Essence of the Wild MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Mythic
Type	Creature — Avatar
Released	2011-09-30
Set symbol
Set name	Innistrad
Set code	ISD
Power	6
Toughness	6
Number	178
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Terese Nielsen

Key Takeaways

Turns all your future creatures into copies, amplifying board presence for massive offensive potential.
The high mana cost demands careful deck construction and strategic play to maximize value.
For the savvy collector, its synergy and meta-relevance make it a valuable addition to varied decks.

Text of card

Creatures you control enter the battlefield as a copy of Essence of the Wild.

Wander too far into the wild and it may take you for its own.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Essence of the Wild offers an intriguing form of card advantage by transforming all your future creatures into copies of itself. This unique ability effectively turns every creature spell you cast into another potential threat, enhancing the value of each card you play and bolstering your board presence.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly generating mana or treasure tokens, Essence of the Wild accelerates your resources by making every creature investment exponentially more valuable. By casting other creatures that would normally produce tokens or enter the battle with +1/+1 counters, you’re essentially accelerating your resource output by creating multiple instances of a 6/6 creature.

Instant Speed: Though Essence of the Wild itself isn’t an instant, it has a synergistic relationship with creatures that can be cast at instant speed. Any flash creature becomes a surprise 6/6 on the battlefield, allowing you to maintain an element of surprise and adapt to the game state, keeping your opponents guessing and on the defensive.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Essence of the Wild does not directly require discard, but its high mana cost can lead to situations where you have fewer cards in hand, limiting your ability to react to your opponent’s moves or hindering your strategic planning.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s mana cost is quite specific with three green mana symbols, which can make it challenging to cast in multicolored decks that aren’t heavily focused on green resources, limiting deck-building options.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of six mana, where three of those are green, Essence of the Wild is a significant investment. In a format where speed and efficiency are key, the comparatively high cost can be a downside since it can be slow to hit the battlefield, and there are alternative creatures or spells that can affect the game state sooner.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Essence of the Wild offers a unique gameplay edge as it becomes the go-to creature for all other creatures entering the battlefield under your control. It seamlessly blends into a diverse array of decks from token strategies to control setups that require formidable board presence.

Combo Potential: This card truly shines with its ability to synergize with numerous tokens and copy effects, multiplying your threat level exponentially. Imagine the look on your opponent’s face when every creature you cast is just as wild and powerful.

Meta-Relevance: In a game state dominated by creature-heavy tactics or when board wipes are frequent, Essence of the Wild stands out. It not only survives most general removals but also ensures that your side of the board quickly recovers and thrives, making it a tough adversary in evolving meta scenarios.

How to beat

Essence of the Wild stands quite unique in the world of Magic: The Gathering, imbuing each creature you cast with its colossal power and toughness. Facing down an army of 6/6 creatures can be daunting, but triumph is not out of reach. Key tactics against Essence of the Wild include using removal spells that can bypass hexproof or shroud, like board wipes or global effects such as Wrath of God or Damnation, which can clear the board without targeting individual creatures.

Counterspells also serve as an excellent preemptive measure against Essence of the Wild. By stopping it from hitting the battlefield in the first place, you neutralize the threat before it can impact the game. Enchantment-based removal like Pacifism or Journey to Nowhere can neutralize individual copies of the creature without initiating a board-wide wipe. Lastly, efficient creature-blocking strategies, possibly involving creatures with deathtouch, can present a formidable line of defense against even the most powerful assaults driven by Essence of the Wild.

Utilizing these strategies can level the playing field, transforming a grim situation into a winnable contest. With the right answers and timing, triumphing over the raw power of Essence of the Wild is more than feasible; it’s practicable.

Cards like Essence of the Wild

Essence of the Wild is a notable card in the wide realm of Magic: The Gathering for its unique ability to transform any creatures entering the battlefield under your control into a copy of itself. When we examine creatures like Progenitor Mimic, the influence of Essence of the Wild becomes evident. Progenitor Mimic can clone another creature on the battlefield during each of your upkeeps, making it a dynamic threat over time. However, it lacks the immediate and blanket cloning impact of Essence of the Wild.

Another card to consider is the legendary God-Eternal Oketra, which provides a 4/4 black Zombie creature token every time you cast a creature spell. While the tokens are consistently useful, they don’t mirror the power and toughness of God-Eternal Oketra itself nor do they possess her double strike capability. In this respect, Essence of the Wild’s effect of creating exact copies can result in a more powerful, unified board presence.

As players explore the strategic depths of Magic: The Gathering, Essence of the Wild stands out for its unmatched ability to populate the battlefield with formidable copies of itself, making it a distinct and possibly game-changing card among creatures with cloning-like mechanics.

Cards similar to Essence of the Wild by color, type and mana cost

Verdeloth the Ancient - MTG Card versions

Nemata, Grove Guardian - MTG Card versions

Kodama of the East Tree - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Essence of the Wild MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad, 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 Essence of the Wild and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Essence of the Wild has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2011-09-22	Because creatures you control enter the battlefield as a copy of Essence of the Wild, any enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities printed on such creatures won’t trigger.
2011-09-22	Creatures you control don’t copy whether Essence of the Wild is tapped or untapped, whether it has any counters on it or any Auras and Equipment attached to it, or any non-copy effects that have changed its power, toughness, types, color, or so on.
2011-09-22	External abilities may still affect how a creature enters the battlefield. For example, if your opponent controls Urabrask the Hidden, which reads, in part, “Creatures your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped,” a creature entering the battlefield under your control will be a tapped Essence of the Wild.
2011-09-22	If a creature such as Clone is entering the battlefield under your control, there will be two copy effects to apply: the creature’s own and Essence of the Wild’s. No matter what order these effects are applied, the creature will be a copy of Essence of the Wild when it enters the battlefield.
2011-09-22	If a creature such as Cryptoplasm that’s already on the battlefield copies Essence of the Wild and modifies its own copy effect, that modification is also copied by creatures entering the battlefield under your control.
2011-09-22	If you control more than one Essence of the Wild, creatures you control will enter the battlefield as a copy of the one whose copy effect you apply last.
2011-09-22	Other enters-the-battlefield replacement abilities printed on the creature entering the battlefield won’t be applied because the creature will already be Essence of the Wild at that point (and therefore it won’t have those abilities). For example, a creature that normally enters the battlefield tapped will enter the battlefield as an untapped Essence of the Wild, and a creature that would normally enter the battlefield with counters on it will enter the battlefield as an Essence of the Wild with no counters.
2011-09-22	Replacement effects that modify how a creature enters the battlefield are applied in the following order: first control-changing effects (such as Gather Specimens), then copy effects (such as the abilities of Essence of the Wild and Clone), then all other effects. This is a minor rules change to make Essence of the Wild and similar cards in the future work intuitively.