Hollow Trees MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
RarityRare
TypeLand

Key Takeaways

  1. Accumulates storage counters for a resource advantage, acting as a mana reserve for future moves.
  2. Restricts immediate mana access, with optimal use in longer games that favor preparedness.
  3. In a diverse mana meta, Hollow Trees faces competition but remains a niche strategy enhancer.

Text of card

Comes into play tapped. You may choose not to untap Hollow Trees during your untap phase and instead put a storage counter on it. oc T: Remove any number of storage counters from Hollow Trees. For each storage counter removed, add o G to your mana pool.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: With the ability to gradually accumulate extra resources, Hollow Trees offers an alternative form of card advantage. Over time, this advantage can add up to a significant lead in resources.

Resource Acceleration: Generates storage counters at no extra cost, which are effective for resource acceleration. These counters can later be cashed in for additional green mana, boosting your capacity to cast costlier spells earlier and outpacing your opponent.

Instant Speed: While Hollow Trees doesn’t directly operate at instant speed, it incentivizes holding back mana for instants and abilities. Strategically, this enhances your flexibility, allowing you to decide the best time to utilize your mana efficiently.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Hollow Trees requires you to skip a draw during your upkeep to place a storage counter, which can put you at a card disadvantage against opponents.

Specific Mana Cost: While it offers colorless mana, using it for a purpose other than its storage ability necessitates tapping it for green mana, restricting it to green-centric or multicolor decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: In the landscape of land cards, those that can produce mana without such restrictive conditions or delay are often preferred, putting Hollow Trees at a disadvantage in fast-paced games.


Reasons to Include Hollow Trees in Your Collection

Versatility: Hollow Trees offers a unique and slow form of mana acceleration, making it suitable for decks that can afford to play the long game. Its ability to store mana counters can help in strategies that require a burst of resources at a critical moment.

Combo Potential: Although primarily a land, its capability to accumulate and release multiple mana in a single turn means it can play a pivotal role in enabling combo execution, particularly in synergy with cards that reward you for tapping or untapping lands.

Meta-Relevance: In constructed formats where the game tends to stretch into longer battles of attrition, Hollow Trees shines by providing a steady stream of resource advantage. This card is particularly effective against control decks that allow you to set up your mana base in the early stages of the game.


How to beat

Hollow Trees is one of those lands in Magic: The Gathering that might seem innocuous at first glance but can be quite a pain to play against given enough time. This slow-building mana resource taps for colorless mana and requires a bit of patience, collecting storage counters during your upkeep when kept untapped. The beauty and challenge of countering Hollow Trees lies in its snowballing potential – if you let it gather too many counters, your opponent can unleash a large burst of mana for game-turning plays.

How do you outsmart the creeping threat of Hollow Trees? Timing and disruption are keys. Aggressive decks want to put pressure on opponents before they can make optimal use of their accumulated mana. Alternatively, control decks should focus on denying key spells that your opponent may cast with Hollow Trees’ resources. Cards that can remove or interact with lands, such as Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin, can directly address the threat Hollow Trees poses without letting it tilt the balance in favor of your opponent. By keeping their mana base in check, you can ensure that Hollow Trees doesn’t grow into an unmanageable problem.


Cards like Hollow Trees

Hollow Trees holds a unique place among land cards within Magic: The Gathering, often drawing parallels to its counterparts like Sand Silos and Bottomless Vault. Like Hollow Trees, these lands enter the battlefield tapped and accrue storage counters during your upkeep. The key divergence lies in their mana output. Hollow Trees, with its forest-centric storage, specifically caters to strategies that utilize green mana.

Where Hollow Trees sets itself apart is its focus on green mana production, which aligns well with green’s themes of growth and creature development. By contrast, Dwarven Hold and Icatian Store serve the needs of red and white mana pools respectively. Despite these differences, all share the same potential delay in mana accessibility, which can be a pivotal aspect of gameplay.

In summary, Hollow Trees might not be the go-to choice for immediate mana access, but its capacity for mana storage can pave the way for powerful late-game plays, especially in decks that benefit from large quantities of green mana.

Sand Silos - MTG Card versions
Bottomless Vault - MTG Card versions
Dwarven Hold - MTG Card versions
Icatian Store - MTG Card versions
Sand Silos - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Bottomless Vault - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Dwarven Hold - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Icatian Store - Fallen Empires (FEM)

Cards similar to Hollow Trees by color, type and mana cost

Forest - MTG Card versions
Havenwood Battleground - MTG Card versions
Snow-Covered Forest - MTG Card versions
Slippery Karst - MTG Card versions
Pendelhaven - MTG Card versions
Boseiju, Who Endures - MTG Card versions
Wirewood Lodge - MTG Card versions
Mosswort Bridge - MTG Card versions
Tranquil Thicket - MTG Card versions
Treetop Village - MTG Card versions
Blighted Woodland - MTG Card versions
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood - MTG Card versions
Hashep Oasis - MTG Card versions
Vivid Grove - MTG Card versions
Llanowar Reborn - MTG Card versions
Forest - Ravnica: Clue Edition (CLU)
Havenwood Battleground - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Snow-Covered Forest - Ice Age (ICE)
Slippery Karst - Commander 2014 (C14)
Pendelhaven - Friday Night Magic 2008 (F08)
Boseiju, Who Endures - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Wirewood Lodge - Onslaught (ONS)
Mosswort Bridge - Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC)
Tranquil Thicket - Commander 2021 (C21)
Treetop Village - Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis (DDR)
Blighted Woodland - Commander 2018 (C18)
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood - Neon Dynasty Commander (NEC)
Hashep Oasis - Amonkhet Remastered (AKR)
Vivid Grove - Commander Legends (CMR)
Llanowar Reborn - Commander 2021 (C21)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Hollow Trees MTG card by a specific set like Fallen Empires and Fifth Edition, 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 Hollow Trees and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Hollow Trees Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1994-11-01 and 1997-03-24. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11994-11-01Fallen EmpiresFEM 971993normalblackPat Lewis
21997-03-24Fifth Edition5ED 4181997normalwhiteDavid Seeley

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Hollow Trees has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2004-10-04 Counters are not lost if the land is changed to another land type. They wait around for the land to change back.
2004-10-04 If the land is tapped by some external effect, no counters are removed from it.
2004-10-04 It is only considered “tapped for mana” if you activate its mana ability and generate mana from it.
2004-10-04 Whether or not it is tapped is checked at the beginning of upkeep. If it is not tapped, the ability does not trigger. It also checks during resolution and you only get a counter if it is still tapped then.

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