River Serpent MTG Card

Amonkhet (AKH)
2017-04-28 - Number 66

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 473

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number AKH-66

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Serpent
Abilities	Cycling
Power	5
Toughness	5

Key Takeaways

River Serpent’s cycling option offers strategic flexibility and indirect card advantage for players.
Its graveyard-fueled unblockability and combo potential make it appealing in certain MTG decks.
Despite its mana demands, the Serpent’s late-game power and versatility warrant consideration.

Text of card

River Serpent can't attack unless there are five or more cards in your graveyard. Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Though the Luxa River brings life to Naktamun, it's not without dangers.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While River Serpent doesn’t directly allow you to draw cards, its cycling ability provides an alternate way to find more useful cards when River Serpent isn’t the optimal play, indirectly contributing to card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: In decks that capitalize on cards in the graveyard, River Serpent can serve as a catalyst when cycled, accelerating strategies focused on delirium or threshold mechanics by increasing the number of card types in your graveyard.

Instant Speed: One of River Serpent’s strengths is in its cycling ability, which can be activated at instant speed. This gives you the flexibility to adapt to your opponent’s actions and maintain resource efficiency, ensuring that you don’t waste a turn if you would otherwise have no other plays.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the major downsides of River Serpent is its condition for cycling. To draw a card, you have to discard River Serpent first, which can be a significant setback if your hand is already low on cards. This makes it less flexible compared to other cycle cards that don’t have such strict requirements.

Specific Mana Cost: River Serpent demands a specific mana composition to cast—six mana including one blue. This can pose a challenge for decks that aren’t heavily geared towards blue or that strive for a varied mana base. In multi-colored decks, fitting in a card with such specific needs might not be worth the potential mana struggle.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of six mana, River Serpent is on the pricier side, particularly when you consider its stats and abilities in relation to other creatures in the same mana range. Decks aiming for efficiency might find it less attractive, especially when there are creatures with lower mana costs and more impactful effects available.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: River Serpent presents itself as a substantial blue creature that could fit into various strategies. Its ability to be unblockable when there are five or more cards in your graveyard gives it an edge in decks that fill the graveyard quickly.

Combo Potential: This serpent shines in strategies leveraging the graveyard. Combine it with cards that care about the number of cycling cards you own in and out of your graveyard to finesse your opponent in unexpected ways.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where the graveyard plays a significant role and control decks are prevalent, River Serpent serves as a reliable finisher that can evade common defenses and bring games to a swift conclusion.

How to beat

In the dynamic world of Magic: The Gathering, encountering a River Serpent on the battlefield can be a challenging obstacle due to its might in the late game, especially within a graveyard-stocked deck. This formidable creature boasts the ability to become unblockable, giving it a clear path to deal damage when you have five or more cards in your graveyard.

To circumvent the threat posed by River Serpent, it’s wise to have cards that can exile or shuffle your opponent’s graveyard into their library, disrupting their strategy. Graveyard hate cards like Tormod’s Crypt or Bojuka Bog can effectively neutralize the unblockable ability of the River Serpent. Additionally, instant-speed removal spells remain key; they can deal with the Serpent before your opponent reaches the critical graveyard threshold or when they attempt to attack. It’s essential to monitor your opponent’s graveyard closely and to act swiftly. Control the field and remove the River Serpent before it can slip past your defenses and turn the tide of the game.

Ultimately, incorporating efficient removal and graveyard disruption into your strategy will serve you well against creatures like the River Serpent and other similar threats that bank on graveyard mechanics to release their full potential on the MTG battlefield.

Cards like River Serpent

River Serpent is a creature spell in Magic: The Gathering that slides into decks fond of large, late-game threats. It shares a kinship with other hefty blue creatures such as Striped Riverwinder, which come with cycling abilities allowing for a degree of flexibility and card flow within a game. However, River Serpent stands out with its conditional unblockability, providing a potent offense in games where the opponent’s graveyard is stocked.

Likewise, Aven Initiate presents another parallel with its flying ability and reusability from the graveyard, although it leans towards a more aggressive early to mid-game strategy. Cycling is common between them, yet Aven Initiate lacks the potential for strategic unblockability that River Serpent offers.

To conclude, River Serpent fits into tactical builds that capitalize on opponent’s graveyard sizes, distinguishing itself from similar options with a unique combination of size, cycling, and conditionally evasive abilities, thus holding its own within MTG’s diverse creature lineup.

Cards similar to River Serpent by color, type and mana cost

Sun Quan, Lord of Wu - MTG Card versions

Arcanis the Omnipotent - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase River Serpent MTG card by a specific set like Amonkhet and Mystery Booster, 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 River Serpent and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The River Serpent Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2017-04-28 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Christopher Moeller.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2017-04-28	Amonkhet	AKH	66	2015	Normal	Black	Christopher Moeller
2	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	473	2015	Normal	Black	Christopher Moeller
3	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	AKH-66	2015	Normal	Black	Christopher Moeller

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where River Serpent has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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