Brute Strength MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 7 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeInstant

Key Takeaways

  1. Brute Strength provides instant speed combat adjustments, often swaying the combat outcome in your favor.
  2. It can swiftly alter gameplay dynamics, propelling a strategy that capitalizes on surprise and aggression.
  3. Despite its benefits, the card requires red mana and offers no direct card advantage.

Text of card

Target creature gets +3/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.

It's not the size of the rock. It's how badly you want to lift it.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Brute Strength doesn’t grant direct card draw, it offers a significant temporary boost in power and toughness, often leading to a favorable combat outcome and potential card advantage by outmatching an opponent’s creature.

Resource Acceleration: Brute Strength isn’t a card for resource acceleration in the traditional sense. However, it can accelerate your game plan by enabling a quick and unexpected victory, especially when combined with trample or other direct damage abilities.

Instant Speed: The strength of this card lies in its capability to act at instant speed, allowing the element of surprise during combat. This enables players to effectively alter the outcome of battles or even the game itself, by providing the necessary power at the crucial moment.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Brute Strength boosts a creature’s power and toughness, it doesn’t come without its drawbacks. Unlike some combat tricks that provide additional value, this card offers no card advantage or preservation, potentially leaving you with fewer options down the line.

Specific Mana Cost: The need to have red mana available can be restrictive for some players. In a multicolored deck, finding the right mana source exactly when you need to play Brute Strength can pose a challenge, potentially leading to missed opportunities during critical phases of the game.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Even though Brute Strength’s mana cost isn’t extravagant, when we compare it to other instant speed combat tricks in MTG, we find that some may offer similar or better effects for a lower cost. This may affect deck efficiency, especially when aiming to maximize the use of mana each turn.


Reasons to Include Brute Strength in Your Collection

Versatility: Brute Strength is a dynamic card that can be seamlessly incorporated into various deck archetypes, particularly those that lean towards aggressive strategies or prowess mechanics. Its applicability across multiple formats also makes it a solid choice for players looking to enhance their creature’s impact.

Combo Potential: This card adds a substantial boost to creatures, enabling them to break through stalemates or turn the tide in combat. It’s perfect for decks that thrive on surprise tactics or those that synergize with instant-speed buffs to create potent combat tricks and unexpected wins.

Meta-Relevance: Given its ability to quickly shift combat math in your favor, Brute Strength holds its value in a meta that favors quick, decisive battles. In environments where tempo plays a significant role, this card can be the difference between victory and defeat during critical turns.


How to beat

Countering the impact of Brute Strength in a game of Magic: The Gathering requires strategizing around its significant temporary power and toughness boost. This red instant card not only adds a notable three extra power to a creature but also tacks on one additional toughness and even grants it trample until end of turn. Facing a surprise boost from an opponent wielding Brute Strength can turn the tides of combat in their favor.

To outmaneuver this, effective tactics include maintaining open mana for instant-speed removal spells that can eliminate the buffed creature before it deals damage. Furthermore, utilizing creatures with high toughness can mitigate the trample damage that Brute Strength enables. Cards with bounce abilities that return the pumped creature to its owner’s hand can also neutralize the threat. Spell-based strategies incorporating counterspells to disrupt your opponent’s well-laid plans are another effective way of dealing with it. A proactive approach involving these methods can ensure you stay one step ahead, making Brute Strength less of a game-changer in battle.

Ultimately, anticipation and readiness to react can neutralize Brute Strength’s influence, keeping your opponent’s creatures at bay and maintaining control of the board state.


BurnMana Recommendations

Discovering the optimal playstyle is key to mastering the landscapes of MTG and Brute Strength might just be the card you need to tip the scales in your favor. Considering its swift power boost and the addition of trample, it has the potential to swing an otherwise balanced combat to your advantage. Embrace the instant speed of this card and catch your opponent off guard for a game-changing moment. Keen to explore how Brute Strength can revolutionize your deck? Dive deeper with us as we unpack strategies and synergies that could cement your path to victory. Let’s unravel the might of Brute Strength together!


Cards like Brute Strength

Brute Strength is a powerful instant that gives a creature a solid boost in Magic: The Gathering. Similar to Giant Growth, a classic combat trick that offers a slightly more substantial power and toughness increase for the same cost. While Brute Strength trails by one point of toughness, it compensates with the bonus of granting trample, allowing excess damage to spill over to the opponent.

Another card in this family is Titan’s Strength. It provides an additional scry benefit, which helps in planning future moves, and it also costs one red mana. However, the extra point of damage from Brute Strength and the trample effect can be a game-changer, allowing for a potential breakthrough that Titan’s Strength can’t always offer. Then there’s Sure Strike, offering a similar instant-speed advantage and a higher power boost, yet still, it lacks the synergy of trample.

Comparing these spells, Brute Strength holds its ground as a choice combat trick for players looking to surprise opponents and push through critical damage. Its trample ability, paired with a decent bonus to power and toughness, makes it a formidable option in aggressive red decks in MTG.

Giant Growth - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Titan's Strength - Theros (THS)
Sure Strike - Battle for Zendikar (BFZ)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Brute Strength MTG card by a specific set like Oath of the Gatewatch and Amonkhet, 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 Brute Strength and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Brute Strength Magic the Gathering card was released in 7 different sets between 2016-01-22 and 2020-08-13. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12016-01-22Oath of the GatewatchOGW 1032015normalblackWayne Reynolds
22017-04-28AmonkhetAKH 1222015normalblackNils Hamm
32017-10-24Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. GoblinsDDT 352015normalblackWayne Reynolds
42019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 8772015normalblackWayne Reynolds
52019-11-15Game Night 2019GN2 372015normalblackWayne Reynolds
62020-08-13Amonkhet RemasteredAKR 1422015normalblackNils Hamm
72020-09-26The ListPLST DDT-352015normalblackWayne Reynolds

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Brute Strength has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks