Lukka, Bound to Ruin MTG Card

Buy Magic on Amazon
Card setsReleased in 9 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityMythic
TypeLegendary Planeswalker — Lukka
Abilities Compleated
Loyalty 5

Key Takeaways

  1. Lukka offers strategic card advantage by transforming non-creature permanents into creatures, continually replenishing threats.
  2. The card enables resource acceleration, aiding the deployment of creature-based strategies for varied gameplay approaches.
  3. Lukka’s mana cost presents a deckbuilding challenge, especially for mana bases not heavily skewed towards red.

Decks using this card

MTG decks using Lukka, Bound to Ruin. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.

NameFormatArchetypeEvent
Gruul Dinosaurs StandardGruul DinosaursStandard Challenge 32 2023-11-18
Gruul Vehicles PioneerGruul AggroMTG SEA Championship Final Season 2 Round 1
Cascade StandardCascadeStandard Preliminary 2024-01-30
Naya Ramp PioneerNaya DinosaursSat. 9:30 AM U.S. Regional Championship - Dreamhack Atlanta 2023
RG StandardTraditional Standard Ranked Decklists: February 19, 2024
Domain Ramp StandardDomainJapan Standard Cup: Murders at Karlov Manor
Naya Midrange StandardNaya Fight RiggingJapan Standard Cup: Murders at Karlov Manor
Gruul Aggro PioneerGruul AggroPioneer Challenge 2023-10-29
Gruul Midrange StandardGruul Dinosaurs2023Players Convention Aichi 2023 Standard Open
Domain StandardCascadeStore Championship - The Mythic Store

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lukka, Bound to Ruin MTG card by a specific set like Phyrexia: All Will Be One and Phyrexia: All Will Be One, 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 Lukka, Bound to Ruin and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Text of card

Compleated ({R/G/P} can be paid with , , or 2 life. If life was paid, this planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty counters.)
+1: Add . Spend this mana only to cast creature spells or activate abilities of creatures.
-1: Create a 3/3 green Phyrexian Beast creature token with toxic 1.
-4: Lukka deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or planeswalkers, where X is the greatest power among creatures you controlled as you activated this ability.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Lukka, Bound to Ruin excels at providing sustained card advantage. By allowing you to transform non-creature permanents into random creature cards from your deck, you maintain a stream of threats and surprise factors, keeping your hand replenished and the pressure high on your opponents.

Resource Acceleration: Lukka’s ability to turn any non-creature permanents into potential creature threats can also serve as a form of resource acceleration. This adaptation can lead to advanced board presence, enabling strategies that require a variety of creatures to activate synergies or overwhelm your adversaries swiftly.

Instant Speed: Although Lukka, Bound to Ruin doesn’t operate at instant speed, the tactical flexibility it provides during your main phases can mimic the advantages of instant-speed plays. By keeping your opponents guessing about what you’ll deploy next, they’ll have a harder time preparing for and countering your strategies, especially when you suddenly convert an innocuous permanent into a formidable creature before combat or during key main phase interactions.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Lukka, Bound to Ruin comes with the steep price of having to discard a card to activate one of its key abilities. This can put players in a precarious position when their hand is nearly empty, potentially costing them valuable assets.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s mana cost requires both red and generic mana, which could pose a challenge in multicolored decks that are not heavily red. It may not fit seamlessly into every strategy, especially where the mana base can’t consistently provide the necessary red mana when needed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Requiring a total of five mana, with three being generic and two red, Lukka, Bound to Ruin’s cost is on the higher end for planeswalkers. In a game where tempo can be crucial, other planeswalkers or impactful cards could potentially be more cost-effective and offer quicker value or interaction.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Lukka, Bound to Ruin boasts the ability to adapt to a variety of playstyles. As a planeswalker, Lukka can influence the battlefield with his loyalty abilities, providing both aggressive and controlling elements that fit seamlessly into numerous deck archetypes.

Combo Potential: Lukka’s second ability, which allows you to look at the top seven cards of your library and potentially put a creature card among them onto the battlefield, is a powerful enabler for combos. It synergizes with decks built around cheating high-cost creatures into play much earlier than usual.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where planeswalkers can dictate the pace of play, Lukka, Bound to Ruin holds significant value. His ability to disrupt opponent strategies while advancing your own board position makes him a card worth considering in the current competitive scene.

