Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Enchantment
Abilities Transform

Key Takeaways

  1. Secures card advantage by potentially adding multiple creatures to your hand, enriching strategic possibilities.
  2. Transforms into a mana-rich land, boosting gameplay with earlier high-cost spells or creature deployment.
  3. Flips at instant speed, enabling surprise tactics and setting up for powerful preceding turns.

Text of card

When Growing Rites of Itlimoc enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a creature card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. At the beginning of your end step, if you control four or more creatures, transform Growing Rites of Itlimoc.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Growing Rites of Itlimoc provides a remarkable edge by potentially placing multiple creatures into your hand. This increases your options and keeps your hand filled with resources to deploy against opponents.

Resource Acceleration: Once flipped into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, this powerful enchanted land can tap for a substantial amount of mana. This translates into a significant boost, allowing you to cast high-cost spells or flood the board with creatures much earlier than usual.

Instant Speed: While the card itself is not an instant, the transformation into a land happens at instant speed at the beginning of your end step. This can enable you to transform Itlimoc unexpectedly, setting the stage for powerful plays before your next turn begins.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Growing Rites of Itlimoc doesn’t directly require a discard, its transformation condition necessitates a creature-oriented deck. This can be limiting, as decks that don’t consistently have creatures on the battlefield may not make full use of the card’s potential to flip into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun.

Specific Mana Cost: Growing Rites of Itlimoc requires green mana for casting. This cost restricts the card’s inclusion to green or multicolored decks, potentially excluding it from a variety of other strategies not centered around green mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although the initial mana cost is low, the need to have a number of creatures in play to transform it suggests an indirect high cost in terms of deckbuilding. You need to invest in creature summoning before Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun becomes a powerful mana source, which may slow down your game plan compared to other mana acceleration options.


Reasons to Include Growing Rites of Itlimoc in Your Collection

Versatility: Growing Rites of Itlimoc is a dynamic addition to any deck that harnesses creatures. As a card that flips into a land providing abundant mana based on the number of creatures you control, it seamlessly integrates with a variety of strategies, from token generators to big creature decks.

Combo Potential: This card’s ability to transform into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, echoes the famed Gaea’s Cradle, unlocking powerful mana generation. This not only accelerates your game but can also activate costly abilities or play high-impact spells ahead of schedule, setting the stage for game-changing combos.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where creatures often play a central role, Growing Rites of Itlimoc has a place in many current competitive formats. The influx of mana it provides upon transformation makes it a pertinent and tactical choice in numerous decks, which aim to outpace opponents and deploy threats quickly.


How to beat

Growing Rites of Itlimoc is an enchantment that transforms into the mana-rich land called Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun. This powerful card allows players to quickly ramp up their mana and can be a game-changer when left unchecked. To counter this card, removing it before it transforms is key. Cards like Naturalize or Disenchant can directly destroy the enchantment before it becomes a land. Timing is crucial when using these spells, so keeping mana open and waiting for your opponent to play creatures can optimize your chance to disrupt their strategy.

Additionly, playing control elements that limit the number of creatures your opponent can put into play will hamper the ability of Growing Rites to flip into Itlimoc. Board wipes or continuous creature removal can keep the creature count low and prevent the transformation. Lastly, utilizing land destruction cards after Itlimoc has transformed, such as Field of Ruin or Ghost Quarter, will remove the troublesome land from play. Understanding when to attack the enchantment and when to prepare for the land it becomes will help ensure that Growing Rites of Itlimoc doesn’t overrun your match.


Cards like Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun

Growing Rites of Itlimoc is a standout amongst transformative enchantments in MTG. Its similarity to the legendary Gaea’s Cradle is undeniable, both converting creatures’ presence on the battlefield into a wellspring of mana. Growing Rites of Itlimoc flips into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun when conditions are right, mirroring the Cradle’s mana-boosting ability, yet it starts as a mere enchantment that scouts for a creature—offering card selection akin to cards like Oath of Nissa.

