Meld

Meld
Keyword Action
Introduced	Eldritch Moon
Last used	The Brothers' War
Reminder Text	No official reminder text
Statistics	12 meld cards 6 meld pairs 16.7% 16.7% 8.3% 8.3% 8.3% 8.3% 16.7% 16.7%
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keyword:"Meld"

Meld is a keyword action that means to turn two meld cards on the back side into one oversized card, if you control the proper pair. It was introduced in Eldritch Moon with three pairs. Meld returned with three more meld pairs in The Brothers' War.

Description

Two cards melded into one

The design of Meld was inspired by the Un-card B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster) and the unreleased mechanic Link.

Two cards that meld change into one oversized card on the battlefield. That single card only exists on the backs of the two other cards. A melded card is a single permanent represented by two cards. If it is one creature, it behaves as any other creature does. It can attack and block, has abilities, can be enchanted or equipped, or have counters put on it. A single spell that says "Destroy target creature" will destroy the whole permanent.

One of the two cards has the actual keyword action in its rules text, the other card only has the reminder text: Melds with (card name). All meld pairs will exile themselves before melding, and require ownership and control, as to avoid questions of where modifications would go. The card with the action Meld will form the art and name of the card, while the other will have text, stats and types. Additionally, to ease the difficulty of having two specific cards in addition to their expensive meld cast, the pairs are designed so that one of the two cards are more difficult to interact with than the other. Midnight Scavengers and Bruna, the Fading Light retrieve their melding counterpart from the graveyard, Argoth, Sanctum of Nature and Hanweir Battlements are lands, The Mightstone and Weakstone is an artifact and Phyrexian Dragon Engine has Unearth.

Whenever the melded card leaves the battlefield, both cards go to the same zone where they each turn front face up again.

Cards with meld

There are three cards with meld in Eldritch Moon.

• The common Graf Rats melds with the common Midnight Scavengers into the common Chittering Host
• The rare Hanweir Battlements melds with the rare Hanweir Garrison into the rare Hanweir, the Writhing Township
• The mythic Gisela, the Broken Blade melds with the rare Bruna, the Fading Light into the mythic Brisela, Voice of Nightmares

There are a further three cards with meld in The Brothers' War:

• The rare The Mightstone and Weakstone melds with the mythic rare Urza, Lord Protector into the mythic Urza, Planeswalker
• The rare Phyrexian Dragon Engine melds with the mythic rare Mishra, Claimed by Gix into the mythic Mishra, Lost to Phyrexia
• The rare Argoth, Sanctum of Nature melds with the mythic rare Titania, Voice of Gaea into Titania, Gaea Incarnate

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Meld

To turn two members of a meld pair so their back faces are up and combined into one oversized Magic card. See rule 701.37, “Meld.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 701.37. Meld
  • 701.37a Meld is a keyword action that appears in an ability on one card in a meld pair. To meld the two cards in a meld pair, put them onto the battlefield with their back faces up and combined. The resulting permanent is a single object represented by two cards. See rule 712, “Double-Faced Cards.”
  • 701.37b Only two cards belonging to the same meld pair can be melded. Tokens, cards that aren’t meld cards, or meld cards that don’t form a meld pair can’t be melded.
  • 701.37c If an effect instructs a player to meld objects that can’t be melded, they stay in their current zone.

    Example: A player owns and controls Midnight Scavengers and a token that’s a copy of Graf Rats. At the beginning of combat, both are exiled but can’t be melded. Midnight Scavengers remains exiled and the exiled token ceases to exist.

Rulings

• Although meld cards look similar to double-faced cards, they are not considered to be double-faced cards. They don't transform—instead, their back faces combine in pairs to form a single oversized card face.
• One card in each pair of meld cards has an ability that instructs you to exile the two cards and meld them. If you control more than one object with one of those names, you select one object with that name to exile.
• When two cards are exiled and melded, they each leave the battlefield, then return together as one new untapped object with no relation to either of the objects that left the battlefield. Counters, Auras, Equipment, and other effects that affected those two cards don't affect the melded permanent.
• Only two cards belonging to the same meld pair can be melded. Tokens, cards that aren't meld cards, or meld cards that don't form a meld pair can't be melded. If an effect instructs a player to meld cards that can't be melded, those cards remain in exile.
• While a meld card is anywhere other than the battlefield, or is on the battlefield with its front face up, it has only the characteristics of its front face.
• While a melded permanent is on the battlefield, it has only the characteristics of its combined back face. Any effects that modify how the new object enters the battlefield will consider only the combined back face.
• The mana value of a melded permanent is the sum of the mana values of its front faces. A creature that becomes a copy of a melded permanent has only the characteristics of that combined back face, and its mana value is 0.
• A player prompted to name a card may name the combined back face, and each player has the right to know that combined back face's characteristics at all times.
• If an effect moves a melded permanent to a new zone and then affects "that card," it affects both cards.

Trivia

• The first iteration of the meld mechanic is likely based upon themes of the Body Horror genre, which involve gruesome mutations occurring to the body whether by biological, conventional, or supernatural threats, such as The Thing, Hellraiser, the Tetsuo film series, and various Cronenberg films.
  • The second iteration gave a taste as to the power of pre-revisionist characters, which were often cited as too powerful to print. Meld served as a significant enough barrier to avoid having them being played through reanimation or some other fast combo.
• In the artwork of Eldritch Moon's Meld cards, Emrakul's tentacles can be seen in the background before their meld form takes place, possibly foreshadowing Emrakul corrupting those in her path.

See also

• Morph
• Flip cards
• Transform