Zendikar has always had a problem with staying still. The ground's always shifting about, hedrons always floating everywhere, and if you stare at a Forest for too long, it just might start looking back. So, when the Awaken mechanic showed up in the Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. Eldrazi? (2015), it certainly didn't come off as a particularly revolutionary mechanic. I mean, why wouldn't our lands inevitably get tired of being tapped all the time and decide to start throwing punches themselves, right?

And while the mechanic is considered to be quite the relic these days, with the advent of the recent Badgermole Cub and its interaction with lands, there's really never been a better time to Exhume this lands-matter mechanic in this Mechanics Overview Segment and ask the obvious question.

What happens when the battlefield itself decides it's had enough?

What Is Awaken?

Awaken is a keyword ability that offers you a rather straightforward choice - cast the spell normally or pay an alternative Awaken cost. And if you choose to pay the Awaken cost, you get the spell's regular effect, but you also get to feel like a Llanowar Loamspeaker and animate a land to lend you aid in the red zone.

The chosen land becomes:

• A 0/0 Elemental creature
• With N +1/+1 counters (i.e., Planar Outburst has Awaken 4, so your land would become a 0/0 Elemental creature with 4 +1/+1 counters)
• With haste
• And it's still a land

I'll be going into more detail about all this a bit later, but trust me when I tell you that the last line of text does a lot more work than one may initially realize.

The History of Awaken

When Battle for Zendikar (2015) was released, the set carried an enormous narrative burden. Zendikar was returning, but not as the adventurous, high-flying world players remembered. This was a plane under siege. Eldrazi titans were loose, entire ecosystems were collapsing, and the land itself was buckling under the strain. From a flavor standpoint, Awaken was a perfect fit. If the world couldn't rely on heroes alone, then the world itself would have to stand up and fight.

Interestingly enough, early iterations of Awaken were much more constrained. During design, the number of +1/+1 counters granted by Awaken spells was locked at fixed values, first two, then three. But Wizards quickly recognized that Awaken needed flexibility to survive across rarities and power levels, so they introduced variable values instead. And just like that, suddenly, Awaken could scale from modest Limited finishers to legitimate late-game haymakers, all while keeping the same core identity.

But, despite this success in design, Awaken remained a relatively small mechanic. Battle of Zendikar only had sixteen Awaken cards, with the bulk of them concentrated in Blue and White. Green, notably, stayed mostly out of Awaken's spotlight, even though it's the color most often associated with lands (with the exception of the Limited all-star Earthen Arms, of course).

Awaken Rulings

Let's break down the most important rulings regarding situations that may come up when your lands decide "enough is enough," and it's time to throw down.

You Must Have All Required Targets

Awaken doesn't let you cheat targets. If a spell normally requires a target, it still requires that target when cast for its Awaken cost.

This matters particularly with removal spells. You can't cast an Awaken spell just to animate your land if there's nothing legal to target with the base effect.

Case in point, no creature or planeswalker on the board? You can't cast Ruinous Path just to animate your land.

Awakening a Land Can Be Risky

Essentially, if a spell with Awaken normally doesn't require a target, but you choose to pay the Awaken cost, you're adding a target - the land you control.

And if that land somehow becomes illegal before the spell resolves, the entire spell is countered.

Let's take Coastal Discovery as an example. Normally, it just draws two cards for four mana. But if you cast it for its Awaken cost, your land becomes a target for the spell to resolve. So, if your opponent, for one reason or another, decides to target your targeted land with a main deck Volcanic Upheaval, congratulations, you just paid 10 mana for no reason.

Whoops.

Why "It's Still a Land" Is So Important

The Awakened lands still being considered lands matters a lot more than you might think. Let's take a look at some of the major reasons.

Dodging Popular Removal Spells

Look at all the removal people actually play. You know the ones. The "staples" that show up week after week because they're efficient, flexible, and safe?

This particular wording exists for a reason. Lands are supposed to be harder to interact with. After all, lands are needed in order to play a game of MTG. They're protected by social contract, design philosophy, and decades of precedent.

Well, Awaken just pretty much throws all that out the door. Please proceed to beat their face in the control mirror, fellow Blue mage.

Board Wipes, Surely You Jest

Lands Matter Package

To be honest, I was going to write a whole segment here, but this package right here is probably enough to get my point across.

Tap For Mana, Tap For These Hands

What makes Awaken particularly special isn't just that it turns your lands lands into creatures. Magic has done that before and will almost certainly continue to do so for years to come. What sets Awaken apart is how it does it. The land doesn't just become a body until end of turn. An Awaken'd land fully commits.

But, even with that particularity, it's undeniable that Awaken, as a mechanic, suffers from its context. After all, Battle for Zendikar was not particularly a powerhouse set for Constructed formats, and many of the Awaken cards are undebatably conservative by today's standards (i.e., nine mana to spin a creature and make a 4/4?! That's outrageous!).

However, in Limited, Awaken gave midrange and control decks inevitability. And in Commander, it gives spell-heavy strategies a way to pivot into actually having a win-condition, albeit a super slow one, without slotting an extra card. In both cases, the mechanic rewards patience, planning, and an understanding of just how valuable it can be to make your land into a beater in the late game.

But hey, what do I know about card design and balance? After all, nowadays, we can do everything Awaken does and more with just this little guy and its Earthbend shenanigans.

And with that, I think we've dug deep enough into this mechanic that even Zendikar itself is starting to eye us warily. As always, happy brewing, and may your lands arise exactly when everybody needs to start topdecking. Until next time.