Durkwood Baloth MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Durkwood Baloth’s ability to make an immediate impact when its suspend condition resolves can swing the board in your favor. Its massive presence compensates for the card’s delayed entry, potentially outclassing opponents’ creatures to maintain superiority.

Resource Acceleration: Although this card doesn’t directly contribute to resource acceleration, its suspend allows you to allocate mana elsewhere in the early game. This means by the time the Baloth enters the battlefield, you can have other resources or threats in place, maximizing your tempo.

Instant Speed: While the Baloth itself does not operate at instant speed, the flexibility of the suspend mechanic allows you to plan its arrival strategically. It can create a surprise element as the suspension concludes, essentially working as a delayed instant that provides a formidable creature when the time is right.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Durkwood Baloth does not have a discard requirement, its suspend ability necessitates strategic forethought. Having it enter the battlefield in later turns could be at odds with immediate board demands or an agile playstyle.

Specific Mana Cost: Durkwood Baloth requires a considerable amount of green mana, totaling to five. This cost anchors it firmly in green-centric decks, potentially limiting its integration with more diverse or color-intensive strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although summoning Durkwood Baloth via suspend may alleviate its initial casting cost, six mana for a 5/5 creature without additional abilities can be steep. In faster-paced games or environments where lower-cost creatures provide similar value, the Baloth might not always be the most mana-efficient play.

Reasons to Include Durkwood Baloth in Your Collection

Versatility: Durkwood Baloth’s flexibility is seen in its suspend ability, allowing it to mesh with decks that benefit from time-based strategies or need effective late-game creature drops.

Combo Potential: As a creature with a solid body, Durkwood Baloth synergizes well with strategies revolving around creature-based combos or those that capitalize on power and toughness for various effects.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where slower, more controlling decks prevail, Durkwood Baloth offers a cost-effective way to bring a substantial threat to the board, potentially bypassing counter-heavy tactics.

How to beat Durkwood Baloth

Durkwood Baloth presents itself as a solid creature in MTG with its imposing 5/5 stats and the ability to sneak onto the battlefield as early as turn three thanks to its suspend mechanic. To outmaneuver this beast, control decks are a reliable go-to. Cards with exile effects like Path to Exile or Oblivion Ring bypass the Baloth’s hefty size, efficiently removing it from play without triggering any leave-the-battlefield effects.

Moreover, countering Durkwood Baloth before it emerges is also a smart tactic. Spells such as Cancel or Mana Leak work perfectly by targeting the suspended card, thwarting the Baloth’s arrival entirely. Tempo plays prove useful as well; bouncing a suspended Baloth back to the opponent’s hand delays the threat and sets them back on resources. In effect, anything that disrupts the suspend timeline or handles the creature without going toe-to-toe is key to earning the upper hand against Durkwood Baloth in your matches.