Grove of the Burnwillows MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
RarityRare
TypeLand

Key Takeaways

  1. Provides mana without entering tapped, streamlining play for faster, more significant spell casting.
  2. The card supports multicolor decks with its flexible red and green mana production.
  3. Gives instant speed mana for reactive plays, enhancing flexibility in game strategy.

Text of card

: Add to your mana pool. : Add or to your mana pool. Each opponent gains 1 life.

Spring is the most beautiful season in the grove, when the new leaves open from their ember-buds in a race of leaping flames.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Grove of the Burnwillows doesn’t directly add cards to your hand, it allows for seamless mana generation without the setback of entering the battlefield tapped. This efficiency can lead to card advantage as you cast more significant spells ahead of schedule or deploy multiple spells in one turn, potentially drawing into more options with cards like “Ancient Stirrings” thanks to the color fixing it provides.

Resource Acceleration: A key feature of the Grove is its ability to produce both red and green mana, which is pivotal for resource acceleration in multicolored decks. It’s a nonbasic land that dodges the common restrictions faced by other similar lands, allowing for smoother and faster development of your board state—the foundational step towards winning.

Instant Speed: While the Grove itself is a land and not used at instant speed, the mana it provides can be leveraged at instant speed to react to opponents’ moves. This flexibility can be game-changing, enabling you to efficiently manage your resources while keeping options open for reactionary plays or end-of-turn shenanigans.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Grove of the Burnwillows doesn’t directly demand discarding cards, its value is inherently tied to your deck’s mechanism to benefit from granting opponents life. If those synergies are absent, the card might not perform optimally in your deck.

Specific Mana Cost: The mana provided by Grove of the Burnwillows is color-specific, adding either red or green to your mana pool. This can be less versatile for decks that require a broader range of mana colors and might not fit into every deck’s mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its unique function, there are situations where the land’s drawback—giving your opponent life—could be a significant disadvantage, especially in games where every point of life matters. Other lands offer utility without such a drawback, potentially being more appealing in a competitive setting.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Grove of the Burnwillows is a land card that can be included virtually in any deck requiring color fixing for red and green mana. Its capability to tap for colorless or to provide you with the needed red or green mana without coming into play tapped makes it a dependable choice in a variety of deck builds.

Combo Potential: This land synergizes well with cards that benefit from life gain or utilize enemy life gain for strategic advantages. It can power up strategies that thrive on opponents having higher life totals, such as leveraging the card Punishing Fire for recurring damage.

Meta-Relevance: Regardless of shifting metagames, a land that offers smooth mana accessibility while imposing minimal drawback to the user remains a staple. As metas often fluctuate, having Grove of the Burnwillows ensures your mana base can adapt to include top red and green spells that may become essential in new prevalent deck-types.


How to beat

Grove of the Burnwillows presents a unique challenge in Magic: The Gathering due to its ability to produce mana of different colors without the downside of coming into play tapped. However, one must strategize efficiently to gain the upper hand against this land card’s subtle power boost to the opponent by granting them life.

Contesting the Grove’s advantage can be accomplished by implementing land destruction cards, which dismantle the mana base it supports. Constructing a deck with options like Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin can disrupt the Grove’s utility. Targeted removal like Assassin’s Trophy offers flexibility in removing troublesome lands while simultaneously maintaining pressure with your own strategy.

It’s also worth considering the use of life reduction strategies to counteract the life-gain aspect. Cards like Skullcrack can prevent the health gain, ensuring that your opponent doesn’t benefit from the Grove’s effect. Integrating these methods into your game plan can decisively neutralize Grove of the Burnwillows, ensuring your path to victory remains unencumbered by your rival’s land assets.


Cards like Grove of the Burnwillows

Grove of the Burnwillows is a versatile land card in MTG that stands out for its ability to tap for colorless mana or provide a combination of red and green mana without any life cost to its controller. This quality aligns it closely with cards such as Karplusan Forest, which also produces red or green mana. However, unlike Grove of the Burnwillows, Karplusan Forest causes its controller to take damage, reflecting a significant drawback for players prioritizing life preservation.

Another comparable card is Stomping Ground. As a shock land, it can be fetched by certain land search cards and offers the possibility to come into play untapped at the expense of two life. Here, Grove of the Burnwillows provides a gentler alternative; it comes into play untapped without that life cost. Additionally, Horizon Canopy shares the trait of generating multiple mana colors but with an evident downside—it sacrifices itself to draw a card.

While each of these lands has its own strategic benefits, Grove of the Burnwillows provides a balanced solution for players seeking mana flexibility without the downside of self-inflicted damage, making it a distinct and valued piece in many MTG decks.

Karplusan Forest - MTG Card versions
Stomping Ground - MTG Card versions
Horizon Canopy - MTG Card versions
Karplusan Forest - Ice Age (ICE)
Stomping Ground - Guildpact (GPT)
Horizon Canopy - Future Sight (FUT)

Cards similar to Grove of the Burnwillows by color, type and mana cost

Taiga - MTG Card versions
Karplusan Forest - MTG Card versions
Mogg Hollows - MTG Card versions
Shivan Oasis - MTG Card versions
Mossfire Valley - MTG Card versions
Rockfall Vale - MTG Card versions
Contested Cliffs - MTG Card versions
Skarrg, the Rage Pits - MTG Card versions
Stomping Ground - MTG Card versions
Highland Weald - MTG Card versions
Fungal Reaches - MTG Card versions
Fire-Lit Thicket - MTG Card versions
Gruul Turf - MTG Card versions
Kazandu Refuge - MTG Card versions
Rootbound Crag - MTG Card versions
Kessig Wolf Run - MTG Card versions
Gruul Guildgate - MTG Card versions
Cinder Glade - MTG Card versions
Timber Gorge - MTG Card versions
Game Trail - MTG Card versions
Taiga - Masters Edition IV (ME4)
Karplusan Forest - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Mogg Hollows - Battle Royale Box Set (BRB)
Shivan Oasis - Invasion (INV)
Mossfire Valley - Fallout (PIP)
Rockfall Vale - Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Promos (PMID)
Contested Cliffs - Commander 2013 (C13)
Skarrg, the Rage Pits - Mystery Booster (MB1)
Stomping Ground - Ravnica: Clue Edition (CLU)
Highland Weald - Coldsnap (CSP)
Fungal Reaches - Time Spiral (TSP)
Fire-Lit Thicket - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Gruul Turf - Double Masters 2022 (2X2)
Kazandu Refuge - Planechase Anthology (PCA)
Rootbound Crag - Doctor Who (WHO)
Kessig Wolf Run - Commander 2020 (C20)
Gruul Guildgate - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Cinder Glade - Fallout (PIP)
Timber Gorge - Global Series Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling (GS1)
Game Trail - The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Grove of the Burnwillows MTG card by a specific set like Future Sight and From the Vault: Realms, 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 Grove of the Burnwillows and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Grove of the Burnwillows Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2007-05-04 and 2020-09-25. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12007-05-04Future SightFUT 176futurenormalblackDavid Hudnut
22012-08-31From the Vault: RealmsV12 82003normalblackCliff Childs
32017-11-17Iconic MastersIMA 2382015normalblackCliff Childs
42020-09-25Zendikar Rising ExpeditionsZNE 252015normalblackDonato Giancola

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Grove of the Burnwillows has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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