Village Survivors MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Human
Abilities	Fateful hour, Vigilance
Released	2012-02-03
Set symbol
Set name	Dark Ascension
Set code	DKA
Power	4
Toughness	5
Number	130
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	David Rapoza

Key Takeaways

Boosting card advantage while offering vigilance enhances strategic depth and battlefield control.
Discarding and specific mana costs introduce strategic trade-offs for deck building considerations.
Inclusion in collections is beneficial due to the card’s versatility, combo potential, and meta relevance.

Guide to Vigilance card ability

In the strategic universe of Magic: The Gathering (MTG), the vigilance ability stands out as a powerful tool for players. This potent keyword allows creatures to attack without tapping, keeping them ready and alert to defend against incoming threats. It represents a perfect balance between aggression and defense, offering a dynamic approach to gameplay. Lets dive deeper into how vigilance shapes the battlefield.

Text of card

Vigilance Fateful hour — As long as you have 5 or less life, other creatures you control have vigilance.

As their villages fell to werewolves, fleeing refugees discovered they too had remarkable survival instincts.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Village Survivors can boost your hand by granting a peek at the top card of your library at every upkeep, giving you the opportunity to plan ahead and utilize your resources more effectively.

Resource Acceleration: By offering vigilance to your other creatures, Village Survivors helps in maintaining a strong defense while still committing to an aggressive offense, thus accelerating your board presence and resource utility during the game.

Instant Speed: Village Survivors may not directly benefit from instant speed themselves, but this trait in other cards can complement the Survivors’ vigilant state, allowing you to adapt to incoming threats or opportunities swiftly while keeping a solid line of defense.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Village Survivors demands a discard from the player before it can be fully utilized, which can be problematic during the game when maintaining a full hand can make or break your strategy. Having to let go of a potentially crucial card can lead to difficult decisions and may disrupt the flow of your game plan.

Specific Mana Cost: The card requires a specific combination of mana, including both green and white, to cast, which can limit its inclusion to decks built around those colors. For players running multicolored decks, it may be less of a concern, but for mono-colored deck enthusiasts, Village Survivors may not fit seamlessly into their strategy.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its casting cost sitting on the higher side, Village Survivors enters the battlefield later than some other creatures. This can be a drawback in fast-paced games where early momentum is crucial. Although its abilities might justify the cost for some, the high mana requirement can be seen as a hindrance, particularly when pitted against decks aiming to win quickly or establish board control early on.

Reasons to Include Village Survivors in Your Collection

Versatility: Village Survivors can be a key card in various deck archetypes, providing both a sizeable creature and vigilance to your forces. With its additional human synergies, it enhances strategies based on creature type themes across different formats.

Combo Potential: With Fateful hour, Village Survivors allows for powerful late-game comebacks, particularly in decks that manipulate life totals. This can lead to surprising wins by enabling potent combos as you reach critical life thresholds.

Meta-Relevance: As the metagame shifts to value resilience and endurance, Village Survivors fits well into decks that aim to outlast opponents with a solid defense and creatures that can attack without letting down their guard.

How to beat

Village Survivors is a powerhouse in MTG’s realm of creatures, offering a solid defensive asset with its toughness and the added boon of granting vigor to other creatures you control. Yet, like any card, strategizing around its potential weaknesses can give you the upper hand. Playing around Village Survivors requires pinpoint timing and a clear understanding of the battlefield.

Removal spells that don’t rely on damage are key—think along the lines of Path to Exile or Terminate. Negating the Village Survivors’ fortitude and fending off the buff it provides to others requires a removal that can bypass its tenacity. Additionally, board wipes like Wrath of God or Damnation can reset the board, nullifying the strength Village Survivors lend to your opponent’s forces.

Another tactic is to limit its impact by taking control of the match’s pace. Forcing your opponent to respond to your threats instead of building their board presence can put the power in your hands. This shifts the game’s focus away from the Survivors’ defensive capabilities, and if you maintain this pressure, their influence dwindles. So, facing Village Survivors is not about brute force, it’s about clever maneuvers and strategic planning.

Cards like Village Survivors

Village Survivors stands as a robust option in the realm of creature cards equipped with hexproof in Magic: The Gathering. It shares some defensive characteristics with cards like Sigarda, Host of Herons, which also grants that critical immunity from spells or abilities the opponents control. However, Village Survivors offers the unique advantage of a Fateful Hour ability providing a toughness boost to your creatures when your life total is low, whereas Sigarda offers additional protection by preventing creatures from being sacrificed.

When examining other related cards, Lumberknot is a creature that gains strength from another angle. Unlike Village Survivors, which beefs up defensively, Lumberknot intensifies its power and toughness whenever another creature dies. It’s a potent alternative in game scenarios abundant with creature deaths. Dungrove Elder is another example, it may not offer the Fateful Hour ability but it grows in power and toughness with each Forest you control, also retaining the indispensable hexproof.

Considering these comparisons, Village Survivors holds its ground as a flexible defender in Magic: The Gathering. It’s especially compelling when the game’s tide is against you, providing a much-needed fortification that could turn a dire situation into a winning comeback.

Sigarda, Host of Herons - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Village Survivors by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Village Survivors MTG card by a specific set like Dark Ascension, 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 Village Survivors and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Village Survivors has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2011-01-22	Tapping creatures to attack with them happens just before any required costs to attack with those creatures are paid. If paying such a cost causes your life total to fall below 6, your tapped attackers will have vigilance, but the ability will have no benefit that combat.