Lavabrink Venturer MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Human Soldier
Power 3
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Lavabrink Venturer offers adaptability with protection based on mana cost parity, enhancing its defensive capabilities.
  2. Efficient resource use and pressure applied through its 3/3 stats make it a formidable turn-three play.
  3. Highly relevant in current metas, it can counter prevalent trends with its unique protection choice.

Text of card

As Lavabrink Venturer enters the battlefield, choose odd or even. (Zero is even.) Lavabrink Venturer has protection from each mana value of the chosen quality.

"Take one wrong step out here and you're dead. I take only right steps."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Lavabrink Venturer’s unique ability to choose odd or even upon entering the battlefield makes it a versatile addition to your hand. This adaptability can lead to advantageous matchups in play, potentially rendering it immune to a host of common removal spells or creature abilities opponents might use, effectively serving as a form of card advantage by negating their potential plays.

Resource Acceleration: While the Lavabrink Venturer itself doesn’t accelerate resources directly, its solid stat line of 3/3 for a three mana cost makes it an efficient use of resources. Its presence can apply pressure early on, forcing your opponent to deal with it and potentially diverting their resources away from other strategies.

Instant Speed: Although Lavabrink Venturer can’t be played at instant speed, it supports strategies that do. By providing a reliable on-curve threat, it allows you to safely allocate mana in subsequent turns for instant speed interactions, confident in the knowledge that you’ve already established a substantial presence on the board.


Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: Lavabrink Venturer requires a precise combination of mana to cast, one white and two of any other color. This can be a blockade for decks that aren’t heavily invested in white or have a mana base that can’t consistently produce the necessary colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Lavabrink Venturer competes with other three-drop creatures that may offer immediate board impact or stronger abilities. In high-velocity decks, the cost is significant, as it could potentially slow down the deck’s momentum.

Discard Requirement: While the card itself does not have a discard requirement, it does warrant consideration for the types of protection it can offer. Inclusion in decks may inadvertently force players to discard other cards to keep a balanced strategy, considering its situational effectiveness against certain matchups.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Lavabrink Venturer is a flexible card that can be adapted for use in multiple deck archetypes. Its ability to gain protection from either even or odd CMC spells each turn makes it a resilient threat or defender on the board.

Combo Potential: This card synergizes well with decks that manipulate or care about mana costs, enabling strategies that can benefit from its unique protection mechanic. Additionally, the creature slots seamlessly into Human tribal decks, often enhancing such builds with its solid stats.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where spells of specific mana costs are dominant, Lavabrink Venturer can serve as an effective counter by choosing protection from the relevant CMC. Whether it’s against aggro decks laden with odd-cost spells or control decks heavy on even-costed removal, this card adjusts to provide strategic advantage over the prevalent trends.


How to beat

Confronting Lavabrink Venturer in a game of Magic: The Gathering requires strategic planning. As a creature with the ability to choose protection from even or odd each turn, it poses a unique challenge. Its versatility in dodging spells and abilities depending on the chosen parity makes it a resilient foe on the battlefield. Notably, it isn’t resistant to board wipes that don’t specify even or odd, such as Wrath of God or Damnation, which can clear the path by removing all creatures, including Lavabrink Venturer, without being hindered by its protection ability.

Alternative approaches include using colorless spells and permanents, as Lavabrink Venturer’s protection is number-based, not color-based; therefore, artifacts or Eldrazi spells can effectively target and remove it. Engaging this adversary, direct damage or targeted removal may be less effective due to its variable protection. Hence, utilizing flexible removal that doesn’t specify numerals or employing creatures with formidable combat stats can prevail against this creature. Employing these tactics can neutralize the Lavabrink Venturer and swing the momentum of the match in your favor.


Cards like Lavabrink Venturer

Lavabrink Venturer stands as a solid inclusion in the category of creatures capable of self-protection in Magic: The Gathering. It can be paralleled to cards like Paladin of Atonement, which has a resilience mechanism through its ability to get bigger when you lose life. However, Lavabrink Venturer takes a unique approach by providing the player the choice to grant it protection from odd or even converted mana costs, ensuring a kind of versatility that Paladin of Atonement lacks.

Another card that enters this conversation is Auriok Champion. While Auriok Champion offers protection from black and from red spells, its power is consistently at 1, unlike Lavabrink Venturer whose power can be a deciding factor during battles. Moreover, Lavabrink Venturer’s selective protection can strategically outmatch the fixed protection provided by the Champion. Next is Alseid of Life’s Bounty, a card providing not just self-protection but also the ability to protect other creatures at a low cost. Although versatile, it doesn’t offer the long-term board presence compared to the Venturer, which can stand its ground as a deterrent to a broader range of cards.

In summary, Lavabrink Venturer commands a unique slot among protective creatures in Magic: The Gathering, giving players strategic choices to adapt to the shifting landscapes of their games.

Paladin of Atonement - MTG Card versions
Auriok Champion - MTG Card versions
Alseid of Life's Bounty - MTG Card versions
Paladin of Atonement - Rivals of Ixalan Promos (PRIX)
Auriok Champion - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Alseid of Life's Bounty - Theros Beyond Death (THB)

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Pianna, Nomad Captain - Odyssey (ODY)
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Sanctum Prelate - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Diving Griffin - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Faithful Squire // Kaiso, Memory of Loyalty - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Kitsune Palliator - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Freewind Equenaut - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Sanctum Guardian - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lavabrink Venturer MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Promos, 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 Lavabrink Venturer and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Lavabrink Venturer Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2020-04-24 and 2020-04-24. Illustrated by Zoltan Boros.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 808892015normalblackZoltan Boros
22020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths PromosPIKO 19p2015normalblackZoltan Boros
32020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of BehemothsIKO 192015normalblackZoltan Boros
42020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of BehemothsIKO 3152015normalblackZoltan Boros
52020-04-24Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths PromosPIKO 19s2015normalblackZoltan Boros

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lavabrink Venturer has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

DateText
2020-04-17 For spells with in their mana costs, use the value chosen for X to determine the spell’s converted mana cost. If a permanent or card in any other zone has in its mana cost, X is considered to be 0.
2020-04-17 If Lavabrink Venturer somehow has no choice made for its ability, its last ability grants it no protection abilities.
2020-04-17 The converted mana cost of a token that isn’t a copy of another object is 0. A token that is a copy of another object has the same converted mana cost as that object.
2020-04-17 You choose odd or even for Lavabrink Venturer before it enters the battlefield. There’s no point at which players can target it before it has gained the appropriate protection abilities.

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