Orcish Farmer MTG Card

Orcish Farmer excels in decks that benefit from consistent land acquisition and landfall triggers. It may slow your play due to higher mana needs and potential depletion of your hand. Its niche ability to convert lands into Swamps opens up creative deck-building strategies.

Ice Age (ICE)
1995-06-03 - Number 207

Fifth Edition (5ED)
1997-03-24 - Number 256

Orcish Farmer - Masters Edition II (ME2)

Masters Edition II (ME2)
2008-09-22 - Number 141

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Orc
Power	2
Toughness	2

Text of card

oc T: Target land becomes a swamp until its controller's next untap phase.

"Yes, the Farmers keep our soldiers fed. But why do they have to make every battlefield a pigpen?" —Toothlicker Harj, Orcish Captain

Cards like Orcish Farmer

Orcish Farmer is an intriguing card that slides neatly into the roster of resource manipulation options in Magic: The Gathering. At a glance, it can be compared to cards like Verdant Force, which are designed to steadily boost the player’s resource pool. Unlike Verdant Force’s ability to create creature tokens, Orcish Farmer focuses on lands, specifically turning any land into a Swamps during your upkeep, which can be tactically advantageous for black mana-focused decks.

Another card worth comparing is the classic Rain of Filth, which allows players to sacrifice lands for a burst of black mana at instant speed. While Rain of Filth provides immediate mana gain, Orcish Farmer offers a more sustained advantage, transforming the landscape of the game turn by turn without the downside of land sacrifice.

Lastly, Contaminated Ground is a direct comparison, as it also has the ability to convert lands into Swamps. However, it has a more defensive angle, inhibiting opponents by potentially rendering their nonbasic lands less useful and also causing potential life loss. Orcish Farmer lacks this disruptive capacity, but it doesn’t carry the downside of being destroyed with the enchanted land.

In the domain of land conversion cards within Magic: The Gathering, Orcish Farmer stands out for its unique ability to shift the mana landscape over time, providing a strategic edge in the right deck composition. It may not offer the immediate impact of its peers, but its enduring effect on the battlefield can be a subtle force in longer games.

Cards similar to Orcish Farmer by color, type and mana cost

Hobgoblin Bandit Lord - MTG Card versions

Mannichi, the Fevered Dream - MTG Card versions

Cunning Bandit // Azamuki, Treachery Incarnate - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Orcish Farmer can be a subtle engine of card advantage in land-focused decks. Through land cycling or landfall mechanics, it ensures you have consistent access to your crucial lands, ensuring your draws are as impactful as possible.

Resource Acceleration: In the right deck, this card can help you filter through your deck to find the necessary resources. By bringing lands to your hand, you accelerate your resource development and set the stage for explosive plays.

Instant Speed: While the Orcish Farmer doesn’t operate at instant speed, its effect benefits greatly from the many instant speed land interactions available in MTG. Being able to search and play lands during your turns sets you up to use those lands to unleash instant speed spells and abilities at the most opportune moments.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One limitation of the Orcish Farmer is that its ability may necessitate the discarding of cards, which might deplete your hand when you can ill afford to lose key pieces.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires red mana for activation, which can constrain its integration into multi-colored decks or those that don’t have a robust red mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The cost to fully leverage Orcish Farmer’s capabilities is on the higher side, potentially slowing you down compared to other options that offer land disruption at a more economical rate.

Reasons to Include Orcish Farmer in Your Collection

Versatility: Orcish Farmer is a card that can adapt to various decks that aim to manipulate land types. Its ability to turn basic lands into Swamp lands can subtly shift the dynamic of the game, making it a nuanced tool for experienced players.

Combo Potential: This card has synergies with landfall abilities and strategies that benefit when land types change. It can be the hidden gem that propels a combo-forward deck to victory through strategic land conversion.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where land type matters, the Orcish Farmer could become a pivotal sideboard card. It enables you to exploit the vulnerabilities of decks that rely heavily on non-Swamp lands or benefit from an increased number of Swamps on the field.

How to beat

Orcish Farmer is a distinctive card within the roster of MTG that has a specific set of abilities related to land manipulation. One of the most effective strategies to overcome an Orcish Farmer is to limit its ability to affect the battlefield. This can be achieved by removing it promptly from play using targeted removal spells. Control decks often include a variety of instant-speed removal options such as Path to Exile or Fatal Push that can dispatch the Orcish Farmer before its controller can reap the benefits of land alteration.

Another approach is to employ counterspells to prevent the Farmer from hitting the field altogether. Players should also consider the advantage of enchantment-based removals like Banishing Light or control effects like Confiscate to neutralize Orcish Farmer without necessarily sending it to the graveyard, thus thwarting any potential recursion plays. Moreover, since Orcish Farmer’s ability is centered around land management, including land protection cards like Terra Eternal or running minimal lands that are susceptible to its effects can further minimize its impact on the game.

Ultimately, knowing when and how to neutralize the Orcish Farmer is essential for maintaining control of the game and preventing your opponent from leveraging its unique land-transforming ability to their advantage.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Orcish Farmer MTG card by a specific set like Ice Age and Fifth Edition, 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 Orcish Farmer and other MTG cards:

BUY NOW
BurnMana is an official partner of TCGPlayer

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Orcish Farmer Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 1995-06-03 and 2008-09-22. Illustrated by Dan Frazier.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1995-06-03	Ice Age	ICE	207	1993	Normal	Black	Dan Frazier
2	1997-03-24	Fifth Edition	5ED	256	1997	Normal	White	Dan Frazier
3	2008-09-22	Masters Edition II	ME2	141	1997	Normal	Black	Dan Frazier

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Orcish Farmer has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2008-10-01	This ability changes the targeted land’s land types. It doesn’t affect its name, its supertypes (such as whether or not it’s legendary, snow, or basic), or its other types (if it’s also a creature, for example). The ability will cause the land to lose all of its printed abilities and gain the ability “: Add .”