Nantuko Shaman MTG Card

Nantuko Shaman provides card draw and a significant creature upon un-suspension. It can untap lands upon entry, allowing further plays within a turn. Instant speed suspend option primes Nantuko Shaman for tactical plays.

Time Spiral (TSP)
2006-10-06 - Number 208

Modern Masters (MMA)
2013-06-07 - Number 156

Iconic Masters (IMA)
2017-11-17 - Number 176

Nantuko Shaman - Time Spiral Remastered (TSR)

Time Spiral Remastered (TSR)
2021-03-19 - Number 221

Card sets	Released in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Insect Shaman
Abilities	Suspend
Power	3
Toughness	2

Text of card

When Nantuko Shaman comes into play, if you control no tapped lands, draw a card. Suspend 1— (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay and remove it from the game with a time counter on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)

Cards like Nantuko Shaman

Nantuko Shaman takes its place in the realm of creature cards that offer a dual advantage of board presence and card draw in MTG. Similar to the Nantuko Shaman, Elvish Visionary provides card draw upon its arrival on the battlefield. Albeit a smaller creature, Elvish Visionary doesn’t come with the suspense of suspending it to unlock its potential, offering an immediate but more limited benefit.

Another counterpart can be found in Wall of Blossoms, a creature that also allows a card draw when it enters the battlefield, doubling as a sturdy defender. Unlike Nantuko Shaman, Wall of Blossoms doesn’t need to be suspending and doesn’t transform into an offensive threat. Conversely, Nantuko Shaman has the surprise element and a larger body after coming off suspension, potentially turning the tides of combat in your favor.

Evaluating these alternatives showcases how Nantuko Shaman offers a unique blend of anticipation and power, suited for players who appreciate a strategic setup. These characteristics carve out its unique space among green creature cards with added card draw functionality in MTG.

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nantuko Shaman offers a delayed card draw mechanic that activates upon its departure from the battlefield—the suspended card becomes a surprise element, preparing a future resource reinforcement.

Resource Acceleration: With the ability to untap all your lands when it comes into play, the Nantuko Shaman assists in accelerating your resource pool, allowing you to potentially cast additional spells in a single turn.

Instant Speed: The suspend function of the Nantuko Shaman leverages the potential for instant speed play, setting the stage for a tactical reveal that can align with your overarching strategy and timing it to disrupt your opponent.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Nantuko Shaman mandates a card discard if you want to draw when it enters the battlefield. This can be counterproductive in situations where your hand size is already depleted, forcing you to lose potentially valuable resources.

Specific Mana Cost: The shaman’s casting cost requires both green mana and generic mana, which might not always align with the color scheme of your deck, limiting its versatility across different deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Summoning this creature requires a total of three mana, which is a substantial investment, especially when considering alternatives available for green decks that could provide a better board presence or more impactful abilities at a similar or lower mana cost.

Reasons to Include Nantuko Shaman in Your Collection

Versatility: Nantuko Shaman adds value to any collection because it serves multiple purposes. As a creature, it can act as an attacker or blocker, but its real strength is in its ability to be suspended, offering a surprise card draw and a sizable creature down the line.

Combo Potential: With its suspend mechanic, this card works well in decks that capitalize on time counters. You could pair it with cards designed to manipulate these counters, creating unexpected plays and maintaining card advantage over your opponents.

Meta-Relevance: In a game that rapidly evolves, the shaman holds its ground. Its ability to draw a card when it’s unsuspended can be a game-changer in matches where card advantage is crucial and the tempo can swing in favor of the player stocking their hand with options.

How to beat

Nantuko Shaman is a unique creature card in MTG with a twist in its design that requires strategic thinking to overcome. As a card that suspends itself upon entering the graveyard, Nantuko Shaman challenges players to anticipate and disrupt this inherent rebound. One effective method to counter the Shaman’s comeback is to utilize graveyard removal spells, such as Relic of Progenitus or Bojuka Bog, rendering the suspension mechanic moot.

Another tactic to consider is countering the Shaman’s initial casting. Counterspells like Negate or Essence Scatter can prevent Nantuko Shaman from ever hitting the board and thus bypass its suspension ability altogether. Moreover, instant speed removals—such as Path to Exile or Swift End—can deal with the Shaman before it can pose a threat through its card-drawing ability when returning from suspension.

Ultimately, recognizing Nantuko Shaman’s strengths in card advantage and board presence upon return is key. Strategic removal, timing your spells correctly, and controlling the graveyard are your best weapons. Hence, by pre-empting the Shaman’s advantages, you maintain the upper hand in your MTG matchups, ensuring that this crafty creature’s potential impact is thoroughly neutralized.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nantuko Shaman MTG card by a specific set like Time Spiral and Modern Masters, 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 Nantuko Shaman and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Nantuko Shaman Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2006-10-06 and 2021-03-19. Illustrated by Daren Bader.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2006-10-06	Time Spiral	TSP	208	2003	Normal	Black	Daren Bader
2	2013-06-07	Modern Masters	MMA	156	2003	Normal	Black	Daren Bader
3	2017-11-17	Iconic Masters	IMA	176	2015	Normal	Black	Daren Bader
4	2021-03-19	Time Spiral Remastered	TSR	221	2015	Normal	Black	Daren Bader

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nantuko Shaman has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2021-03-19	If you control any tapped lands immediately after Nantuko Shaman enters the battlefield, its ability doesn’t trigger at all. If you control any tapped lands as the ability resolves, you don’t draw a card. Your lands could become tapped and then untapped again in between, however.
2021-06-18	A creature cast using suspend will enter the battlefield with haste. It will have haste until another player gains control of it. (In some rare cases, another player may gain control of the creature spell itself. If this happens, the creature won’t enter the battlefield with haste.)
2021-06-18	As the second triggered ability resolves, you must cast the card if able. You must do so even if it requires targets and the only legal targets are ones that you really don’t want to target. Timing permissions based on the card’s type are ignored.
2021-06-18	Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up.
2021-06-18	Exiling a card with suspend isn’t casting that card. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.
2021-06-18	If an effect refers to a “suspended card,” that means a card that (1) has suspend, (2) is in exile, and (3) has one or more time counters on it.
2021-06-18	If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18	If the first triggered ability of suspend (the one that removes time counters) is countered, no time counter is removed. The ability will trigger again at the beginning of the card’s owner’s next upkeep.
2021-06-18	If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can’t be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If the spell requires any targets, those targets are chosen when the spell is finally cast, not when it’s exiled.
2021-06-18	If you can’t cast the card, perhaps because there are no legal targets available, it remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” such as with suspend, you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those if you want to cast the card.
2021-06-18	Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it’s on the stack).
2021-06-18	The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn’t paid.
2021-06-18	When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn’t matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it.
2021-06-18	You are never forced to activate mana abilities to pay costs, so if there is a mandatory additional mana cost (such as from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben), you can decline to activate mana abilities to pay for it and hence fail to cast the suspended card, leaving it in exile.
2021-06-18	You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage’s ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time.