Verdant Crescendo MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery
Released	2016-09-30
Set symbol
Set name	Kaladesh
Set code	KLD
Number	273
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Zack Stella

Key Takeaways

Verdant Crescendo grants card advantage by fetching creatures and lands, essential for deck consistency.
Acts as ramp to accelerate mana, enabling faster casting of high-cost spells in the game.
The requirement to discard for activation and its specific mana cost can limit its versatility.

Text of card

Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Search your library and graveyard for a card named Nissa, Nature's Artisan, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Verdant Crescendo searches your library for a key creature card and puts it directly into your hand, setting the stage for powerful plays in subsequent turns. This ability to select a card according to the situation provides a valuable edge in building your hand’s strength.

Resource Acceleration: By allowing you to also search for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, Verdant Crescendo acts as a ramp, accelerating your resource development. Having more lands available enables you to cast more expensive spells sooner, crucial for outpacing your opponents.

Instant Speed: While Verdant Crescendo is a sorcery, its impact on the game is immediate, much like the advantages of an instant speed spell. It sets you up for your next turn by securing the resources you need to execute your strategy efficiently, often catching other players off-guard as you swiftly develop a strong board presence.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Verdant Crescendo necessitates the discarding of a card to activate certain effects, which might deplete your hand when you can least afford it.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s requirement of both green and colorless mana means that it’s not as flexible as cards with a generic mana cost, potentially restricting its inclusion to green-centric or two-color decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a notable mana investment required to bring Verdant Crescendo into play, players may find it less attractive than lower-cost options that facilitate a quicker board presence or early-game momentum.

Reasons to Include Verdant Crescendo in Your Collection

Versatility: Verdant Crescendo can be an asset in various decks. It’s particularly useful for strategies centered around ramping up mana and for decks that aim to summon powerful creatures quickly. With its ability to search your library for a basic land card and a specific Planeswalker, it serves a dual purpose and aligns with numerous deck themes.

Combo Potential: This card opens the door for several combo opportunities. It can help assemble key pieces by tutoring a Planeswalker, which may act as a linchpin for combo-centric decks. Additionally, the fetched land ensures that you have the necessary resources to execute your strategy, smoothing out your mana curve.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that leans toward aggressive land development and Planeswalker synergy, Verdant Crescendo finds its place. It ensures that decks can keep pace with fast-mana strategies and supports the acceleration of your game plan, maintaining relevance in various competitive settings.

How to beat

Verdant Crescendo is a green sorcery card gaining popularity among MTG players for its ability to ramp and tutor a specific type of creature card—Planeswalkers named Nissa. Deftly maneuvering around Verdant Crescendo entails being one step ahead of the accelerating growth it offers. For starters, employing counter spells like Negate can prevent Verdant Crescendo from resolving, hence thwarting an opponent’s ramp strategy.

Another effective strategy is to disrupt your opponent’s game plan by using discard effects, making them lose Verdant Crescendo or the tutored Nissa before they can make a game-changing play. Thoughtseize and Duress are prime examples of such disruptive cards. Additionally, graveyard hate cards such as Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze can help to impede strategies looking to recur Verdant Crescendo from the graveyard.

Lastly, it’s crucial to keep a close watch on the game state once Verdant Crescendo has been played. This involves preparing removal options for any Nissa Planeswalker that enters the battlefield and staying mindful of the potential for sudden growth in your opponent’s mana base and board presence.

Cards like Verdant Crescendo

Verdant Crescendo is a unique addition to the roster of tutor spells in Magic: The Gathering. It joins the ranks of other cards that allow players to search their libraries, such as Sylvan Scrying. Whilst Sylvan Scrying permits the search of any land card, Verdant Crescendo narrows its focus to Nissa planeswalkers, adding them to your hand along with fetching a basic Forest card to the battlefield. Moreover, it shares some elements with Explosive Vegetation in terms of ramping up one’s mana availability, creating a tendril of advantage in land-based strategies.

On a parallel trajectory, we discover Cultivate, a staple in decks that prioritize mana acceleration. Cultivate performs similarly by enabling a player to put a land card onto the battlefield and one into their hand, though it lacks the added utility of adding a Nissa planeswalker to your hand. Then there is nature’s lore, offering a straightforward search for a Forest card, similar to Verdant Crescendo but without the bonus of fetching Nissa. Its efficiency lies in the speed of play, with nature’s lore requiring only two mana, demonstrating the diversity within the strategy of land fetching.

In essence, while juxtaposing features and considering the strategic implications, Verdant Crescendo emerges as a card of substantial merit, especially for those constructing a Nissa-centric or land-focused deck, endowing them with both a physical and tactical advancement on the battlefield.

Explosive Vegetation - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Verdant Crescendo by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Verdant Crescendo MTG card by a specific set like Kaladesh, 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 Crescendo and other MTG cards: