Scout the Wilderness MTG Card


Scout the Wilderness - Dominaria United
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeSorcery
Abilities Kicker
Released2022-09-09
Set symbol
Set nameDominaria United
Set codeDMU
Number176
Frame2015
LayoutNormal
BorderBlack
Illustred byA. M. Sartor

Key Takeaways

  1. Increases card advantage by drawing more, thus outpacing the opponent with additional resources.
  2. Accelerates mana growth to play high-cost cards sooner, ramping up your game.
  3. Offers flexible play with instant speed, allowing for strategic responses and board development.

Text of card

Kicker (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.) Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. If this spell was kicked, create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Scout the Wilderness is a tactful addition to your deck when aiming to stay ahead in card economy. By drawing extra cards from your library, you not only increase your hand options but can also outpace your opponent by having more resources at your disposal.

Resource Acceleration: This card excels in ramping up your available resources. It efficiently sifts through your library to fetch essential land cards, placing them directly onto the battlefield or into your hand, thus speeding up your mana development and enabling you to play higher-cost cards sooner than usual.

Instant Speed: The ability to play Scout the Wilderness at instant speed grants you the flexibility to respond effectively to your opponent’s actions. Waiting until the end of their turn to cast it allows you to keep mana available for potential counterspells or removals while still advancing your board position if no immediate threats need addressing.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Although Scout the Wilderness may grant you a crucial land search ability, it requires discarding from your hand. This can be detrimental when your options are already limited, potentially setting back your game plan.

Specific Mana Cost: Scout the Wilderness demands a particular arrangement of mana, which includes green. This specificity narrows the card’s versatility, making it less adaptable in multi-colored decks or those not focused on green mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a notable investment of three mana for its effect, Scout the Wilderness competes with other cards that may provide more value or immediate board presence for the same or lesser cost.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Scout the Wilderness provides a reliable way to ramp up your mana, which is a cornerstone for every green deck. Whether you’re playing casual or competitive, its ability to search for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield has universal appeal and boosts any strategy that thrives on land acceleration.

Combo Potential: The keyword here is landfall – any deck that capitalizes on lands entering the battlefield will see Scout the Wilderness as an enabler. It can also serve to thin the deck, increasing the likelihood of drawing non-land cards in subsequent turns.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where speed is of the essence, having access to more mana sooner can make all the difference. Scout the Wilderness seamlessly fits into strategies that strive to outpace opponents by laying down heavy hitters or key spells ahead of the curve.


How to beat

Scout the Wilderness is a card that offers a significant advantage to players in Magic: The Gathering by allowing them to seek out additional lands, ensuring a steady development of their mana base. This can potentially accelerate game plans and enable big plays earlier than usual. To effectively counteract the strength of Scout the Wilderness, it is imperative to disrupt the opponent’s land-based strategy.

Land destruction cards deny the benefits Scout the Wilderness aims to provide. By removing crucial mana sources, one can inhibit the opponent’s ability to cast high-impact spells. Cards like Acid Rain or Stone Rain can effectively dismantle the opposing strategy by targeting their land reserves. Additionally, utilizing instant speed removal or counterspells for key creatures can diminish the impact of the lands fetched with Scout the Wilderness, ensuring that the extra resources do not lead to a sudden defeat.

Undoubtedly, regulating the flow of an opponent’s mana and strategic assets is central in overcoming the advantages granted by a card like Scout the Wilderness. It’s this precision in adaptation and reaction that separates proficient players from the rest, maintaining control of the game’s tempo and direction.


Cards like Scout the Wilderness

Scout the Wilderness stands as a unique card in Magic: The Gathering, known for enabling players to search their library for a basic land card and put it into their hand. It’s akin to cards such as Rampant Growth, a staple in many decks where land acceleration is key. While Rampant Growth actually puts the land onto the battlefield instead of the hand, Scout the Wilderness offers the hand advantage, allowing for more control over your land drops and ensuring land plays for subsequent turns.

Similarly, Sakura-Tribe Elder offers a land ramp but with a different mechanic. As a creature, it can be used as a blocker before sacrificing it to search for a land. This gives a flexible advantage in terms of board presence. On another leaf, Cultivate provides both land ramp and consistency as it puts one land onto the battlefield and the other into your hand, ensuring a land drop and a potential card for later turns.

Assessing these options, Scout the Wilderness provides a safe route to land consistency, making it a decent choice, especially for decks that seek to make land drops consistently or need specific land types in hand to enable their strategy in Magic: The Gathering.

Rampant Growth - MTG Card versions
Sakura-Tribe Elder - MTG Card versions
Cultivate - MTG Card versions
Rampant Growth - MTG Card versions
Sakura-Tribe Elder - MTG Card versions
Cultivate - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Scout the Wilderness by color, type and mana cost

Appeal // Authority - MTG Card versions
Appeal // Authority - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Scout the Wilderness MTG card by a specific set like Dominaria United, 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 Scout the Wilderness and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Scout the Wilderness has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
AlchemyLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2022-09-09 If Scout the Wilderness was kicked, you will put two 1/1 white Soldier tokens onto the battlefield whether you found a land card while searching your library or not.