Molten Nursery MTG Card


Key for colorless spell-focused decks, dealing incremental damage and influencing board state. Instant speed allows flexibility, punishing opponents during crucial phases of the game. Mana investment and card dependencies can limit its effectiveness without careful deck construction.
Molten Nursery - Battle for Zendikar
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityUncommon
TypeEnchantment
Abilities Devoid
Released2015-10-02
Set symbol
Set nameBattle for Zendikar
Set codeBFZ
Number130
Frame2015
LayoutNormal
BorderBlack
Illustred byRaymond Swanland

Text of card

Devoid (This card has no color.) Whenever you cast a colorless spell, Molten Nursery deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

"Some detours just aren't worth it." —Raff Slugeater, goblin shortcutter


Cards like Molten Nursery

Molten Nursery is an intriguing enchantment in Magic: The Gathering that adds consistent damage output to your board. It bears similarity to Impact Tremors, which also deals damage to an opponent each time a creature enters the battlefield under your control. While Molten Nursery requires the casting of a colorless spell to trigger its damage, Impact Tremors hinges solely on the presence of new creatures, providing a more frequent but less controlled damage spread.

Another comparable card is Outpost Siege, which offers a choice upon entering the battlefield. Choosing Dragons will deal one damage to a creature or player whenever another nontoken creature you control leaves the battlefield. This provides a potential for higher damage output, yet it’s dependent on the continual loss of your creatures, contrasting with Molten Nursery’s cast-a-spell mechanic.

To assess the utility of these options, it’s essential to consider the synergy within your deck. Molten Nursery excels in a deck rich in colorless spells, turning each cast into an opportunity to whittle down opponents’ life totals. Its role is unique in enabling both offensive strategies and board control, solidifying its position as a versatile pick in decks designed to exploit its damage-dealing ability.

Impact Tremors - MTG Card versions
Outpost Siege - MTG Card versions
Impact Tremors - MTG Card versions
Outpost Siege - MTG Card versions

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Goblin Warrens - MTG Card versions
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Decks using this card

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

#NameFormatArchetypeEvent
AffinityAffinity ModernAffinityModern Preliminary 2024-01-04 (1)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Molten Nursery shines in decks built around colorless spells, providing consistent incremental advantage. Each colorless spell cast triggers Molten Nursery’s ability, chipping away at opponents’ life totals or whittling down their creature presence. Over the course of a game, this advantage can add up, often swaying the tide in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: While Molten Nursery itself doesn’t provide direct resource acceleration, it rewards players for utilizing mana rocks and other accelerants to cast multiple colorless spells in a turn. By doing so, you can multiply the impact of Molten Nursery’s effect, putting more pressure on your opponents with each successive cast.

Instant Speed: Although Molten Nursery is an enchantment, the triggered ability it confers operates at instant speed. This means that any colorless spell you cast, regardless of the phase or step, will cause Molten Nursery to trigger. This flexibility allows for strategic plays where you can control the timing of damage, potentially removing key creatures during combat or in response to an opponent’s actions.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Molten Nursery necessitates you to have a colorless creature card to trigger its ability, effectively making you often need to plan your hand and plays around it to reap its benefits.

Specific Mana Cost: This enchantment’s casting cost includes colorless mana, requiring not just red but also a specialized mana base that can consistently provide colorless mana to cast it effectively.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The three mana needed for Molten Nursery, with one being colorless, is demanding considering the incremental damage it deals. Other spells or creatures could offer a more immediate and substantial impact on the game for the same or lower mana investment.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Molten Nursery, as a colorless enchantment, can seamlessly integrate into a variety of deck archetypes. Its ability to inflict damage upon casting a colorless spell makes it an asset in decks that utilize numerous Eldrazi spells or artifacts.

Combo Potential: This card shines in decks that cast multiple spells in a single turn, racking up damage quickly. It’s especially potent with cards that can reduce the cost of colorless spells or create additional cast triggers, turning each spell into a potential ping to your opponent’s life total or creature board.

Meta-Relevance: In environments heavy with creature-based strategies, Molten Nursery can provide consistent board control. Against control decks, the ability to deal direct damage can help close out games even when facing down counterspells and removal.


How to beat Molten Nursery

Molten Nursery, the enchantment with the capability to chip away at an opponent’s life total, can certainly spice up numerous MTG decks. Functioning on the back of the colorless spells you cast, it’s a card that can turn the tide in prolonged games. To effectively counteract this persistent damage dealer, one could consider incorporating enchantment removal in their sideboard. This could take the form of direct removal spells like Naturalize or Disenchant, depending on your deck’s colors.

Given its dependency on casting colorless spells, another angle to disrupt Molten Nursery’s impact is to target the spells it relies on. Counterspells can prevent colorless spells from ever resolving, which directly negates the enchantment’s ability to deal damage. Control strategies and hand disruption can also stifle the opponent’s ability to maintain the spellcasting chain needed to leverage Molten Nursery. Ultimately, while Molten Nursery can pose a consistent threat, being proactive and adapting your deck to include answers to it and its synergies is key to overcoming this obstacle.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Molten Nursery MTG card by a specific set like Battle for Zendikar, 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 Molten Nursery and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Molten Nursery has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2015-08-25 A card with devoid is just colorless. It’s not colorless and the colors of mana in its mana cost.
2015-08-25 Cards with devoid use frames that are variations of the transparent frame traditionally used for Eldrazi. The top part of the card features some color over a background based on the texture of the hedrons that once imprisoned the Eldrazi. This coloration is intended to aid deckbuilding and game play.
2015-08-25 Devoid works in all zones, not just on the battlefield.
2015-08-25 If a card loses devoid, it will still be colorless. This is because effects that change an object’s color (like the one created by devoid) are considered before the object loses devoid.
2015-08-25 Other cards and abilities can give a card with devoid color. If that happens, it’s just the new color, not that color and colorless.