Snakeform MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeInstant

Key Takeaways

  1. Neutralizes threats and offers substantial strategic control, tilting the battlefield in your favor.
  2. Instant speed allows flexible responses during crucial game phases or abilities activations.
  3. Despite mana restrictions, it’s a versatile card that can fit well in green and blue decks.

Text of card

Target creature loses all abilities and becomes a 1/1 green Snake until end of turn. Draw a card.

Losing his possessions distressed him, but the lack of limbs was strangely liberating.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Casting Snakeform can turn a potentially complex battlefield situation to your favor. By turning an opposing creature into a harmless 1/1 with no abilities until end of turn, you effectively neutralize a threat temporarily. This can swing combat outcomes or deactivate abilities that could otherwise cause you significant problems, keeping your hand filled with better opportunities.

Resource Acceleration: While Snakeform itself doesn’t directly boost your mana pool, by changing an opponent’s creature into a smaller creature, it ensures that your creatures are more likely to survive combat, preserving your board and the resources you’ve invested. This indirectly helps maintain your momentum and accelerate your game plan without needing to commit additional resources to the board.

Instant Speed: The instant speed of Snakeform provides you the flexibility to disrupt your opponent’s strategies at the most opportune moments. It can be a game-changer during the combat phase or in response to an activation of an ability that relies on the creature’s power, toughness, or inherent abilities. The tactical advantage of instant speed cannot be overstated, allowing you to adapt to the constantly evolving game state.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: As an enchantment that requires careful deck building to optimize its full potential, Snakeform necessitates players to often discard cards to enable various synergies. This can be a setback when your hand is already depleted or when the discarded card is essential for later stages of the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Snakeform comes with a precise mana cost, demanding both green and blue. This specificity can restrict its inclusion to only certain types of decks having those colors. Decks not running both green and blue mana sources may find it difficult to incorporate this card effectively.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Snakeform’s ability to turn a creature into a 1/1 snake with no abilities may not always represent the best use of resources. When compared to other cards with similar or even better effects at a reduced mana investment, Snakeform may seem less appealing in terms of efficiency, especially in fast-paced matches where mana conservation is key.


Reasons to Include Snakeform in Your Collection

Versatility: Snakeform is a multifaceted card that can fit into a variety of decks, excelling in those that require the ability to neutralize big threats. Its ability to turn any creature into a harmless 1/1 with no abilities allows players to manage the battlefield effectively.

Combo Potential: This card can work wonders with strategies that capitalize on creatures’ power or abilities being altered. It can be used to eliminate blockers, power up your own creatures if they have a static ability that benefits from opponents casting spells, or it can simply create surprise interactions in combat or with your cards that care about creatures dying.

Meta-Relevance: Given its ability to override potent creature abilities, Snakeform is a great inclusion in a meta where creature-based strategies are dominant. It allows control or utility decks to handle problematic creatures without spending a slot on permanent removal, retaining card advantage.


How to beat

Snakeform is a unique and versatile card in the world of Magic: The Gathering. This spell not only transforms a creature into a 1/1 green Snake with no abilities until end of turn but also allows you to draw a card, thus providing a defensive mechanism while cycling through your deck. When facing an adversary wielding Snakeform, it’s crucial to tactically manage your threats on the battlefield. One strategy is to bait out the Snakeform on a less critical creature, reserving your more potent threats for when your opponent is less prepared to respond.

Additionally, remember that Snakeform can also target your own creatures if you’re looking to dodge a detrimental enchantment or an opponent’s ability targeting a specific type of creature. In essence, maintaining a diversity of threats and keeping an eye on your opponent’s mana can swing the interaction to your favor. Being unpredictable and responsive can minimize the impact of Snakeform on your game plan. As with any card, knowing when to apply pressure and when to hold back can be the key to mastering the match-up against this transformative spell.


Cards like Snakeform

Snakeform is an intriguing Magic: The Gathering card that offers a unique blend of creature control and card draw. When it comes to functionality, Snakeform shares similarities with cards like Turn to Frog and Ovinize which transform target creatures into less threatening forms. Snakeform edges out due to its additional perk of allowing the controller to draw a card, providing both board impact and card advantage in one spell.

Exploring further, we find Pongify and Rapid Hybridization, both spells that serve a similar role in neutralizing threats by converting them into harmless creatures. However, where they differ is that while Pongify and Rapid Hybridization destroy the creature before creating a token in its place, Snakeform uniquely affects the creature’s abilities and power/toughness without removing it outright, thus bypassing death triggers. This makes Snakeform a strategic option against creatures with lethal effects upon dying.

Ultimately, in the realm of petty polymorph spells – turning fierce monsters into benign beings – Snakeform’s extra card draw makes it a versatile trick for players looking to hinder their opponent’s strategies while cycling through their deck.

Turn to Frog - MTG Card versions
Ovinize - MTG Card versions
Pongify - MTG Card versions
Rapid Hybridization - MTG Card versions
Turn to Frog - Magic 2012 (M12)
Ovinize - Planar Chaos (PLC)
Pongify - Planar Chaos (PLC)
Rapid Hybridization - Gatecrash (GTC)

Cards similar to Snakeform by color, type and mana cost

Quandrix Command - MTG Card versions
Winged Portent - MTG Card versions
Voidslime - MTG Card versions
Cytoshape - MTG Card versions
Grow Old Together - MTG Card versions
Mutational Advantage - MTG Card versions
Quandrix Command - The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)
Winged Portent - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
Voidslime - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Cytoshape - Dissension (DIS)
Grow Old Together - Alchemy: Wilds of Eldraine (YWOE)
Mutational Advantage - Fallout (PIP)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Snakeform MTG card by a specific set like Eventide and Commander 2015, 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 Snakeform and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Snakeform Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2008-07-25 and 2024-02-23. Illustrated by Jim Nelson.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12008-07-25EventideEVE 1612003normalblackJim Nelson
22015-11-13Commander 2015C15 2422015normalblackJim Nelson
32024-02-23Ravnica: Clue EditionCLU 2092015normalblackJim Nelson

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Snakeform has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2008-08-01 If Snakeform affects a creature with changeling, the creature will lose its changeling ability, and will no longer be all creature types.
2008-08-01 If the affected creature gains an ability after Snakeform resolves, it will keep that ability.
2008-08-01 Snakeform doesn’t counter abilities that have already triggered or been activated. In particular, there is no way to cast this to stop a creature’s “At the beginning of your upkeep” or “When this creature enters the battlefield” abilities from triggering.
2009-10-01 The power/toughness-setting effect overwrites other effects that set power and toughness only if those effects existed before this spell resolved. It will not overwrite effects that modify power or toughness (whether from a static ability, counters, or a resolved spell or ability), nor will it overwrite effects that set power and toughness which come into existence after this spell resolves. Effects that switch the creature’s power and toughness are always applied after any other power or toughness changing effects, including this one, regardless of the order in which they are created.

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