Moreover, this enchantment compares with the enchantress-style legacy cards like Argothian Enchantress, which leverage enchantments for advantage but in radically different ways—Growing Rites of Itlimoc being more direct in its mana ramp approach. Versus Vernal Bloom or Zendikar Resurgent, which also amplify mana, Growing Rites doesn’t rely on basic Forest cards exclusively or double mana yields across the board but instead focuses on the quantity of creatures you control, giving creature-heavy decks a bespoke scaling tool.

In essence, by examining the mechanics and synergies, Growing Rites of Itlimoc secures a unique place in MTG. It provides creature-based decks a powerful mana acceleration that’s contingent on the deck’s creature strategy, distinguishing it from similar mana-generating cards.

Gaea's Cradle - MTG Card versions
Oath of Nissa - MTG Card versions
Argothian Enchantress - MTG Card versions
Vernal Bloom - MTG Card versions
Zendikar Resurgent - MTG Card versions
Gaea's Cradle - Judge Gift Cards 1998 (JGP)
Oath of Nissa - Oath of the Gatewatch (OGW)
Argothian Enchantress - Urza's Saga (USG)
Vernal Bloom - Urza's Saga (USG)
Zendikar Resurgent - Oath of the Gatewatch Promos (POGW)

Cards similar to Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun by color, type and mana cost

Kudzu - MTG Card versions
Wanderlust - MTG Card versions
Thelon's Chant - MTG Card versions
Maddening Wind - MTG Card versions
Cycle of Life - MTG Card versions
Dense Foliage - MTG Card versions
Hall of Gemstone - MTG Card versions
Momentum - MTG Card versions
Ancestral Mask - MTG Card versions
Broken Fall - MTG Card versions
Lure - MTG Card versions
Food Chain - MTG Card versions
Howling Moon - MTG Card versions
The Dragon-Kami Reborn // Dragon-Kami's Egg - MTG Card versions
Squirrel Nest - MTG Card versions
Alpha Status - MTG Card versions
Lifegift - MTG Card versions
Blanchwood Armor - MTG Card versions
Rites of Flourishing - MTG Card versions
Raking Canopy - MTG Card versions
Kudzu - Limited Edition Beta (LEB)
Wanderlust - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Thelon's Chant - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Maddening Wind - Ice Age (ICE)
Cycle of Life - Mirage (MIR)
Dense Foliage - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Hall of Gemstone - World Championship Decks 1998 (WC98)
Momentum - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Ancestral Mask - Eternal Masters (EMA)
Broken Fall - Battle Royale Box Set (BRB)
Lure - Tenth Edition (10E)
Food Chain - Double Masters 2022 (2X2)
Howling Moon - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
The Dragon-Kami Reborn // Dragon-Kami's Egg - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Promos (PNEO)
Squirrel Nest - World Championship Decks 2002 (WC02)
Alpha Status - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Lifegift - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Blanchwood Armor - The Brothers' War (BRO)
Rites of Flourishing - Future Sight (FUT)
Raking Canopy - Shadowmoor (SHM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun MTG card by a specific set like Ixalan Promos and Ixalan, 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 Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2017-09-29 and 2023-11-17. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12017-09-29Ixalan PromosPXLN 191s2015transformblackGrzegorz Rutkowski
22017-09-29IxalanXLN 1912015transformblackGrzegorz Rutkowski
32023-11-17The Lost Caverns of IxalanLCI 3802015transformblackJosu Hernaiz
42023-11-17The Lost Caverns of IxalanLCI 1882015transformblackJosu Hernaiz

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
AlchemyLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2017-09-29 If you control a creature that will be removed from the battlefield "at the beginning of the next end step," you can resolve the ability of Growing Rites of Itlimoc before that creature leaves the battlefield.
2017-09-29 If you gain control of a creature "until end of turn," or if a noncreature permanent you control becomes a creature "until end of turn," it'll be a creature under your control through the entire end step.
2017-09-29 The last ability of Growing Rites of Itlimoc doesn't trigger if you don't control four or more creatures as your end step begins. If you don't control four or more creatures as it resolves, it does nothing.
2018-01-19 For more information on double-faced cards, see the Ixalan mechanics article (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/ixalan-mechanics).

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