Granny's Payback MTG Card
2004-01-01 - Number 13
2004-11-19 - Number 99
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 8 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Sorcery |
Text of card
You gain life equal to your age.
Few remember the exploits of Dakkon's grandmother, Eunice Blackblade.
Cards like Granny's Payback
Granny’s Payback is a unique card that adds a humorous twist to life gain strategies in Magic: The Gathering. It shares similarities with cards such as Heroes’ Reunion, which provides an instant boost to a player’s life total. Heroes’ Reunion offers a significant seven life points increase without any prerequisites. Granny’s Payback stands out with its condition-based life gain, equal to your age – a feature that can potentially yield a high return but is unpredictable compared to the consistent outcome of Heroes’ Reunion.
Looking at Alabaster Potion, another life gain card, we see a flexible option allowing players to distribute life or deal damage based on the amount of mana invested. While Alabaster Potion offers versatility, it lacks the potential for a large one-time life gain jump that Granny’s Payback could provide, especially in games involving older players or in long-running sessions where age can become a gameplay factor.
Through this lens, Granny’s Payback positions itself as a playful and intriguing card in the life gain category. Its dependence on a player’s age offers a unique and dynamic contribution to Magic: The Gathering that both enlivens the lore and brings an unexpected twist to standard life gain strategies.
Cards similar to Granny's Payback by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Granny’s Payback offers a unique tier of card advantage by increasing your hand size based on your age, which can lead to a significant boost in the resources at your disposal, especially for players who have celebrated many birthdays.
Resource Acceleration: The life gain aspect of Granny’s Payback can synergize well with cards that convert life into resources, offering a form of acceleration that aids in outpacing your opponents through life-based strategies.
Instant Speed: The ability to cast Granny’s Payback at instant speed provides flexibility in gameplay, allowing you to respond to your opponents’ actions or end-of-turn plays, which can be critical for dynamic strategy execution and maintaining the upper hand in matches.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Granny’s Payback demands players to discard a card, which could deplete your hand and hinder strategic flexibility, especially when you’re already struggling to maintain card advantage.
Specific Mana Cost: This card’s cost is particularly color-weighted, requiring a mix of green and black mana. Players not running a Golgari or similar color-pie deck could find this cost challenging to fulfill consistently.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that’s on the higher side, you might find it taxing on your resources to play Granny’s Payback effectively. There are alternatives in the same mana range that could potentially yield a higher payoff or be more versatile in play.
Reasons to Include Granny’s Payback in Your Collection
Versatility: Granny’s Payback offers a unique blend of life gain and surprise factor, making it a versatile addition to life-centered decks or those looking for unconventional ways to stabilize against aggressive opponents.
Combo Potential: This card can significantly enhance strategies focused on leveraging high life totals for powerful effects, such as empowering creatures or activating abilities that scale with the amount of life you have.
Meta-Relevance: In a game where life totals are a constant battleground, Granny’s Payback provides a robust swing that can be particularly effective if the metagame favors burn decks or strategies that aim to quickly reduce your life total.
How to beat
Granny’s Payback is a unique card within the Magic: The Gathering universe, notorious for its age-rewarding mechanic. Players attempting to overcome Granny’s Payback should approach it with a strategy that thwarts or mitigates life gain. Cards that deal with life gain directly, such as Tainted Remedy, which turns life gain into life loss, can be particularly effective against it. Sustaining an aggressive gameplay pace is also beneficial, ensuring that the opponent doesn’t gain the upper hand through massive life gain.
Additionally, running disruption to take Granny’s Payback out of your opponent’s hand before it’s played can turn the tide. Thoughtseize and Duress are classic examples of such cards, allowing you to pick apart your opponent’s strategy before they can deploy their effects. If Granny’s Payback does hit the board, having an efficient removal ready to clear it out is crucial. Ensuring your deck has answers to prevent or react to substantial life changes can make all the difference in your gameplay against a life-oriented strategy.
Conclusively, staying one step ahead with preemptive strikes and maintaining removal options in your arsenal will give you the edge when facing off against the unique challenges posed by Granny’s Payback in your Magic: The Gathering matches.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Granny's Payback MTG card by a specific set like Arena League 2004 and Unhinged, 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 Granny's Payback and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Printings
The Granny's Payback Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2004-01-01 and 2004-11-19. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2004-01-01 | Arena League 2004 | PAL04 | 13 | 2003 | Normal | Silver | Kaja Foglio | |
| 2 | 2004-11-19 | Unhinged | UNH | 99 | 2003 | Normal | Silver | Joel Thomas |