Keldon Arsonist MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Human Soldier
Released	2000-06-05
Set symbol
Set name	Prophecy
Set code	PCY
Power	1
Toughness	1
Number	92
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Paolo Parente

Key Takeaways

Keldon Arsonist offers card advantage by potentially forcing opponents to discard important cards.
Its mana-generating ability can accelerate your resources, enabling earlier impactful plays.
Synergy with instant speed spells allows control over game pace and consequential decision-making.

Text of card

o1, Sacrifice two lands: Destroy target land.

"Fields can be replanted. Settlements can be rebuilt. Burn it all." —Latulla, Keldon overseer

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Keldon Arsonist is adept at disrupting your opponent’s strategy by allowing you to potentially eliminate key cards from their hand, thereby swinging the card advantage in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: With its ability to potentially generate mana by untapping lands, Keldon Arsonist can serve as a form of resource acceleration, setting you up for powerful plays much earlier than expected.

Instant Speed: While Keldon Arsonist itself may not have instant speed, it can synergize with instant speed spells in your arsenal, allowing you to make impactful decisions during your opponent’s turn and maintain control of the game’s pace.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Keldon Arsonist necessitates the discard of another card from your hand to activate its ability, which can set you back, especially when you are struggling to maintain card advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost is restricted to red mana sources only. This specificity might complicate deck-building strategies in multicolored decks, potentially restricting the card’s versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting and ability activation cost that’s relatively high compared to alternative cards with lower mana investments, Keldon Arsonist might not always be the most mana-efficient choice in your deck.

Reasons to Include Keldon Arsonist in Your Collection

Versatility: Keldon Arsonist offers a unique blend of direct damage and board control, making it adaptable enough for different red-deck strategies. This card thrives in decks that want to disrupt the opponent’s early game or close out matches quickly.

Combo Potential: Paired with cards that capitalize on damaging effects or that can untap creatures, Keldon Arsonist can become a recurring threat. Its ability to target creatures, players, or planeswalkers opens up diverse combo routes that can catch an opponent off guard.

Meta-Relevance: With an ever-evolving gameplay environment, having a card that can interact with various permanents on the battlefield is crucial. In metas dominated by creature-heavy decks or where planeswalkers dictate the pace, the arsonist’s capacity to apply pressure and remove key pieces is invaluable.

How to beat

Keldon Arsonist holds a prominent role in MTG as a formidable tool for pressuring your opponent’s land resources. The card, known for its land destruction ability, can be challenging to tackle if you’re unprepared. When facing against a Keldon Arsonist, it’s essential to adapt your strategy to mitigate its impact on your game plan.

One effective strategy is to prioritize land acceleration and diversify your mana base. This approach helps to offset any potential land loss, ensuring that you maintain the resources needed to execute your spells and summons. It’s also advantageous to employ instant-speed removal or counterspells, ideally removing the Arsonist before its ability triggers. Boasting from your sideboard can introduce cards that negate or diminish the effect of targeted land destruction, thereby diluting the Arsonist’s potency in the duel.

Catch-all defenses like hexproof or shroud for lands can be an invaluable shield, keeping your playing field intact against such targeted threats. By employing these tactics with foresight, the disruption caused by a Keldon Arsonist can not only be overcome but turned to your advantage as you maintain pace and outmaneuver your opponent.

Cards like Keldon Arsonist

Analyzing Keldon Arsonist’s role in MTG reveals its strengths when it comes to controlling the pace and board state. Its ability to target lands differentiates it from many other creatures that focus solely on player or creature damage. The Keldon Arsonist can be paralleled to cards like Raze, a spell that also destroys lands. However, Raze lacks the recurring nature of Keldon Arsonist, which can repeatedly unsettle an opponent’s mana base with its activated ability.

Considering Avalance Riders, we notice a semblance of effect in the land destruction department. Like Keldon Arsonist, it handles land threats but with a hastier entrance thanks to its haste attribute, though its impact is more transient. Moving on, we have Pillage, another destructive classic that can either target artifacts or lands. It carries the flexibility of choice, unlike the singular aim of Keldon Arsonist, but it’s a one-off use.

Overall, when putting Keldon Arsonist side by side with similar cards, it becomes evident that its ability to repeatedly threaten land stability solidly positions it among player choices for persistent land control strategies in MTG.

Cards similar to Keldon Arsonist by color, type and mana cost

Hobgoblin Bandit Lord - MTG Card versions

Mannichi, the Fevered Dream - MTG Card versions

Balduvian Barbarians - MTG Card versions

Stinkdrinker Daredevil - MTG Card versions

Mudbutton Torchrunner - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Keldon Arsonist MTG card by a specific set like Prophecy, 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 Keldon Arsonist and other MTG cards: