Looming Altisaur MTG Card
2017-09-29 - Number 23
2019-11-07 - Number 165
2020-09-26 - Number XLN-23
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Dinosaur |
| Power | 1 |
| Toughness | 7 |
Key Takeaways
- Looming Altisaur serves as a durable defender, indirectly contributing to sustaining card advantage.
- Its significant toughness offers synergy potential in decks focusing on high-toughness creatures.
- Despite its cost and deck-building limitations, it can be a strategic asset against aggressive decks.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Looming Altisaur may not directly allow you to draw cards, but its substantial toughness makes it an excellent defender, able to protect your other valuable creatures and your life total, indirectly maintaining your card advantage on the battlefield.
Resource Acceleration: While Looming Altisaur itself doesn’t provide resource acceleration, its presence in the deck could be part of strategies that rely on high-toughness creatures. Certain cards interact with toughness to generate additional benefits, such as using those creatures to produce mana or draw cards, indirectly contributing to resource acceleration.
Instant Speed: Although Looming Altisaur operates at sorcery speed, its four points of toughness for four mana offers a stable board presence. It reinforces your defenses quickly, creating a deterrent against incoming attackers. Efficiently costed, it allows you to develop your board while keeping up mana for instant speed interactions on your opponent’s turn.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Unlike other cards that may offer additional benefits without a discard, Looming Altisaur’s effectiveness doesn’t neutralize the potential downside of having to discard another valuable card from your hand, which might put you at a resource disadvantage.
Specific Mana Cost: Looming Altisaur has a very specific mana cost that demands white mana, which could potentially restrict deck-building options and limit its playability to strictly white or white-inclusive decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Looming Altisaur can be a formidable blocker thanks to its substantial toughness, its relatively high mana cost for a creature without any abilities may not always justify a slot in your deck, especially when there are other creatures with lower mana costs and more impactful abilities.
Reasons to Include Looming Altisaur in Your Collection
Versatility: Looming Altisaur can be a valuable addition to decks that capitalize on high-toughness creatures. Its substantial toughness makes it an excellent blocker, suitable for stalling the game against aggressive strategies.
Combo Potential: With its significant toughness, Looming Altisaur pairs well with effects that leverage creatures’ toughness for damage or card draw, turning it into a key component in defensive or combo-oriented strategies.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta where small creatures are prevalent, Looming Altisaur shines by effectively blocking and surviving multiple encounters, making it a relevant choice for players looking to improve their defensive lines.
How to beat
The Looming Altisaur stands out within the realm of Magic: The Gathering due to its massive defensive capabilities. With towering toughness, this dinosaur fortress excels at warding off threats. Overpowering Looming Altisaur in battle often demands more than simple combat tricks or typical creature removal spells. One strategy to bypass its defense is through the use of spells that assign damage based on a creature’s power, such as “Rabid Bite” or similar effects that don’t rely on its toughness to calculate damage.
Alterative approaches include leveraging exile-based removal like “Path to Exile” to neatly sidestep its bulky frame, or deploying board wipes that neutralize creatures irrespective of their size, ensuring that the Altisaur’s hefty presence is cleanly removed from the game. A well-constructed control deck, including such tools, will often have an answer to even the hardiest of creatures. Utilizing these strategies can ultimately ensure that the Looming Altisaur’s impressive defense does not become an insurmountable obstacle during play.
In summary, while the Looming Altisaur can be a formidable adversary, understanding its weaknesses and preparing your deck with appropriate removal spells can significantly reduce the challenge it presents on the battlefield.
Cards like Looming Altisaur
Looming Altisaur falls into the category of high-toughness creatures within MTG. Much like Fortified Rampart, which also boasts considerable toughness, Looming Altisaur provides a formidable defense. However, the Altisaur edges out with its dinosaur typing, opening up synergy with other dinosaur-specific spells and abilities. In contrast, the Rampart offers none of these tribal benefits.
Another comparable creature is Yoked Ox, known for its low-cost and high-toughness attributes. While Yoked Ox and Looming Altisaur share the strength of resisting early game aggression, Looming Altisaur’s higher toughness allows it to outlast its bovine counterpart on the battlefield. Additionally, Looming Altisaur comes at a higher mana cost and has the potential to influence the board with its larger size and tribal interactions.
Ultimately, when evaluating defensive creatures designed to wall off opponents, Looming Altisaur stands tall. It leverages its impressive toughness and dinosaur lineage to offer a decent blend of defensive capabilities and tribal strategy support in MTG play.
Cards similar to Looming Altisaur by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Looming Altisaur MTG card by a specific set like Ixalan and Mystery Booster, 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 Looming Altisaur 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 Looming Altisaur Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2017-09-29 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Lars Grant-West.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017-09-29 | Ixalan | XLN | 23 | 2015 | normal | black | Lars Grant-West | |
| 2 | 2019-11-07 | Mystery Booster | MB1 | 165 | 2015 | normal | black | Lars Grant-West | |
| 3 | The List | PLST | XLN-23 | 2015 | normal | black | Lars Grant-West |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Looming Altisaur has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
