Natural Emergence MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	2001-02-05
Set symbol
Set name	Planeshift
Set code	PLS
Number	117
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Heather Hudson

Key Takeaways

Natural Emergence grants lands dual utility, acting as mana sources and creatures, which increases board threat.
Its instant speed activation adds strategic depth, enabling surprise tactics and enhanced board control.
Demands for card discard and specific mana may limit deck integration, posing a strategic trade-off.

Text of card

When Natural Emergence comes into play, return a red or green enchantment you control to its owner's hand. Lands you control are 2/2 creatures with first strike. They're still lands.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Natural Emergence provides a sustained advantage by transforming lands into dual-purpose resources. This duality enables continued benefits as each land can still be tapped for mana while also being a potential threat on the battlefield.

Resource Acceleration: By converting lands into creatures, Natural Emergence acts as a form of resource acceleration. It effectively bypasses the need for casting creatures, thus allowing you to use your mana resources elsewhere or increasing the speed at which you deploy threats to the board.

Instant Speed: The instant speed nature of the activated ability of the enchantment lands you create with Natural Emergence allows for strategic flexibility. You can decide to animate your lands at the most opportune times, like during the end step of your opponent’s turn, keeping them guessing and unable to respond effectively during your turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Natural Emergence’s effect mandates discarding a card, which can pose a setback, especially when your hand is already depleted from playing key strategies.

Specific Mana Cost: The inclusion of both red and green mana in its cost demands a dedicated color base, reducing its flexibility across various deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its combined mana cost reaching up to four, there are alternatives in the game that can summon creatures or convert lands with greater cost-efficiency.

Reasons to Include Natural Emergence in Your Collection

Versatility: Natural Emergence offers a unique dynamic, acting as an enchantment that transforms your lands into creatures, potentially turning all your mana reserves into aggressive threats. Its dual nature allows it to fit in decks that capitalize on land synergies and creature strategies alike.

Combo Potential: This card can be the centerpiece of combos, especially in decks that rely on landfall or abilities that trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield. It can also serve to unexpectedly animate lands for a surprise defensive or offensive maneuver.

Meta-Relevance: In metas dominated by control, Natural Emergence can be an ace in the hole, demanding an answer to a board that could, at any moment, become teeming with creatures. Conversely, in creature-heavy metas, it provides flexibility by turning otherwise non-threatening lands into potential game-enders.

How to beat

Natural Emergence is a unique card within the realm of enchantments in MTG, offering a transformation of lands into creatures. This shift can catch players off guard, but with the right strategy, overcoming it can be quite straightforward. Removal of enchantments, such as Naturalize or Return to Nature, can revert the animated lands back to their inert state. This effectively disarms an opponent’s board, especially if they’ve become reliant on land creatures for offense or defense.

Board wipes are another effective method for handling creature-heavy strategies that Natural Emergence might encourage. Spells like Wrath of God or Damnation can clear the field, including any animated lands, leveling the playing field. It’s also wise to focus on land destruction or control strategies, as these can prevent the opponent from reaching the threshold of four lands of the same type, a requirement for Natural Emergence to activate.

Counterplay against Natural Emergence requires a balance of keeping enchantment removal in hand and controlling the pace at which the opponent can build their land base. By prioritizing these tactics, one can diminish the impact of Natural Emergence and maintain the upper hand in the game.

Cards like Natural Emergence

Natural Emergence stands out in the realm of role-switching cards in Magic: The Gathering. It draws parallels to cards like Starfield of Nyx, which similarly brings an animate mechanic to enchantments. Yet, Natural Emergence is distinct, offering an additional red and green color pairing to the enchantment-to-creature conversion. It brings enchantments to life permanently unlike Starfield of Nyx, which hinges on having five or more enchantments to maintain the effect.

In a parallel comparison, we see Opalescence, another card that breathes life into enchantments. Opalescence has a broader impact, affecting all enchantments on the battlefield immediately. However, it doesn’t grant the landfall trigger that Natural Emergence provides, which can turn lands into creatures along the way. Likewise, we have March of the Machines, which applies a similar concept to artifacts. It transforms them directly into creatures, although it doesn’t have the same synergy with land cards that Natural Emergence does.

Upon analyzing the strengths and functions of these cards, Natural Emergence certainly carves a niche for itself in Magic: The Gathering, featuring a unique blend of animation and land synergy that aligns well with certain strategies that favor versatility and continuous creature generation.

March of the Machines - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Natural Emergence by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Natural Emergence MTG card by a specific set like Planeshift, 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 Natural Emergence and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Natural Emergence has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	You choose the enchantment to return on resolution of the triggered ability. This is not targeted.
2009-10-01	A noncreature permanent that turns into a creature is subject to the “summoning sickness” rule: It can only attack, and its abilities can only be activated, if its controller has continuously controlled that permanent since the beginning of their most recent turn.