Alternate win conditions are fun to play, and several of these “You Win the Game” cards have even seen competitive play throughout Magic The Gathering’s history. They can be a surprise tactic for opponents trying to mill away your library or bead you down with aggressive tribal creature decks.
You usually win a game of Magic by hitting your opponent with various spells until their life total becomes zero – but not this time!
Some of my favorite MTG “You Win the Game” are:
- Mortal Combat,
- Approach of the Second Sun
- Felidar Sovereign
- Hedron Alignment,
- Jace Wielder of Mysteries
- Laboratory Maniac
- Near Death Experience
- Triskaidekaphile
- Liliana’s Contract
With some of the cards mentioned, you can literally be on the brink of death and then produce an alternate win card out of the hat to turn the tables. They can be devastating, particularly if your opponent doesn’t see it coming.
1. Mortal Combat
Mortal Combat is a rare enchantment that costs two colorless and a black to cast. It says, if you have twenty or more creature cards in your graveyard at the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game.
There are many ways to trigger this ability.
Play a creature heavy deck and mill yourself, use cards that allow you to discard creatures, play a sweeper when your weenie army is at its strongest, use black cards that enable you to sacrifice creatures to gain some benefit.
With any luck, your opponent’s sweeper will play right into your win with Mortal Combat in play, or they are at least going to think three times before playing one.
2. Approach of the Second Sun
This one is a rare white sorcery that costs six colorless and a white to cast.
If it was cast from your hand and you previously cast another spell named Approach of the Second Sun, you win the game. Otherwise, you put it into its owner’s library seventh from the top, and you gain seven life.
The Approach of the Second Sun is a strong win condition for a control deck – blue or black offers you more card draw and/or blue tutors to find it quicker than 7 turns.
There are two primary advantages to employing this card as a winning condition. The first is that it takes up just one card slot, allowing you to include everything you need to sustain it, including mana, draw, and tutoring.
The second great thing about Approach of the Second Sun being your win condition is that your opponents have just a few options for preventing you from winning.
Counterspells, which many decks do not have access to, or killing you, which is usually difficult to do when this card gives you seven life when you cast it.
It would clearly be helpful if you could manipulate card draw or tutor for Approach of the Second Sun. Its high casting cost means you ideally need some ramp in the deck too.
3. Darksteel Reactor
This is an indestructible artifact that costs four colorless mana to cast. You can put a charge counter on Darksteel Reactor at the beginning of your upkeep. Then, if it has twenty or more charge counters on it, you win the game.
Ideally, you would play Darksteel Reactor with other cards that let you add more than just one counter per turn. Examples are Vorel of the Hull Clade, Winding Constrictor, Deepglow Skate, Doubling Season, and Gilder Bairn.
4. Felidar Sovereign
This is a rare white 4/6 Cat Beast with vigilance and lifelink. If you have forty or more life at the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game. Lifegain decks should all be smiling with this one.
You can play Voice of the Blessed, Heliod Suncrowned, Zulaport Cutthroat, Lurrus of the Dream Den, and many others with lifeline.
Keep some heavy counterspells in hand to prevent your opponent from killing your Felidar Sovereign as soon as it hits the battlefield, and the game is yours!
5. Hedron Alignment
This card is just ridiculous!
It is a rare enchantment with hexproof that costs two and a blue to cast. If you reveal your hand at the beginning of your upkeep and you own a Hedron Alignment that’s in exile, in your hand, on the battlefield, or in the graveyard, you win the game.
You may have to play cards that let you manipulate card draw or tutor for Hedron Alignment, but that’s not too difficult to do.
6. Jace Wielder of Mysteries
This is a legendary rare planeswalker that has, if you would draw a card when your library is empty, you win the game.
Jace is for self-milling decks and is also formidable against your opponent’s milling deck.
However, it is more versatile than this. It comes into play with four loyalty counters. You can add one to make target player put the top two cards of their library into their graveyard so you can target yourself if you want to win with Jace.
When you remove eight counters from Jace, you draw seven cards; then, if your library has no cards in it, you win the game.
7. Laboratory Maniac
Laboratory Maniac is another older card that rewards self-milling.
It’s a 2/2 blue creature with a converted mana cost of three. It has: if you would draw a card while your library has no cards in it, you win the game instead.
You can play it with blue card draw engines, discard engines, or cards that let you put your library in your graveyard suddenly or bit by bit.
Examples of this last are Fleet Swallower, Curse of the Bloody Tome, Phenax God of Deception, Dreadwaters, Traumatize, and Glimpse the Unthinkable.
8. Near-Death Experience
Near-Death Experience is a mythic rare enchantment that costs two colorless and three white to play.
It gets a little tricky, so you have to plan things a bit. It says, if you have exactly one life at the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game.
Defeat turns into victory!
9. Triskaidekaphile
Triskaidekaphile is a 1/3 rare blue Human Wizard creature that costs just one and a blue to cast.
You have no maximum hand size with this card in play. It also says, if you have exactly thirteen cards in your hand at the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game. It requires malice aforethought to use this card in a deck.
Nonetheless, people have built winning decks around it, despite how tricky it looks to play. It must be supported by cards that let you draw, discard or pick up permanents from the battlefield or grow your hand size.
Examples of good supporting cards are Jace, Arcane Strategist, Wizard Class, Into the Roil, Geistwave, and Iymrith Desert Doom.
10. Liliana’s Contract
Liliana’s Contract is a black enchantment with a converted mana cost of five.
You draw four cards when it enters the battlefield and lose four life. It has: if you have four or more Demons with different names at the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game.
Some outstanding Demons are Master of Cruelties, Rakdos Lord of Riots, Awoken Demon, Ob Nxilis, The Fallen, Demon of Catastrophes, Demonic Taskmaster, and Desecration Demon.
If you add some ramp or play reanimation, it’s not hard to get four Demons in play to win the game.
11. Mechanized Production
This is a mythic rare enchantment Aura card that costs two and two blue to cast.
It works well in decks with a ton of artifacts. You enchant an artifact you control with it and then create a token copy of the enchanted artifact at the beginning of your upkeep. You win the game if you control eight or more artifacts with the same name.
You can enchant Treasure tokens, Blood tokens, and Clues. Play cards that let you Investigate. You put a colorless Clue artifact token onto the battlefield when you investigate.
Examples of great Investigate cards are Trail of Evidence, Confirm Suspicions, Ulvenwald Mysteries, Tireless Tracker, Erwal Illuminator, and Bygone Bishop.