Ravenous Daggertooth MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Dinosaur |
| Abilities | Enrage |
| Released | 2017-09-29 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Ixalan |
| Set code | XLN |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 202 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Jakub Kasper |
Text of card
Enrage — Whenever Ravenous Daggertooth is dealt damage, you gain 2 life.
A daggertooth's triumphant roar makes all the sounds of jungle life fall silent.
Cards like Ravenous Daggertooth
The Ravenous Daggertooth is a solid inclusion in decks looking for durable creatures that can endure in prolonged battles within Magic: The Gathering. It lines up with other dinosaurs in terms of survivability like the Raptor Companion due to its decent toughness stat but excels with its enrage mechanic. When Ravenous Daggertooth is dealt damage, it gives its controller 2 life, slightly edging out other similar-cost creatures that lack any additional effects.
Analogous to the Daggertooth is the Blossom Dryad, which performs differently by untapping lands. Although the Dryad is of the same cost and can accelerate mana, it fails to offer the self-preservation aspect of the Daggertooth. Further down the line is the Grazing Whiptail with a higher cost but comes with the advantage of having reach, making it a noteworthy comparison for decks needing air defense.
Ultimately, while there are various creatures at the same mana value, the unique enrage ability of the Ravenous Daggertooth makes it a particularly useful card, especially in decks where lifegain and durability are prized, giving it a niche advantage over its counterparts.
Cards similar to Ravenous Daggertooth by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: While Ravenous Daggertooth doesn’t directly draw cards, it contributes to card advantage through its Enrage mechanic. Surviving combat or damage causes you to gain life, effectively giving you more turns to draw and play your cards.
Resource Acceleration: While it may not produce mana or tokens, the life gain provided by Ravenous Daggertooth can be indispensable for decks that have synergies with life gain — indirectly speeding up your ability to play higher-cost cards by sustaining your health total.
Instant Speed: Although Ravenous Daggertooth is a creature card and not an instant, the Enrage ability triggers whenever it’s dealt damage. This allows for strategic plays during combat or in response to instant-speed removal, which can result in unexpected life gain and help you maintain a presence on the board.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Although Ravenous Daggertooth comes without a discard requirement, for many players, maintaining a card advantage is crucial, and lacking this effect can make the Daggertooth less tempting in comparison to cards that provide such a trade-off.
Specific Mana Cost: Its casting cost demands one generic and one green mana, which means it may not seamlessly fit into multi-colored decks that need a flexible mana base, potentially creating a stumbling block for its integration into certain strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of three mana for a 2/2 creature, it faces stiff competition from other creatures in the same mana range that might offer more impactful abilities or better stats, leading to an evaluation of whether it’s worth the slot in a deck over more efficient options.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Ravenous Daggertooth can easily slide into numerous deck builds, notably those that lean into life-gain tactics or need robust defensive creatures for staving off aggressive opponents. Its presence can strengthen your board while keeping you healthy.
Combo Potential: With its Enrage ability, the Daggertooth pairs well with mechanics that intentionally cause damage to your own creatures, enabling you to gain repeated life points. It complements strategies capitalizing on life-gain triggers or synergizes with cards that react to creature abilities activating.
Meta-Relevance: In game environments where damage effects are common—either from opponents or your own spells and abilities—Ravenous Daggertooth’s Enrage mechanism can be a recurrent source of life gain. This can often turn the tide in matches where sustaining your life total is crucial to outlasting your adversary.
How to beat
The Ravenous Daggertooth is a solid creature card in MTG, known for its enrage mechanic which allows you to gain 2 life whenever it’s dealt damage. While seemingly a modest card, it can be an obstacle if you’re not prepared. To outmaneuver this pesky dinosaur, control strategies can be effective. Using spells that can exile it or locking it down with enchantments like Pacifism makes sure it never gets a chance to trigger its enrage.
It’s also important to consider the timing of your actions. Deal with the Ravenous Daggertooth during your turn to prevent any combat tricks that might complicate the situation in your opponent’s favor. In some cases, going over it rather than through it may be beneficial; flyers and creatures with unblockable abilities can bypass it entirely, placing the pressure back on your opponent. By carefully managing when and how you interact with the Daggertooth, you can minimize its impact on the battlefield and maintain the advantage in your game.
Make sure to assess the board state and your hand before taking action. Sometimes the best strategy against the Ravenous Daggertooth is to simply wait it out, especially if you’re positioning yourself for a game-winning move that doesn’t involve dealing damage to creatures.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Ravenous Daggertooth MTG card by a specific set like Ixalan, 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 Ravenous Daggertooth and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Ravenous Daggertooth has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Ravenous Daggertooth card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2017-09-29 | If your life total is brought to 0 or less at the same time that Ravenous Daggertooth is dealt damage, you lose the game before its enrage ability resolves. |
| 2018-01-19 | If lethal damage is dealt to a creature with an enrage ability, that ability triggers. The creature with that enrage ability leaves the battlefield before that ability resolves, so it won’t be affected by the resolving ability. |
| 2018-01-19 | If multiple sources deal damage to a creature with an enrage ability at the same time, most likely because multiple creatures blocked that creature, the enrage ability triggers only once. |