Devoted Crop-Mate MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Human Warrior
Abilities	Exert
Released	2017-04-28
Set symbol
Set name	Amonkhet
Set code	AKH
Power	3
Toughness	2
Number	10
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Zoltan Boros

Key Takeaways

Devoted Crop-Mate recycles valuable creatures, saving resources and increasing board presence.
Its resurrection ability boosts deck resilience and efficiency without depleting your hand.
Instant-speed abilities of reanimated creatures can disrupt opponents, offering tactical advantages.

Text of card

You may exert Devoted Crop-Mate as it attacks. When you do, return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. (An exerted creature won't untap during your next untap step.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Devoted Crop-Mate offers a strategic edge by allowing you to return a target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. This not only expands your on-field presence but also effectively recycles valuable creatures for repeated use.

Resource Acceleration: With its ability to bring back low-cost creatures, Devoted Crop-Mate accelerates your resource deployment. It makes your deck more resilient and efficient, bolstering your battlefield position without additional resource expenditure from your hand.

Instant Speed: While Devoted Crop-Mate itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, the creatures it reanimates can have instant-speed abilities, creating surprise interactions during combat or at the end of your opponent’s turn to disrupt their plans.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Devoted Crop-Mate, part of the army of creatures in your deck, demands a strategic approach when triggering its ability. To reap the benefits of its strength, you may find yourself parting with another card from your hand, an action that necessitates considering the value of the discarded card against the potential board advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Channeling the power of plains and mountains, this Crop-Mate calls for a precise blend of mana—white and generic. Commanding this combination can sometimes restrain your deck-building options and the flexibility to pivot during gameplay, especially in a multi-colored deck where mana resources are at a premium.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that might be deemed lofty for its capabilities, the Devoted Crop-Mate stands in the shadow of creatures that offer similar or greater advantages for less mana investment. Mastering the art of the game requires careful consideration of your mana curve to ensure that your resources are employed to their utmost potential.

Reasons to Include Devoted Crop-Mate in Your Collection

Versatility: Devoted Crop-Mate is a flexible card that can efficiently slot into various white-centric or aggressive decks. Its ability to return a creature with power 2 or less from the graveyard to the battlefield caters to strategies that capitalize on recurring value from small creatures.

Combo Potential: This card shines in decks built around synergy and recursion. With the right setup, Devoted Crop-Mate can repeatedly bring back key creatures, creating powerful interactions and maintaining board presence in the face of removal.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where games tend to drag out or where creature removal is prevalent, Devoted Crop-Mate can provide consistent value by returning important creatures to the battlefield, making it a choice inclusion for players looking to sustain long-term strategies in their games.

How to beat

Devoted Crop-Mate offers a unique synergy for decks revolving around creature strategies in Magic: The Gathering. The card is a resilient construct, allowing you to return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. However, this card, akin to a second wind for creatures, can be mitigated through strategic plays.

Remember, graveyard interaction is Devoted Crop-Mate’s strength. To effectively combat this, include graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace in your deck, which can exile all cards from all graveyards, then prevent any cards from being placed in graveyards thereafter, nullifying the core mechanic of Devoted Crop-Mate. Other strategies involve countering Devoted Crop-Mate as it hits the battlefield or utilizing removal spells to ensure it doesn’t stay on the field to execute its ability. Keeping the board clear of potential targets through consistent creature removal will also diminish the impact of Devoted Crop-Mate’s ability.

Containment strategies are essential when facing Devoted Crop-Mate. By focusing on proactive disruption of graveyard mechanics and managing the creatures on the battlefield, you can diminish the value and effectiveness of Devoted Crop-Mate, ensuring an advantage for your MTG gameplay.

Cards like Devoted Crop-Mate

Devoted Crop-Mate, a creature card in MTG, serves as a unique enabler of graveyard synergy strategies. A comparable card that comes to mind is Sun Titan, which also has the ability to return permanents from the graveyard to the battlefield. Like Sun Titan, Devoted Crop-Mate has the capability to bring back smaller creatures, but it’s more restrictive focusing on those with converted mana cost 2 or less. Sun Titan’s ability, however, extends to all permanents with converted mana cost 3 or less. Moreover, Sun Titan’s trigger happens on both attack and enters the battlefield, whereas Devoted Crop-Mate’s ability is a one-time exertion during combat.

Another similar card is Order of Whiteclay, which also retrieves creatures but offers more control as it can be activated at the end of your opponent’s turn, allowing for unexpected plays. In contrast, Devoted Crop-Mate’s ability is contingent on being declared as an attacker. One more archetype in this group is the Tethmos High Priest, which has an even lower cost and a heroic ability that triggers whenever you cast a spell targeting it but is limited to bringing back creatures with power 2 or less.

Assessing these cards side by side, Devoted Crop-Mate stands out for its aggressive potential and the tactical decisions its exert mechanic demands, carving a distinct niche in MTG decks focused on recursion strategies.

Cards similar to Devoted Crop-Mate by color, type and mana cost

Pianna, Nomad Captain - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Devoted Crop-Mate MTG card by a specific set like Amonkhet, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Devoted Crop-Mate and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Devoted Crop-Mate has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Devoted Crop-Mate card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2017-04-18	All attackers are chosen at once. You can’t attack with Devoted Crop-Mate, return a creature card to the battlefield, and then attack with that creature.
2017-04-18	All cards in the Amonkhet set that let you exert a creature let you do so as you declare it as an attacking creature, as do some of the cards in the Hour of Devastation set. You can’t do so later in combat, and creatures put onto the battlefield attacking can’t be exerted. Any abilities that trigger on exerting an attacking creature will resolve before blockers are declared.
2017-04-18	If a creature has a targeted triggered ability that triggers when you exert it, you can exert it even if there isn’t a legal target for that triggered ability.
2017-04-18	If an exerted creature is already untapped during your next untap step (most likely because it had vigilance or an effect untapped it), exert’s effect preventing it from untapping expires without having done anything.
2017-04-18	If the creature returned to the battlefield has any abilities that trigger when creatures attack or when you exert creatures, those abilities won’t trigger.
2017-04-18	If the mana cost of a card in your graveyard includes X, X is considered to be 0.
2017-04-18	If you gain control of another player’s creature until end of turn and exert it, it will untap during that player’s untap step.
2017-04-18	The converted mana cost of a card in your graveyard is determined solely by the mana symbols printed in its upper right corner. The converted mana cost is the total amount of mana in that cost, regardless of color. For example, a card with mana cost has converted mana cost 3.
2017-04-18	You can’t exert a creature unless an effect allows you to do so. Similar effects that “tap and freeze” a creature (such as that of Decision Paralysis) don’t exert that creature.