How to beat

Lukka, Bound to Ruin is a versatile planeswalker card in MTG that can bring considerable power to the battlefield. To counteract Lukka’s potential, it’s paramount to anticipate and thwart his loyalty abilities. Utilizing instant speed removal spells or abilities that can target Lukka directly can help maintain control over his influence. Cards like Murderous Rider or Hero’s Downfall provide solutions to eliminate Lukka before his abilities can impact the game significantly.

Another strategy involves pressuring your opponent, keeping them on the defensive, and preventing them from accumulating the board presence required to protect Lukka. Aggressive decks can apply this pressure effectively. Additionally, when Lukka transforms creatures into more potent threats, having board wipes at the ready, such as Shatter the Sky or Doomskar, can reset the board and mitigate his advantage. It’s also wise to be mindful of Lukka’s ultimate ability, and therefore maintaining a mix of creature and non-creature spells will balance out the threats and help keep Lukka’s game-changing potential in check.

By staying proactive and ready with answers to Lukka’s game plan, players can neutralize his impact and maintain dominance over the match. Careful planning and reactive play are key elements in outmaneuvering an opponent wielding Lukka, Bound to Ruin.

Cards like Lukka, Bound to Ruin

Lukka, Bound to Ruin enriches the pantheon of powerful planeswalker cards in MTG with its dynamic abilities. Its closest kin might be Domri, Anarch of Bolas, another three-cost planeswalker that offers creature boosting and noncreature spell control. However, Lukka’s unique loyalty ability to manipulate and cheat creatures onto the battlefield from the library directly contrasts with Domri’s static abilities centered on combat superiority.

Aruna’s Verge Watchers also echoes elements of Lukka’s creature-centric strategies, granting a buff to creatures you control. Nonetheless, Lukka’s versatility and potential for explosive plays with his -2 ability dive deeper into deck mechanics, forging a link between that power and the creatures in your deck unseen in Aruna’s Verge Watchers. Then there’s Garruk, Savage Herald, who allows for creature tutoring to hand, rather than the board, representing a slower, albeit more certain, method of acquiring the desired beasts.

Critically evaluating Lukka, Bound to Ruin against its counterparts, it stands out in MTG as a card with robust utility and a knack for dramatically swiveling the tides of gameplay. Its innate ability to harness the power of the deck for immediate impact gives it an aggressive edge in creature-based strategies.

Domri, Anarch of Bolas - MTG Card versions
Garruk, Savage Herald - MTG Card versions
Domri, Anarch of Bolas - MTG Card versions
Garruk, Savage Herald - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Lukka, Bound to Ruin by color, type and mana cost

A-Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes - MTG Card versions
A-Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes - MTG Card versions

Printings

The Lukka, Bound to Ruin Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2023-02-03 and 2023-02-03. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 4662015NormalBlackChase Stone
22023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 4672015NormalBorderlessYuki Fujisawa
32023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One Art SeriesAONE 792015Art seriesBorderless
42023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 3282015NormalBlackChase Stone
52023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 3422015NormalBorderlessYuki Fujisawa
62023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 2072015NormalBlackChase Stone
72023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One PromosPONE 207s2015NormalBlackChase Stone
82023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One PromosPONE 207p2015NormalBlackChase Stone
92023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be OneONE 3632015NormalBorderlessDZO

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lukka, Bound to Ruin has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
AlchemyLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2023-02-04 A hybrid Phyrexian mana symbol contributes 1 toward the mana value of a card, even if life is paid for it. Specifically, Lukka's mana value is always 5.
2023-02-04 For Lukka's last ability, you announce the targets and how damage is divided as you activate the ability. Once the ability has been activated, the greatest power among creatures you control no longer matters for this ability. This means once you announce you're activating it, no player can respond to try and lower that power and decrease the damage Lukka can deal.
2023-02-04 If some of the targets of the last ability become illegal, the original division of damage still applies, but the damage that would have been dealt to illegal targets isn't dealt at all.
2023-02-04 Other replacement effects that would change the number of loyalty counters Lukka enters with will apply as normal.
2023-02-04 The compleated ability looks only at whether a player chose to pay 2 life for a Phyrexian mana symbol as they were casting the spell. If a player paid life for some other reason while casting the spell, that will not reduce the number of loyalty counters the planeswalker enters the battlefield with.
2023-02-04 You can't choose more targets than the greatest power among creatures you control as you activate the ability, and each chosen target must receive at least 1 damage.