Urborg Volcano MTG Card
2000-10-02 - Number 330
2001-08-08 - Number ar330
2001-08-08 - Number tvdl330
2003-07-28 - Number 327
2003-07-28 - Number 327★
2017-08-25 - Number 288
| Card sets | Released in 6 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Land |
Key Takeaways
- Urborg Volcano stabilizes mana bases, facilitating smoother casting of spells important to gaining card advantage.
- Resource acceleration through Urborg Volcano enables quicker access to crucial spells, keeping you ahead in the game.
- Coming into play tapped is a pace setback for Urborg Volcano, requiring players to plan for initial game tempo.
Text of card
Urborg Volcano comes into play tapped. oc T: Add o B or o R to your mana pool.
Deep in the heart of Urborg lie massive volcanoes whose thick black smoke covers the land with perpetual darkness.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Urborg Volcano doesn’t directly allow you to draw more cards, but it supports broader strategies that lead to card advantage. By ensuring your mana base is stable, you can more reliably cast the spells that will help you draw and leverage additional resources later in the game.
Resource Acceleration: As a nonbasic land capable of tapping for two different types of mana, Urborg Volcano plays a key role in resource acceleration. It helps you ramp up your mana availability which is crucial for casting key spells ahead of your opponent’s curve. This keeps you one step ahead in the race to deploy game-changing plays.
Instant Speed: While Urborg Volcano doesn’t operate at instant speed, it sets the stage for instant speed interactions. By smoothing out your mana access, it allows you to keep mana open for instants and abilities you may need to respond with during critical moments of a match.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Urborg Volcano isn’t a card demanding a discard directly, it is vital to note that engaging in land mechanics where you sacrifice or trade lands can set you back in card advantage. Ensuring you have sufficient card draw to counterbalance this can be necessary to maintain momentum.
Specific Mana Cost: Urborg Volcano taps for black or red mana, which might seem perfect for multicolor Rakdos decks. However, the inability to produce colorless mana can be a stumbling block for decks utilizing a broader color palette or those needing versatile mana resources for utility artifacts and spells.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Though it costs nothing to play from the hand, Urborg Volcano comes into play tapped. This can be quite a setback in a game where tempo is crucial. It delays the immediate usage of mana, potentially giving opponents the upper hand in the early stages of the game. There are other dual lands available that provide the same mana options without entering the battlefield tapped, although they might come with other conditions or costs. Selecting your lands is key to optimizing your deck’s performance.
Reasons to Include Urborg Volcano in Your Collection
Versatility: Urborg Volcano serves as a flexible land choice, smoothly slotting into decks that require both black and red mana. Its ability to tap for colorless or either of its two colors without entering the battlefield tapped makes it a dependable mana source in a variety of situations.
Combo Potential: As a nonbasic land with a dual mana capacity, Urborg Volcano has synergy with cards that benefit from controlling different land types or can turn land into powerful tools. This could enable unexpected combos or amplify strategies that capitalize on land type manipulation.
Meta-Relevance: In a game state that values efficient mana bases and color consistency, Urborg Volcano can help keep your deck on pace. It’s especially useful in Commander and other formats where access to multiple colors is essential and land-based strategies can have a significant impact on the board.
How to beat
Urborg Volcano serves a dual role in the realm of land cards within Magic: The Gathering. As a nonbasic land capable of tapping for both black and red mana, it adds versatility to a mana base, enabling a smoother execution of multicolored decks. Nevertheless, its comes-into-play-tapped condition presents a tempo disadvantage that astute players can exploit.
Counteracting the benefits of Urborg Volcano hinges on a strategy that emphasizes speed and disruption. Applying early game pressure with aggressive creatures can significantly reduce the opponent’s life total before they stabilize their mana. Disruptive spells such as land destruction or denial, like Ghost Quarter or Stone Rain, can further hamper their ability to recover from the setback of a tapped land. Aim to maintain board presence and keep your opponent reacting rather than executing their own strategy.
Overall, recognizing Urborg Volcano’s strengths and weaknesses is key in crafting a matchup plan. Taking advantage of the delay it imposes can shift the tide of battle in your favor, demonstrating that knowing your enemy’s cards is just as important as knowing your own in Magic: The Gathering.
Cards like Urborg Volcano
Urborg Volcano is a unique nonbasic land card in MTG that taps for colorless mana, or for both black and red mana at the cost of one life. In terms of comparisons, Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace springs to mind, offering the option to filter your mana for a combination of red and black mana while also presenting a discard ability, making it versatile yet not damaging to the user. Akoum Refuge is another relative, providing colored mana as well as a slight life gain upon entering the battlefield, contrasting with Urborg Volcano’s life loss.
Comparatively, Tainted Peak is an analogous card to Urborg Volcano with a more forgiving condition—it produces colorless mana or can tap for black or red mana if you control a Swamp. It adds the necessary colors to your mana pool without the life penalty, which can be advantageous in games where health conservation is crucial.
Ultimately, while there are several cards with similar functions, Urborg Volcano stands out with its straightforward mana generation at the cost of life—a trade-off that can be strategically beneficial for players who can afford the life points for a more efficient mana base in their MTG deck.
Cards similar to Urborg Volcano by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Urborg Volcano MTG card by a specific set like Invasion and World Championship Decks 2001, 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 Urborg Volcano and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- 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
See Magic products
Printings
The Urborg Volcano Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2000-10-02 and 2017-08-25. Illustrated by Tony Szczudlo.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000-10-02 | Invasion | INV | 330 | 1997 | normal | black | Tony Szczudlo | |
| 2 | 2001-08-08 | World Championship Decks 2001 | WC01 | ar330 | 1997 | normal | gold | Tony Szczudlo | |
| 3 | 2001-08-08 | World Championship Decks 2001 | WC01 | tvdl330 | 1997 | normal | gold | Tony Szczudlo | |
| 4 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 327 | 2003 | normal | white | Tony Szczudlo | |
| 5 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 327★ | 2003 | normal | black | Tony Szczudlo | |
| 6 | 2017-08-25 | Commander 2017 | C17 | 288 | 2015 | normal | black | Tony Szczudlo |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Urborg Volcano has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
