Relentless Raptor MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While the Relentless Raptor itself doesn’t directly provide card draw, its vigilant nature offers strategic board presence, effectively deterring opponents from attacking and thereby preserving your hand by mitigating the necessity for blocking or using spells prematurely.

Resource Acceleration: The Raptor isn’t a direct source of resource acceleration but its cost-efficient 2/2 body for two mana allows for an aggressive start, giving you the upper hand in tempo and leaving more mana available for other actions.

Instant Speed: Although the raptor operates at sorcery speed, its vigilance enables it to stay ready both after attacking and during an opponent’s turn. This flexibility aligns well with instant-speed spells in your deck, keeping your options open to respond to threats even after committing the Relentless Raptor to the battlefield.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Relentless Raptor doesn’t directly ask for a card to be discarded, it encourages an aggressive play style that can deplete a player’s hand quickly, potentially leaving them without sufficient resources to maintain pressure or respond to an opponent’s strategies.

Specific Mana Cost: This dinosaur requires both red and white mana for casting, which may not align with every strategy. Decks that do not run these colors or those that struggle with mana fixing may find the Raptor to be unwieldy or uncastable, thereby reducing its overall versatility in a player’s arsenal.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Though it boasts a balanced cost-to-power ratio, Relentless Raptor’s requirement of two mana—one red and one white—can be steep early in the game for a 3/3 creature. In some scenarios, players may opt for creatures or spells that offer more utility or have a stronger board presence for the same or a lower mana investment.

Reasons to Include Relentless Raptor in Your Collection

Versatility: The Relentless Raptor is a solid pick for various deck builds due to its balanced attack and defense. As a 2-cost creature, it serves as an excellent early game presence that can impact the board quickly. Its requirement to attack or block each combat ensures constant engagement, making it a robust choice for aggressive strategies.

Combo Potential: This dinosaur synergizes well with cards that benefit from frequent combat engagement. Use it to your advantage in decks that leverage enrage mechanics or trigger abilities on attacking and blocking, offering a myriad of combo possibilities that can quickly turn the tide of a match.

Meta-Relevance: In a metagame that favors aggressive play, the Relentless Raptor shines. With decks often needing to establish early board presence to succeed, the reliability of this vigilant creature makes it a meta-relevant addition to your toolkit, ready to hold the line or press the attack as the situation demands.

How to beat Relentless Raptor

Relentless Raptor presents a unique challenge in Magic the Gathering, as a 3/3 creature that must attack or block each combat if able. Its vigilant nature makes it a consistent threat, never having to tap to attack, thus always being ready to block. To counter this, consider using spells that can bypass its compulsory combat participation. Look at removal cards that can target it before the combat phase begins, such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile, effectively dealing with it before it can assert pressure on the board.

Another strategy is to exploit its forced blocking requirement. By attacking with a creature that has a beneficial effect upon dealing combat damage to a player, the Raptor’s controller is put in a difficult position. They might have to choose between taking damage or potentially losing their Raptor. Also, creatures with deathtouch are excellent at deterring the Raptor from blocking or ensuring it will be a one-and-done encounter. To play around Relentless Raptor, consider the timing of your spells and creatures’ abilities to limit its impact and ensure it doesn’t dictate the pace of the match.