Starfall Invocation is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Gift a card (You may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, they draw a card before its other effects.) Destroy all creatures. If the gift was promised, return a creature card put into your graveyard this way to the battlefield under your control.
Complete guide
Starfall Invocation is a versatile board wipe that introduces the strategic 'gift' mechanic to your white control decks. This sorcery allows you to clear the battlefield while potentially rescuing your best threat from the wreckage.
Gifting and Destroying
When you cast Starfall Invocation, you decide whether to 'Gift a card'. If you promise the gift, your chosen opponent draws a card during the resolution of the spell, right before the destruction happens. The primary effect is simple: it destroys all creatures currently on the battlefield. The 'gift' is an optional additional cost that modifies the spell's outcome.
The Resolution Process
The spell resolves in a specific order. First, if a gift was promised, the opponent draws their card. Second, all creatures are destroyed simultaneously. Finally, if you promised the gift, you choose one creature card that was put into your graveyard specifically by this spell's destruction effect and return it to the battlefield under your control. Because this choice happens during resolution, opponents cannot respond between you picking the creature and it entering the battlefield.
Common Mistakes
A common error is trying to return a creature that was already in your graveyard before Starfall Invocation resolved; the spell specifically requires the creature to have been put there 'this way' (by the board wipe itself). Additionally, if the spell is countered, the gift is never given, and no cards are drawn or creatures destroyed.
When to Play It
Use Starfall Invocation when you have a powerful creature that you want to 'reset' or protect while clearing your opponent's side of the board. It is particularly effective when you have the mana to spare and can afford to give an opponent one card in exchange for maintaining board presence with your strongest threat.
Interaction examples
You control a large creature and your opponent has four small ones. You cast Starfall Invocation and promise the gift. Your opponent draws a card, all five creatures are destroyed, and then you choose your large creature from your graveyard to return it immediately to the battlefield.
Austere CommandUnlike Austere Command, which allows you to choose specific categories of permanents to destroy, Starfall Invocation always hits all creatures. However, Starfall Invocation provides a 'reanimation' effect that Austere Command lacks, making it better for decks centered around a single crucial creature.
FarewellIf you cast Farewell and choose to exile all creatures, Starfall Invocation's recovery effect would not work because the creatures never entered the graveyard. Starfall Invocation relies on the 'destroy' keyword to ensure the creatures go to the graveyard so they can be brought back.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Starfall Invocation
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If the gift was promised, you choose which creature card to return to the battlefield while Starfall Invocation is resolving. No player may take any actions between the time you choose the card and the time you return it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
As an additional cost to cast a spell with gift, you can promise the listed gift to an opponent. That opponent is chosen as part of that additional cost. The gift isn’t given at this time; rather, it’s given at a later time based on whether or not the spell is a permanent spell.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
For permanent spells with gift, an ability triggers when that permanent enters if the gift was promised. When that ability resolves, the gift is given to the appropriate opponent.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
For instants and sorceries with gift, the gift is given to the appropriate opponent as part of the resolution of the spell. This happens before any of the spell’s other effects would take place.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
If a spell for which the gift was promised is countered, doesn’t resolve (perhaps because all of its targets are illegal), or is otherwise removed from the stack, the gift won’t be given. None of its other effects will happen either.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
You can’t pay a gift cost more than once.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
If you copy a spell for which the gift was promised, the gift was also promised to the same opponent for the copy. If a card or token enters as a copy of a permanent that’s already on the battlefield, the gift isn’t promised for that new permanent, even if it was promised for the original.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
Some instant or sorcery spells require alternative or additional targets if the gift was promised. You ignore these targeting requirements if the gifts aren’t promised for those spells. On the other hand, you can promise a gift for a permanent spell even if you won’t be able to choose targets for an enters ability of that permanent once the spell resolves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
In the main set, there are four different kinds of gifts. “Gift a Food” causes the chosen opponent to create a Food token, while “Gift a Treasure” causes the chosen opponent to create a Treasure token. “Gift a card” causes them to draw a card, and “Gift a tapped Fish” causes them to create a tapped 1/1 blue Fish creature token. The Commander decks contain two more kinds of gifts: “Gift an Octopus,” which causes the chosen opponent to create an 8/8 blue Octopus creature token, and “Gift an extra turn,” which causes them to take an extra turn after the current turn ends.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Starfall Invocation + Dualcaster Mage
- 1Cast Starfall Invocation by paying
, choosing to promise an opponent a gift. - 2Holding priority, cast Dualcaster Mage by paying
. - 3When Dualcaster Mage enters the battlefield, it triggers, copying Starfall Invocation.
- 4Resolve Starfall Invocation, causing an opponent to draw a card, then destroying all creatures and returning Dualcaster Mage from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- 5Repeat from step 3.
Starfall Invocation + Naru Meha, Master Wizard
- 1Cast Starfall Invocation by paying , choosing to promise an opponent a gift.
- 2Holding priority, cast Naru Meha by paying .
- 3When Naru Meha enters the battlefield, it triggers, copying Starfall Invocation.
- 4Resolve Starfall Invocation, causing an opponent to draw a card, then destroying all creatures and returning Naru Meha from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- 5Repeat from step 3.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Starfall Invocation
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.