Pendelhaven MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
RarityUncommon
TypeLegendary Land

Key Takeaways

  1. Boosts small creatures at critical moments, potentially altering combat outcomes in your favor.
  2. Enables faster gameplay with its mana acceleration and versatile instant-speed ability.
  3. Restricts deck diversity, demanding careful construction around its forest land type.

Text of card

oc T: Add o G to your mana pool oc T: Target 1/1 creature gains +1/+2 until end of turn.

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks . . . / Stand like Druids of old." —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Evangeline"


Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Pendelhaven doesn’t directly allow you to draw additional cards, its ability to bolster a creature can deter opponents from blocking or attacking, effectively preserving your creature cards and maintaining your board presence without expending additional cards from your hand.

Resource Acceleration: This legendary land provides green mana, which is essential for early game resource acceleration in decks that focus on deploying creatures or casting spells quickly. Its ability also taps for mana with no additional cost, potentially freeing up resources for other uses.

Instant Speed: Pendelhaven’s ability to give a +1/+2 boost can be used at instant speed, meaning you can enhance a creature’s combat abilities during either player’s turn. This surprise factor can be critical when defending against attackers or when pushing through extra damage during your attack, catching your opponent off-guard.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Pendelhaven does not directly require you to discard cards, its inherent limitations may exert pressure on your hand. Running cards reliant specifically on Pendelhaven’s activation could reduce overall hand efficiency if these cards become unusable without the land.

Specific Mana Cost: Pendelhaven’s ability costs no mana, but its land type restricts its inclusion to decks that can accommodate a Forest land type. The need for green mana-producing lands within your deck could dictate deck composition and potentially limit deck diversity.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The Pendelhaven card itself does not carry a mana cost. However, capitalizing on its ability to pump small creatures might lead to a preference for low-cost creatures, which could in turn escalate the mana cost of playing a higher number of spells to optimize the land’s potential within a single turn.


Reasons to Include Pendelhaven in Your Collection

Versatility: Pendelhaven offers flexibility in deck building, often included in decks that harness the power of 1/1 creatures. Its ability to give a slight toughness boost can be the difference between losing and keeping a key creature on the board.

Combo Potential: This card can be instrumental in strategies focusing on small creatures, enabling combos with cards that thrive on creature survival or counters.

Meta-Relevance: With many decks focusing on early creature development and board control, Pendelhaven can be a crucial asset in tipping the scales in your favor during the early to mid-game stages.


How to beat

Pendelhaven is a legendary land card that can be a thorn in the side of many Magic: The Gathering players due to its ability to buff small creatures. This card excels in decks that capitalize on a swarm of low-powered creatures, as it provides a quick and efficient way to give a slight power boost and potentially shift the tide of combat in favor of the controller.

To effectively counter the advantages Pendelhaven brings to the battlefield, consider using card removal that doesn’t depend on damage, such as “Path to Exile” or “Fatal Push”, to handle enhanced creatures. Additionally, keeping the land itself under control is key; spells like “Ghost Quarter” or “Field of Ruin” can remove Pendelhaven from play directly, negating its recurring benefit. Lastly, strategies that limit the number of creatures an opponent can have, thereby reducing Pendelhaven’s impact, are also effective, like applying continuous board wipe effects or rules that restrict creature play.

In essence, while Pendelhaven can be a tactical asset, understanding its strengths and how it fits into your opponent’s strategy will allow you to prepare and deploy targeted remedies to neutralize its influence during the game.


Cards like Pendelhaven

Pendelhaven stands out as a unique land card in Magic: The Gathering with the ability to give a small creature a temporary boost. It’s similar to effects found in other land cards like Gavony Township, which also provides a buff to creatures. However, Pendelhaven is particularly specific, as it only targets creatures with one power, enhancing their combat potential for a turn without any mana investment except for tapping the land itself.

Another parallel can be drawn with Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers, which offers a slightly different advantage. Okina can pump a legendary creature’s power and toughness, without the one-power limitation of Pendelhaven. While it comes at a cost of one green mana, the effect is broader considering the variety of legendary creatures it can affect. Despite this, Pendelhaven’s appeal lies in its niche effectiveness, especially in decks that harness numerous one-power creatures.

In essence, while each of these lands offers incremental power boosts in different manners, Pendelhaven’s specialization in empowering the smallest of creatures often makes it a revered choice for decks designed to capitalize on such synergies, proving its unique standing among utility lands in Magic: The Gathering.

Gavony Township - Innistrad (ISD)
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Pendelhaven MTG card by a specific set like Legends and Magic Online 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 Pendelhaven and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Pendelhaven Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 1994-06-01 and 2018-03-16. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11994-06-01LegendsLEG 3051993normalblackBryon Wackwitz
22002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 351042003normalblackPhilip Straub
32002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 656602003normalblackDimitar Marinski
42006-10-06Time Spiral TimeshiftedTSB 1201997normalblackBryon Wackwitz
52017-01-01Judge Gift Cards 2017J17 82015normalblackDimitar Marinski
62018-03-16Masters 25A25 2442015normalblackPhilip Straub

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Pendelhaven has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2004-10-04 The current power/toughness being 1/1 is a targeting requirement so it is checked when announcing and again right before resolving.

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