Mountain Valley MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mountain Valley allows a player to search their library for either a Mountain or Forest card and put it onto the battlefield, ensuring you have the resources you need without losing a card in hand. This can create a subtle yet effective advantage as the game progresses.

Resource Acceleration: While Mountain Valley enters the battlefield tapped, it effectively thins your deck by removing a land from the library, resulting in a marginal increase in drawing non-land cards in subsequent turns. Also, the fetched land enters the battlefield untapped, which can be key for ramp strategies that aim to have more resources available more quickly.

Instant Speed: Although Mountain Valley’s ability is not at instant speed itself, it sets the stage for future plays at instant speed. By ensuring the right mana is available, it can enable a seamless transition into keeping mana open for crucial instant spells, balancing land development with strategic flexibility.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In the case of Mountain Valley, while there is no direct discard requirement associated with this land, its role in deck filtering may not compensate for the loss of tempo when compared to other lands that don’t require a turn to activate.

Specific Mana Cost: Mountain Valley’s ability to search your library is specific to finding Mountain or Forest cards, which could be a limiting factor when you are in need of other types of mana in a multi-colored deck.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although the card itself doesn’t have a mana cost, its enter-the-battlefield tapped condition essentially adds to your mana costs. This delay can be a significant drawback, especially in fast-paced games where every turn counts.

Reasons to Include Mountain Valley in Your Collection

Versatility: Mountain Valley’s ability to search your library for a Mountain or Forest card and put it onto the battlefield tapped makes it a highly adaptable option for many decks. Whether you are running red, green, or a combination thereof, it ensures your mana needs are met smoothly.

Combo Potential: As a fetch land, this card has excellent synergy with deck mechanisms that revolve around landfall triggers or strategies that benefit from having lands enter the battlefield or in the graveyard. Using Mountain Valley can therefore become a strategic move that enhances several combo opportunities.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where land bases are key, having a reliable fetch land like Mountain Valley can be crucial. It meets the demands of many prevailing metagames, where mana fixing is essential for executing your strategy while staying on curve with your plays.

How to beat

Mountain Valley, while not a directly threatening card in MTG, plays a strategic role in land acceleration and color fixing. Overcoming a deck that leverages this fetch land requires a plan to hinder the player’s mana development. Targeted land destruction spells like Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin can disrupt the advantage gained by fetching another land. It’s vital to put pressure on the opponent’s land base and restrict their plays by using land destruction judiciously. You can also employ land hate cards like Blood Moon to convert Mountain Valley and other nonbasic lands into basic Mountains, which can impair an opponent’s mana base significantly, especially if they rely on multiple colors.

Additionallly, graveyard hate cards such as Relic of Progenitus or Scavenger Grounds are useful in disrupting strategies that aim to reuse fetch lands from the graveyard. By effectively removing Mountain Valley from the game, you eliminate a recurring resource for your opponent. Always be mindful of the timing when using these disruptive strategies, and prioritize actions that offer a significant setback to your adversary’s plans. Balancing aggression with disruption is key when facing decks that include utility lands like Mountain Valley.