card that mentioned the ability but didn’t actually manifest anything itself. Manifest has since appeared on seven additional cards, bringing the total to 25. Six of these were scattered across Commander precons, with Soul-Strike Technique being a one-off in Modern Masters.

Does Manifest Count as Casting?

Manifesting a card doesn’t count as casting it. The spell or ability with manifest uses the stack, but the actual manifested card does not. Flipping the card faceup likewise doesn’t count as casting a spell, though doing so will sometimes cause abilities to trigger.

Can You Manifest a Land?

Any card can be manifested. However, creatures or permanents with morph are the only ones that can be turned faceup if manifested.

Does Turning a Manifested Card Face Up Trigger ETB Abilities?

ETBs won’t trigger when you turn a manifested card faceup. Doing so simply changes the characteristics of that card; it’s not actually entering the battlefield.

What Happens if You Manifest a Double-Faced Card?

A manifested double-faced card (DFC) is still a 2/2 colorless creature with no abilities. “Facedown” does not mean “the other side of a card,” it means information about the card is hidden. When playing in paper, manifesting a DFC would normally leave the reverse side of the card exposed, but checklist cards and sleeves exist to solve this problem. Manifest tokens also exist to clearly mark your facedown creatures.

Only the front-facing characteristics matter when determining if a manifested card can be turned faceup. That means the front face must be a creature with a mana cost you can pay. For example, a manifested Mystic Skull can’t be turned faceup even though there’s a creature on the other side.

What Happens if You Flicker a Manifested Card?

Flickering a facedown permanent returns it to the battlefield faceup, unless stated otherwise. Since it was never turned faceup, effects like the one on Thousand Winds won’t trigger.

If you flicker a facedown instant or sorcery, the card won’t enter the battlefield at all and will remain in whatever zone the flicker effect put it in (usually exile).

What Is the Difference Between Morph and Manifest?

Morph is a keyword ability that basically gives a card an alternative casting cost, whereas manifest is a keyword action caused by other spells and abilities. In a sense, morph cards are self-contained while manifested cards usually come from outside sources.

Morph only appears on permanents, but any card with morph can be turned faceup, whereas only manifested creatures can be turned faceup. Facedown morph creatures are also cast, whereas facedown manifested creatures are normally put directly into play by another effect.

Gallery and List of Manifest Cards:

• Arashin War Beast
• Cloudform
• Cryptic Pursuit
• Ethereal Ambush
• Fierce Invocation
• Formless Nurturing
• Ghastly Conscription
• Jeskai Infiltrator
• Lightform
• Mastery of the Unseen
• Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate
• Primordial Mist
• Qarsi High Priest
• Rageform
• Reality Shift
• Scroll of Fate
• Soul-Strike Technique
• Soul Summons
• Sultai Emissary
• Temur War Shaman
• Thieving Amalgam
• Ugin's Mastery
• Whisperwood Elemental
• Wildcall
• Write into Being

Best Manifest Cards

Cryptic Pursuit

Cryptic Pursuit is a neat take on a spellslinger card that creates creatures. It’s fine at just making a bunch of 2/2s, but flipping them into spells when they die is actually a massive upside.

Mastery of the Unseen

Mastery of the Unseen is half mana sink that generates manifests, half payoff for turning creatures faceup. The lifegain adds up significantly, which is great for slower, set-up style morph decks.

Primordial Mist

Primordial Mist is worded in such a way that you can cast manifested instants and sorceries, and if nothing else it spots you a free facedown creature every turn.

Reality Shift

Reality Shift is premium single-target removal in blue, in the same vein as Pongify and Ravenform. Instant speed and exile is everything you want, and your opponent rarely “hits” on their replacement 2/2. You can also technically aim this at your own creature for a manifest of your own.

Scroll of Fate

Scroll of Fate is one of the only cards that lets you manifest what you want to. It circumvents strict casting requirements, pairs well with morph creatures, and operates entirely at instant speed.

Thieving Amalgam

Thieving Amalgam generates a 2/2 on every turn, grabbing most of its fodder from your opponents. The last line also applies to any creatures you’ve stolen, not just the manifests, so it’s a nice pairing with control magics and cards that reanimate from an opponent’s graveyard.

Ugin’s Mastery

Ugin's Mastery was custom-made for the all-colorless Eldrazi Unbound precon, but it still works generically with morph creatures and artifact creatures. Since casting a morph facedown counts as casting a colorless creature spell, every morph you cast comes with a free manifest buddy.

Whisperwood Elemental

Whisperwood Elemental has the same one-manifest-per-turn effect as Primordial Mist while offering some wrath insurance. It doesn’t exactly save your creatures, but it replaces them with new manifests when they die. It’s also a creature itself, which means it’s a perfectly fine card to be manifested, unlike most of the other non-creature support cards.

Decklist: Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer Manifest in Commander

Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer | Illustration by Caio Monteiro

It turns out there aren’t enough manifest cards out there to commit to the theme, and of the ones that do exist, many are just unexciting versions of the same card across different colors like Soul Summons, Formless Nurturing, and Fierce Invocation. The next logical step is a morph deck, weaving in manifest cards where possible.

I started with the Commander 2019 Faceless Menace precon, led by Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer, who is neither faceless nor has menace. Kadena’s discount only works with morphs, but the draw trigger works with manifests, so there’s still some synergy here. Besides, morphs and manifests already play exceptionally well together.

I cut out the non-morph related chaff, the alternative commanders, shaped up the mana base, and slotted in most of the playable manifest enablers that weren’t already there like Ethereal Ambush and Whisperwood Elemental. I also snuck in some top-deck manipulation to pair with your manifest cards. Brainstorm, Elven Chorus, and Lim-Dûl's Vault are all fine cards in a vacuum, but they also help you make more informed decisions about when and what to manifest.

The cherries on top were Phage the Untouchable and Phyrexian Dreadnought, two of the most fun, surprising creatures you can manifest. It’s overall a budget-conscientious deck for casual tables that builds off the morph shell and does its best to showcase the upper limits of manifest.

Manifest Your Own Destiny

Primordial Mist | Illustration by Titus Lunter

I’m not sure we really manifested any dreams today unless you dream about hidden information and 2/2 colorless creatures. Hopefully, you can settle on just manifesting creatures instead.

I personally love manifest, and I’m always intrigued by new designs that incorporate the mechanic outside of its base set. I appreciate that it’s a morph variant that feels distinct from and cohesive with morph. Unlike megamorph. I also enjoy the way manifest feels like a token generation effect but leads to fun in-game moments where you actually spike a good creature worth turning faceup and surprise the whole table.

Have you had success with manifest, or do you just find the mechanic fun in general? Do you have any manifest horror stories you want to share? Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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