Verdant Sun's Avatar MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost7
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Dinosaur Avatar
Power 5
Toughness 5

Key Takeaways

  1. A strategic addition to decks, Verdant Sun’s Avatar synergizes with instant-speed creature drops for life gain.
  2. Despite mana specificity and cost, it stabilizes your life total, essential for longer games and strategy execution.
  3. Avatar’s ability offers recurring benefits, outperforming similar cards by granting life for every creature played.

Text of card

Whenever Verdant Sun's Avatar or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain life equal to that creature's toughness.

"Ixalli's fertile rays enliven us all. Each of us is a testament to the sun's strength and love." —Chitlati, Lightning Rider


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Verdant Sun’s Avatar provides a dynamic way to gain card advantage through its potent life gain ability. Every time a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain life equal to that creature’s toughness, replenishing your resources and potentially drawing you into more game-winning opportunities.

Resource Acceleration: While Verdant Sun’s Avatar itself does not directly accelerate resources, it enables you to sustain your life total while you develop your board presence. This indirectly accelerates your game plan by allowing you to commit more resources to the board without the worry of leaving your life total vulnerable.

Instant Speed: Despite Verdant Sun’s Avatar being a creature card and not instant speed, it has synergies with cards that can put creatures onto the battlefield at instant speed. Integrating it into decks with such cards can significantly increase its impact, turning surprise creature drops into life-gaining surprises that can swing games in your favor at critical junctions.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Verdant Sun’s Avatar does not have a discard requirement itself, players may be forced to let go of potentially useful cards to make room for this creature in their hand, especially when trying to adhere to the seven-card limit.

Specific Mana Cost: Verdant Sun’s Avatar requires a specific mix of mana to cast—three green mana out of its total cost of seven. This can make it less flexible, as it necessitates a strong commitment to green mana producing lands or sources within a player’s deck configuration.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of seven mana, Verdant Sun’s Avatar can be challenging to play early on in the game. There are creatures with lower mana costs that can contribute to board presence more efficiently, which might make this Avatar less attractive in faster-paced matches.


Reasons to Include Verdant Sun’s Avatar in Your Collection

Versatility: Verdant Sun’s Avatar is a must-have for life-gain strategies and fits seamlessly into dinosaur tribal or ramp decks, providing significant health boosts upon casting creatures, which is a bonus for any deck looking to stabilize against aggressive opponents.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combinations with effects that double life gain or creatures that trigger upon life gain, setting the stage for powerful synergies that can turn the tide of the game in your favor.

Meta-Relevance: With the pace of many formats, strong board presence and life gain are integral to outlast opponents. Verdant Sun’s Avatar holds its ground in a meta that values creatures with impactful effects and provides resilience against direct-damage strategies.


How to beat

Verdant Sun’s Avatar provides a robust presence in any game of Magic: The Gathering by combining sizeable creature stats with a powerful life-gain ability. When Verdant Sun’s Avatar or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain life equal to that creature’s toughness. To effectively counter this dino’s impact, it’s essential to have control strategies ready.

Removal spells are the direct way to handle Verdant Sun’s Avatar. Since it has a considerable casting cost, countering it with a spell like Negate or Essence Scatter can prevent it from even entering the battlefield. If it does land, instant removal like Murder or Path to Exile can eliminate it before its life-gain ability becomes a recurring problem. In a pinch, board wipes such as Wrath of God or Doomskar can reset the board, clearing out the Avatar alongside other creatures.

Another strategy involves minimizing the Avatar’s effect by controlling game tempo. Applying pressure with aggressive creatures could force the Verdant Sun’s Avatar player on the defensive, making the life gain less relevant. Alternatively, using cards that hinder or reverse life gain, like Tainted Remedy, can transform their strength into a vulnerability. Prioritizing the Avatar as a removal target or negating its advantage will be key to your success against it.


BurnMana Recommendations

Delving into the depths of MTG, Verdant Sun’s Avatar emerges as a compelling choice for life-gain and dinosaur-themed decks. Its blend of substantial creature support and resilience offers a strategic edge in enduring the long game. Recognizing the pros and cons of this commanding creature, integrating it requires a meld of finesse and might. Your collection could thrive with its addition, encouraging a robust defense against the relentless assault of aggressive decks. Keen on weaving the might of Verdant Sun’s Avatar into your strategy? Deepen your understanding and enrich your gameplay by exploring more with us.


Cards like Verdant Sun's Avatar

Verdant Sun’s Avatar is a unique creature card that brings life-gain to each creature’s entrance on the battlefield. Comparable to cards such as Pelakka Wurm, which also offers life upon entering the battlefield and adds a substantial body to the board. Verdant Sun’s Avatar, however, continuously rewards you with life gain for each subsequent creature you play, unlike the one-time benefit from Pelakka Wurm.

Another related card is Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice. Trostani provides a repeatable life-gain effect as well, but it’s tied to the creation or arrival of token creatures, specifically. What makes Verdant Sun’s Avatar stand out is its non-discriminatory nature, boosting your life total for any creature spell you cast, be it token or not. Then there’s Thragtusk, which also furnishes life gain and leaves behind a creature token when it leaves the battlefield. The Avatar, though, focuses exclusively on the cumulative advantage through continuous creature play, setting a different gameplay dynamic.

Weighing the characteristics and advantages of each card, Verdant Sun’s Avatar proves its value in MTG decks that are heavy on creature play, giving persistent life-gain opportunities and making it a formidable presence in any match where health is as valuable as board control.

Pelakka Wurm - MTG Card versions
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - MTG Card versions
Thragtusk - MTG Card versions
Pelakka Wurm - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - Return to Ravnica (RTR)
Thragtusk - Magic 2013 (M13)

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Verdant Sun's Avatar MTG card by a specific set like Ixalan Promos and Ixalan 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 Verdant Sun's Avatar and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Verdant Sun's Avatar Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2017-09-29 and 2023-11-17. Illustrated by Izzy.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12017-09-29Ixalan PromosPXLN 213s2015normalblackIzzy
22017-09-29Ixalan PromosPXLN 213p2015normalblackIzzy
32017-09-29IxalanXLN 2132015normalblackIzzy
42020-11-20Commander LegendsCMR 4392015normalblackIzzy
52021-04-23Commander 2021C21 2082015normalblackIzzy
62023-11-17The Lost Caverns of Ixalan CommanderLCC 2622015normalblackIzzy

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Verdant Sun's Avatar 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 Verdant Sun's Avatar 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 The entering creature's toughness is determined as the ability of Verdant Sun's Avatar resolves. If that creature has left the battlefield, use its toughness as it last existed on the battlefield. If the creature's toughness was less than 0, your life total won't change.

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