Skola Grovedancer MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Enchantment Creature — Satyr Druid |
| Abilities | Mill |
| Released | 2020-01-24 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Theros Beyond Death |
| Set code | THB |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 202 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Josh Hass |
Text of card
Whenever a land card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you gain 1 life. : Put the top card of your library into your graveyard.
"From the ashes of last night's revel, I bring the dawn on new growth."
Cards like Skola Grovedancer
Skola Grovedancer is a unique asset among life gain and graveyard synergy cards in Magic: The Gathering. It bears some resemblance to creatures like Satyr Wayfinder due to its ability to interact with the top cards of the library. While Satyr Wayfinder allows for a look into the top four cards and adds a land to your hand, Skola Grovedancer takes a different approach by providing consistent life gain with every land you play or that enters the graveyard. This can be pivotal for both stabilizing your life total and padding it in long, drawn-out matches.
Nessian Wanderer is another card that shares kinship with Skola Grovedancer, as it also seeks to derive value from land cards. Nessian Wanderer lets you look at the top three cards of your library whenever an enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, to potentially reveal a land. However, Skola Grovedancer doesn’t rely on another type of card to be effective; instead, it triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield or enters your graveyard from anywhere, offering a more flexible utility.
Examining the range of abilities among these creatures, Skola Grovedancer proves to be a promising choice for decks focusing on land mechanics and incremental life gain, catering to a strategy where each played land or milled card contributes to your advantage.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Skola Grovedancer offers a unique form of card advantage by allowing you to effectively utilize cards from your graveyard. Each time a land card is sent there, you benefit by gaining life, making each land play potentially more valuable than just a resource.
Resource Acceleration: Although not directly providing additional mana, Skola Grovedancer encourages a land-heavy playstyle that can lead to a form of resource acceleration. By synergizing with land ramp spells or effects that put land cards into the graveyard, you indirectly ramp by enabling higher land counts on the field in the long run.
Instant Speed: While Skola Grovedancer itself is not an instant, it can interact beneficially with instant-speed cards that involve land strategies. For example, instant-speed land fetch spells used on an opponent’s turn can immediately trigger Grovedancer’s ability, making it versatile and responsive within such deck dynamics.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: In a game where hand size can quickly dwindle, Skola Grovedancer asks for a card to be discarded to trigger its ability. This can be a difficult choice when resources in hand are already scarce.
Specific Mana Cost: Skola Grovedancer’s casting requirement of one green and one generic mana means it cannot slide into just any deck. Its costs tether it firmly to green-centric or two-color decks where green is a major component.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: For a two mana creature, Skola Grovedancer may seem underwhelming in light of other cards at similar mana costs that provide immediate impact on the board state or delve into more aggressive strategies.
Reasons to Include Skola Grovedancer in Your Collection
Versatility: Skola Grovedancer offers adaptability across several deck types, particularly those centered around land mechanics or graveyard synergy. Its ability to gain life with each land drop makes it a solid addition in both aggressive and defensive strategies.
Combo Potential: As a creature that thrives on landfall, this card has significant potential to combo with effects that allow for multiple land plays or resurrect lands from the graveyard, enhancing its life-gain mechanic exponentially.
Meta-Relevance: In formats where games are prolonged and grindy, Skola Grovedancer’s consistent life gain can be the edge needed to outlast opponents, making it a smart inclusion in a meta filled with attrition-based decks.
How to beat
Skola Grovedancer is a card that enthusiasts of Magic: The Gathering often include in their green decks for its life-gain and graveyard-utilizing abilities. This creature becomes particularly useful for decks that are built around self-mill or landfall strategies. However, like any card in MTG, Skola Grovedancer has its counters and can be outplayed.
One key strategy to overcoming Skola Grovedancer’s influence is to limit graveyard interactions. Graveyard hate cards, such as Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze, can immediately neutralize the benefits that Skola Grovedancer provides. Additionally, since the Grovedancer thrives on land cards hitting the graveyard, using cards that allow you to exile lands rather than discard them can further reduce its impact. Direct removal spells are also highly effective. Given that Skola Grovedancer is a low-cost creature with modest stats, it’s vulnerable to common removal spells such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile, which can easily manage its presence on the board.
To summarize, overcoming Skola Grovedancer requires a mix of strategic graveyard management and timely creature removal. By incorporating cards that control or clean up the graveyard and using efficient removal options, you can mitigate the advantages Skola Grovedancer offers to land-centric and self-mill decks.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Skola Grovedancer MTG card by a specific set like Theros Beyond Death, 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 Skola Grovedancer 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 Skola Grovedancer 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 Skola Grovedancer card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2020-01-24 | Because Skola Grovedancer’s ability triggers when land cards are put into your graveyard “from anywhere,” Skola Grovedancer must be on the battlefield immediately after a land card is put there in order to trigger. This means that if Skola Grovedancer dies at the same time as a land you control, its ability won’t trigger. |