First printed in Secrets of Strixhaven (2026)
Legendary Creature — Avatar
This spell costs 
less to cast for each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard.
Reach
Whenever The Dawning Archaic attacks, you may cast target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard without paying its mana cost. If that spell would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead.
7/7
- Illustrated by
- Josu Solano
Legality
- Legal in
- Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Future Standard, Historic, Timeless, Alchemy, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Pauper, Penny Dreadful, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Tiny Leaders
Rulings (3)
- You cast the spell while The Dawning Archaic's last ability is resolving and still on the stack. You can't wait to cast it later in the turn. Timing restrictions based on the card's types are ignored. If you cast a spell "without paying its mana cost," you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the spell has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those to cast the spell.
- To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions (such as that of The Dawning Archaic's first ability). The mana value of the spell is determined by only its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast that spell was.
- If the target of The Dawning Archaic's last ability has
in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
Prices
MTGO price: 0.03 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).
In Limited on MTG Arena
Win rates in Arena drafts and sealed, retrieved from 17Lands (CC BY 4.0).
| Set | GIH WR | vs set | IWD | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS), Premier Draft | 53.9% | -1.5 | +2.6 | 4914 |
- GIH WR
- win rate of the games in which the card was in the opening hand or drawn
- vs set
- points above or below the average win rate of all decks in the set
- IWD
- improvement when drawn: GIH WR minus the win rate when the card stayed in the library
- Games
- games in which the card was seen
