Venarian Gold MTG Card


Venarian Gold - Legends
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant
Released1994-06-01
Set symbol
Set nameLegends
Set codeLEG
Number83
Frame1993
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byDaniel Gelon

Key Takeaways

  1. Venarian Gold can tap opponents’ resources, handing you a strategic advantage by disrupting their plans.
  2. It adds a layer of instant speed flexibility, making your gameplay more tactical and responsive.
  3. Despite its utility, Venarian Gold’s specific mana requirements may limit its deck compatibility.

Text of card

Put X counters on target creature. Target creature becomes tapped when Venarian Gold is cast. Creature does not untap as normal if it has any of these counters on it. Remove one counter during creature's controller's upkeep phase.


Card Pros

Delving into the strengths of Venarian Gold, it’s immediately clear why many players vouch for its inclusion in certain MTG decks. This artifact card packs a multitude of strategic advantages that can tilt the scales in your favor during a tense match.

Card Advantage: Venarian Gold doesn’t just sit idly on the battlefield; it actively works to disrupt your opponent’s strategy. While stalling them with the tap ability, you continue undeterred, likely forging a path toward victory with an ever-growing arsenal of cards.

Resource Acceleration: Venarian Gold is like discovering buried treasure in the heat of battle—it presents an indirect yet powerful form of resource acceleration. By effectively locking your opponent’s mana sources, you can seize the momentum, capitalizing on their momentary resource drought.

Instant Speed: The ability to play Venarian Gold at instant speed is akin to a chess grandmaster’s quiet foresight. It grants you the flexibility to react swiftly to your opponent’s moves, making Venarian Gold a tactical tool ready to be unveiled when the time is just right.

The Venarian Gold MTG card can be a sophisticated addition to your deck, offering more than meets the eye, and positioning itself as a resourceful ally in the complex dance of MTG gameplay.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Activating Venarian Gold requires you to pitch another card from your hand. When you’re running low on cards, this can hinder your ability to maintain a strong hand presence and react to your opponent’s moves.

Specific Mana Cost: Featuring a mana cost that includes blue, Venarian Gold is tailored more towards blue-heavy or blue-inclusive decks. It’s not as flexible for decks that don’t actively use blue mana, potentially limiting its inclusion in various strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: To cast Venarian Gold, a sizeable amount of mana is necessary, which can be steep for its freeze effect. Given that alternative cards may offer similar or better board control at a lower mana cost, Venarian Gold could be overlooked when deck building.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Venarian Gold can adapt to different gameplay styles, finding utility in control decks for stalling competitive plays or in ramp strategies to detain opposing key creatures.

Combo Potential: This card has the potential to synergize well with strategies that capitalize on tapped creatures, such as blue tempo decks that further inhibit the opponent’s board presence.

Meta-Relevance: Against decks that rely heavily on big creatures or aggressive starts, Venarian Gold can provide crucial turns of relief, potentially disrupting opponents long enough for a game-winning play.


How to beat

The Venarian Gold card presents an intriguing battlefield challenge when facing it in MTG. Its ability to lock down your opponent’s lands gives its user a strategic advantage, potentially stalling the game to their benefit. Counteracting this card requires a blend of foresight and tact. Direct removal spells that destroy enchantments, like Naturalize or Disenchant, are effective measures against Venarian Gold. These give you an immediate solution to reclaim your lands and reestablish your mana base.

A strategic consideration is running lands that aren’t highly susceptible to being targeted by such lockdown tactics. Utilizing lands with innate protection or that can change types until end of turn will mitigate the effectiveness of Venarian Gold. Moreover, acceleration and ramp spells that increase your land count quickly, like Cultivate or Rampant Growth, can alleviate the pressure by providing alternative mana sources beyond what Venarian Gold can suppress. Thus, with the right response plan, getting ahead of Venarian Gold’s limiting influence is entirely achievable.

While Venarian Gold can be a tricky hurdle, it isn’t insurmountable, so fine-tuning your deck with the appropriate answers ensures you can overcome this obstacle and maintain your game’s momentum.


Cards like Venarian Gold

Venarian Gold slips into the lineup of unique resource denial cards within Magic: The Gathering. Echoing similar locking mechanisms, it parallels cards like Frost Titan, which also introduces an aspect of control by freezing a potential threat. However, Venarian Gold is more subtle, offering a prolonged deterrence that isn’t restricted to creatures alone.

Another staple in the control arsenal is Icefall, which shares Venarian Gold’s icy grip on lands but includes the ever-important option to destroy the land should the controlling ice be removed. This gives it a more permanent solution compared to the temporary stall of Venarian Gold. Then there’s Winter’s Rest, which while it only targets creatures, it does so at a lower cost and with the added stability of a Snow permanent requirement to maintain the lockdown.

Ultimately, the strategic depth of Venarian Gold is found in its capacity to freeze resources over multiple turns, a nuanced advantage in the elaborate dance of control and tempo in Magic: The Gathering. It’s a card that, when played deftly, can cool down an opponent’s strategy long enough to claim victory.

Frost Titan - MTG Card versions
Icefall - MTG Card versions
Winter's Rest - MTG Card versions
Frost Titan - Magic 2011 (M11)
Icefall - Coldsnap (CSP)
Winter's Rest - Modern Horizons (MH1)

Cards similar to Venarian Gold by color, type and mana cost

Invisibility - MTG Card versions
Power Leak - MTG Card versions
Phantasmal Terrain - MTG Card versions
Stasis - MTG Card versions
Creature Bond - MTG Card versions
Lifetap - MTG Card versions
Power Artifact - MTG Card versions
Psychic Venom - MTG Card versions
Soar - MTG Card versions
Flooded Shoreline - MTG Card versions
Dance of Many - MTG Card versions
Teferi's Veil - MTG Card versions
Legacy's Allure - MTG Card versions
Chill - MTG Card versions
Buoyancy - MTG Card versions
Mana Maze - MTG Card versions
Psionic Gift - MTG Card versions
Immobilizing Ink - MTG Card versions
Stupefying Touch - MTG Card versions
In Too Deep - MTG Card versions
Invisibility - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Power Leak - Summer Magic / Edgar (SUM)
Phantasmal Terrain - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Stasis - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Creature Bond - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Lifetap - Intl. Collectors' Edition (CEI)
Power Artifact - Antiquities (ATQ)
Psychic Venom - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Soar - Mirage (MIR)
Flooded Shoreline - Visions (VIS)
Dance of Many - Masters Edition III (ME3)
Teferi's Veil - Weatherlight (WTH)
Legacy's Allure - Tempest (TMP)
Chill - Tempest (TMP)
Buoyancy - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Mana Maze - World Championship Decks 2001 (WC01)
Psionic Gift - Odyssey (ODY)
Immobilizing Ink - Odyssey (ODY)
Stupefying Touch - Torment (TOR)
In Too Deep - New Capenna Commander (NCC)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Venarian Gold MTG card by a specific set like Legends, 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 Venarian Gold and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Venarian Gold has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2011-06-01 The counters are placed on the creature to which it enters the battlefield attached. If you later move Venarian Gold to a different creature, the counters remain on the original creature and no counters are put on the new creature.

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