Venomous Vines MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	2002-05-27
Set symbol
Set name	Judgment
Set code	JUD
Number	136
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Ron Spencer

Key Takeaways

Venomous Vines offers card advantage and instant speed plays, enhancing in-game strategic options.
The card demands specific mana types and a discard, limiting some deck incorporation.
Versatile with combo potential, it’s a worthwhile addition against high-tempo land ramp decks.

Text of card

Destroy target enchanted permanent.

"True strength comes from within. The false promise of unnatural power only incurs Krosa's wrath." —Seton, centaur druid

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Venomous Vines provides strategic hand optimization by enabling you to discard a card and replace it, thus maintaining or improving card quality within your hand.

Resource Acceleration: This card’s ability to transform lands into more potent threats can act as a form of resource acceleration, bolstering your board presence as resources are converted into aggression.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Venomous Vines at instant speed gives you the upper hand, allowing you to wait for the opportune moment to disrupt your opponent’s strategy or sneak in unexpected damage.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Players who use Venomous Vines must be prepared to discard a card, which can be a significant disadvantage, especially in tight game situations where card advantage is crucial.

Specific Mana Cost: Venomous Vines comes with a demand for specific mana types which may not be conveniently available in all decks. This makes it less versatile and can complicate its inclusion in multicolored or colorless decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When considering the overall mana curve in most competitive decks, Venomous Vines may be deemed costly. This can hinder momentum in the early game stages where establishing board presence is often vital to a player’s strategy.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Venomous Vines affords strategic flexibility across various deck themes, serving as both a deterrent against early aggression and a method to slow down opulent mana bases.

Combo Potential: This card’s ability to put pressure on an opponent’s land resources can be a linchpin in land destruction strategies, pairing well with other cards that penalize land-tapped states.

Meta-Relevance: In a gameplay environment that praises high-tempo land ramp, Venomous Vines emerges as a counterbalance, providing a check against decks that heavily depend on nonbasic lands.

How to beat Venomous Vines

Venomous Vines stands out in the landscape of utility spells in MTG, offering a unique approach to controlling the battlefield. Its mechanism impedes creature-based strategies by locking down a threat and slowly whittling away its life. To effectively navigate around this card, players must be strategic in their gameplay. Employing creatures with hexproof shields them from becoming direct targets of such disabling enchantments. Similarly, having counter spells ready ensures you can prevent Venomous Vines from ever taking root on the battlefield.

Alternatively, employing artifact-based strategies or focusing on direct damage spells minimizes the impact of creature-targeted controls. Incorporation of enchantment removal into your deck can also be an efficient method to uproot the problem posed by Venomous Vines. Cards like Naturalize or Disenchant, which are staples in many sideboards, provide a quick and easy solution to reclaim your creature and maintain your momentum on the field.

Understanding the interplay between different card types and timing your responses precisely can turn the tide in your favor, reducing the vine’s grasp on your game plan to merely a minor inconvenience.

Cards like Venomous Vines

Venomous Vines brings a unique twist to the realm of green creature spells in Magic: The Gathering. It evokes parallels to other spells like Deadly Recluse, which also offers deathtouch, a highly valued ability that allows any amount of damage it deals to creatures to be lethal. Unlike Venomous Vines, Deadly Recluse has reach, allowing it to block flying creatures as well. On balance, Venomous Vines provides a more aggressive stance with its ability to grow stronger with additional mana input, a feature Deadly Recluse lacks.

Analyzing it next to Giant Spider, we find that while the latter is known for its classic combination of significant toughness and reach, it doesn’t possess the killing guarantee that deathtouch from Venomous Vines ensures. This can make Venomous Vines a more formidable blocker or attacker in certain gameplay situations. Lastly, considering Ambush Viper, both cards share the deathtouch ability but Ambush Viper stands out with flash, allowing it to spring into battle unexpectedly. However, it doesn’t offer the scalability of Venomous Vines.

Considering the strategic applications and flexible power levels, Venomous Vines asserts its place in decks leveraging creature control, demonstrating a balance between raw power and tactical adaptability in Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Venomous Vines by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Venomous Vines MTG card by a specific set like Judgment, 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 Venomous Vines and other MTG cards: