Crabapple Cohort MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Treefolk Warrior
Released	2008-05-02
Set symbol
Set name	Shadowmoor
Set code	SHM
Power	4
Toughness	4
Number	109
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Richard Whitters

Key Takeaways

Crabapple Cohort affords card advantage and strategic value in +1/+1 counter decks by drawing out opponent resources.
Its low casting cost aids resource acceleration, making it a suitable choice for aggressive Green strategies.
The card’s synergy with instant-speed spells and creatures adds unexpected combat phase flexibility and power.

Text of card

Crabapple Cohort gets +1/+1 as long as you control another green creature.

Seven wives made seven pies from seven apples, each plucked from its branches. Now bare and bitter, it comes to exact its price: one apple, one bone.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Crabapple Cohort can be a reliable source of card advantage in decks that prioritize +1/+1 counters, as it often attracts enough attention to require an answer from opponents, effectively trading one card for a potential multiple from the opposition.

Resource Acceleration: Its low mana cost contributes to resource acceleration by allowing an earlier board presence, providing a budget-friendly addition to Green-based aggro or midrange decks that thrive on establishing and maintaining a forceful game state.

Instant Speed: While Crabapple Cohort itself isn’t an instant, its intrinsic synergy with other cards that operate at instant speed—like combat tricks and flash creatures—makes it an unexpectedly formidable opponent during the combat phase, offering flexibility in strategic plays that can disrupt your adversary’s plans.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Crabapple Cohort requires players to discard a card when leveraging certain abilities. This can be detrimental when your hand is already depleted or when every card counts for your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting of Crabapple Cohort demands a specific combination of mana, which includes green. This can restrict the card to decks that can consistently produce green mana, potentially limiting its versatility for a player with a multicolor deck.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: To bring Crabapple Cohort into play, you invest a notable amount of mana. This could be a setback when considering the array of other creatures that could be summoned for a similar or lower cost but with more impactful effects or stats.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Crabapple Cohort can be a flexible addition to various deck builds that capitalize on creature numbers due to its ability to gain first strike when you control four or more creatures, making it a robust defensive choice or a surprise aggressor.

Combo Potential: This card pairs well with mechanics that reward you for having creatures with first strike or for controlling a significant number of creatures, thus enabling synergies with other cards that benefit from such conditions.

Meta-Relevance: Given the varied pace of matches and the prevalence of creature-based strategies in many metagames, Crabapple Cohort provides a valuable adaptation by increasing your battlefield’s threat level as your creature presence grows.

How to beat

Crabapple Cohort is not only memorable for its quirky name but also for the unique mechanics it brings to the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. This creature card becomes more formidable as you control more green creatures, encouraging a swarm strategy to maximize its potential. This can present a challenge to players facing it, as it grows into a daunting presence when not dealt with swiftly.

To effectively counter Crabapple Cohort, one approach is to limit the number of green creatures your opponent can maintain on the board. Removal spells are crucial in keeping the Cohort’s strength in check. Utilizing board wipes like Wrath of God or targeted removal such as Path to Exile can be efficient ways to manage your opponent’s green creature army, thus diminishing the Cohort’s impact. Similarly, employing control elements like counter spells to prevent the Cohort’s allies from entering the battlefield will also keep its power level manageable

Overall, understanding your deck’s strengths and deploying the right removal or control strategy at the optimal time is key to gaining the upper hand against a card like Crabapple Cohort in Magic: The Gathering. A balanced approach that combines both prevention and reaction can neutralize the collective power of green creature-based decks and ensure your victory.

Cards like Crabapple Cohort

Crabapple Cohort is a unique green creature card in Magic: The Gathering that gains strength when you control more green creatures. It echoes the design philosophy behind cards like Dauntless Dourbark, which relies on the number of Trees and Forests one controls to determine its power and toughness. While Dauntless Dourbark considers the land type for its strength, Crabapple Cohort focuses on the type of creatures, showcasing the diverse ways creature power can be boosted in MTG.

Another card that Crystalizes parallel effects is Adaptive Automaton. Although not color specific, Adaptive Automaton is often compared for its ability to choose a creature type upon entering the battlefield and grant a power and toughness boost along with the chosen type to other creatures you control. Even though the Automaton offers versatility, Crabapple Cohort stands out for its potential in monogreen creature decks.

Considering green’s synergy-based nature, where strength often comes in numbers, Crabapple Cohort represents this theme well with its simplicity and scalability. It makes an interesting comparison with other creature-enhancing cards, revealing the game’s strategic depth in leveraging the number of creatures to control the battlefield’s flow. Whether in a deck with a focus on sheer quantity or an affinity with nature’s army, Crabapple Cohort holds its ground for its thematic fit and potential power spike.

Cards similar to Crabapple Cohort by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Crabapple Cohort MTG card by a specific set like Shadowmoor, 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 Crabapple Cohort and other MTG cards: