Glade Watcher MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Elemental
Abilities Defender,Formidable
Power 3
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Glade Watcher’s Formidable offers repetitive block opportunities, conserving valuable hand resources.
  2. Low casting cost accelerates playing bigger threats, optimizing your mana distribution.
  3. Instant speed spells complement Glade Watcher, allowing for unexpected formidable activations during combat.

Text of card

Defender Formidable — : Glade Watcher can attack this turn as though it didn't have defender. Activate this ability only if creatures you control have total power 8 or greater.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Although the Glade Watcher doesn’t directly increase your hand size, its Formidable ability presents the opportunity for repeatable board presence without the expenditure of additional cards, potentially safeguarding your card advantage by providing a dependable blocker.

Resource Acceleration: Glade Watcher doesn’t offer traditional mana ramp, yet its low casting cost can help in deploying larger threats earlier by allowing you to devote your mana resources to other spells sooner rather than having to invest in multiple smaller creatures to establish early board control.

Instant Speed: While Glade Watcher itself isn’t an instant, it benefits greatly from spells cast at instant speed that can activate its Formidable ability unexpectedly during the combat phase, which can lead to advantageous blocks or surprise attacks that your opponent might not have anticipated.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Glade Watcher mandates discarding another green card from your hand to unlock its formidable form, a stipulation that can potentially deplete valuable hand resources, especially if you’re strategizing for a late-game presence.

Specific Mana Cost: With an activation cost that requires a commitment to green mana, Glade Watcher can be restrictive to include in multi-colored decks, potentially clashing with the mana curve and necessitating a deck more concentrated in green.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Glade Watcher offers decent value as a durable blocker early in the game, its utility is checked by a relatively high transformation cost. This can result in lost tempo, as deploying other threats or interacting with the board could be sacrificed to invigorate just one creature.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Glade Watcher offers a solid defensive option for any deck focusing on bolstering its board presence. The card can act as an effective wall in the early game, deterring attacks with its formidable toughness.

Combo Potential: As a creature with formidable, Glade Watcher works well with mechanics that enable it to attack without having to reach the formidable threshold. Coupling this card with ways to grant it vigilance or untap it can surprise opponents and serve as a pivotal move within a match.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where aggressive early creatures are prevalent, Glade Watcher can serve as a cost-effective way to maintain stability until you establish a more dominant board state. Its ability to hinder early onslaughts makes it a relevant choice for decks needing time to ramp up to their full potential.


How to beat

In the lush forests of Magic: The Gathering, the Glade Watcher stands guard. As a formidable defender, it excels at halting ground assaults with its robust constitution. Yet, like any tactician will tell you, every sentinel has its blind spots. To overcome this verdant guardian, the key is to take to the skies. Evasion abilities such as flying or trample allow your creatures to circumvent its sturdy defense. Alternatively, spells that remove defenders from play can swiftly clear the path to victory. Don’t underestimate enchantments or abilities that negate or tap creatures, either. They subtly disarm the Glade Watcher, rendering it a mere observer to your strategy unfolding.

Managing the battlefield is essential, and sorcery or instant removal spells are your trusty tools to ensure the Glade Watcher doesn’t impede your game plan. Employing direct damage or exile effects can neutralize it before its formidable defense becomes an issue. The forests may whisper and the leaves may rustle, but with the right approach, the Glade Watcher’s vigil can be rendered ineffectual, granting you the upper hand in the intricate dance of MTG combat.


Cards like Glade Watcher

Glade Watcher holds its ground as a unique defender in Magic: The Gathering. It shares the defender attribute with creatures like Wall of Blossoms, which also offers a solid defense with the added advantage of card draw upon entering the battlefield. Yet, Glade Watcher has a different take with its formidable possibility of becoming an attacker through its formidable ability.

Examining Overgrown Battlement, another creature that ticks the defender box, we notice it also taps for mana, giving a slice of ramp to your gameplay, akin to a green mage’s aspiration. This accelerates the potential to summon bigger threats in future turns. Glade Watcher may not produce mana, but it does provide a sizable body on the board that can transition into offense when the time is right.

Sentry of the Underworld is one more relatable character with a defensive role at first glance. Still, it boasts flying and vigilance, and like Glade Watcher, it can shrug off its defender status at a cost, which in this case involves life points. Given these unique abilities in Sentinel’s kit, each card serves different strategic objectives within a deck.

While Glade Watcher may not offer additional abilities like card draw or mana acceleration, its low-cost and potential to become an active threat later on can make it a worthy consideration for decks looking to balance early game defense with mid to late-game offensive capabilities.

Wall of Blossoms - MTG Card versions
Overgrown Battlement - MTG Card versions
Sentry of the Underworld - MTG Card versions
Wall of Blossoms - Stronghold (STH)
Overgrown Battlement - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)
Sentry of the Underworld - Theros (THS)

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Glade Watcher MTG card by a specific set like Dragons of Tarkir 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 Glade Watcher and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Glade Watcher Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2015-03-27 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Jesper Ejsing.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12015-03-27Dragons of TarkirDTK 1882015normalblackJesper Ejsing
22019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 12222015normalblackJesper Ejsing
32020-09-26The ListPLST DTK-1882015normalblackJesper Ejsing

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Glade Watcher has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2015-02-25 If you control a creature with power less than 0, use its actual power when calculating the total power of creatures you control. For example, if you control three creatures with powers 4, 5, and -2, the total power of creatures you control is 7.
2015-02-25 Other formidable abilities are triggered abilities with an “intervening ‘if’” clause. Such abilities check the total power of creatures you control twice: once at the appropriate time to see if the ability will trigger, and again as the ability tries to resolve. If, at that time, the total power of creatures you control is no longer 8 or greater, the ability will have no effect.
2015-02-25 Some formidable abilities are activated abilities that require creatures you control to have total power 8 or greater. Once you activate these abilities, it doesn’t matter what happens to the total power of creatures you control.

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