Scurrid Colony MTG Card

Scurrid Colony - Strixhaven: School of Mages

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Squirrel
Abilities	Reach
Released	2021-04-23
Set symbol
Set name	Strixhaven: School of Mages
Set code	STX
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	142
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Lars Grant-West

Key Takeaways

Scurrid Colony excels in land-heavy decks, evolving from a simple blocker to a robust threat.
Its scaling power makes it adaptable for aggressive and resource-focused strategies in MTG.
Despite mana specificity and higher costs, it remains a potent early to mid-game play.

Text of card

Reach Scurrid Colony gets +2/+2 as long as you control eight or more lands.

Scurrid teeth evolved to crack open nuts, but they work just as well for crushing bones if the nest is threatened.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Scurrid Colony offers a unique approach to card advantage. While it doesn’t directly cause you to draw more cards, it supports strategies that rely on having a certain number of lands. Its ability to scale up based on land count can turn it from a modest creature into a formidable threat, effectively yielding card advantage by negating the need for additional creature spells.

Resource Acceleration: This card doesn’t provide direct resource acceleration, but it encourages a land-heavy play style, which indirectly accelerates your resource availability. With more lands on the field, you’re positioned to cast higher-cost spells sooner than your opponent, potentially giving you a significant advantage in mid to late game scenarios.

Instant Speed: Although Scurrid Colony itself is not an instant, it benefits from playing at instant speed. Because of its set block mechanics, it can capitalize on instant-speed land drops that some sets enable. This interaction allows you to surprise your opponent by transforming Scurrid Colony into a larger threat at a moment’s notice, possibly during combat or at the end of your opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Scurrid Colony necessitates discarding another card to activate its ability. This could deplete your hand and leave you at a strategic disadvantage during crucial moments of the game.

Specific Mana Cost: This card has a mana cost that includes green, which can limit its playability to decks that can produce green mana, potentially reducing its versatility across various deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The investment needed to summon Scurrid Colony, especially while considering the additional cost for its full effect, can be substantial compared to other creatures that might present a bigger immediate impact on the battlefield for the same or a lower mana cost.

Reasons to Include Scurrid Colony in Your Collection

Versatility: Scurrid Colony falls perfectly in a range of deck builds, particularly those that optimize creature count or depend on early board presence. Its ability to scale in power as the game progresses makes it a valuable asset in both aggressive and midrange strategies.

Combo Potential: With the right deck synergies, this card’s capacity to gain counters and power up can be a cornerstone in combination with mechanics like proliferate or other counter manipulation effects, amplifying its impact on the battlefield.

Meta-Relevance: As the game’s environment adapts, a card like Scurrid Colony that offers a low mana-cost yet scalable threat can be extremely useful. It’s especially potent in formats where quick, efficient creatures are key to overpowering opponents and staying ahead in the early to mid-game.

How to Beat Scurrid Colony

Confronting Scurrid Colony in MTG calls for strategy. As a creature card that gets stronger with more lands, dealing with it early is key. Against such threats, consider cards with removal abilities that bypass the Insect’s growing power. Cards with “destroy target creature” effects, like Doom Blade or Path to Exile, can efficiently handle Scurrid Colony before it gets out of control. Cards that force the opponent to sacrifice creatures can also sidestep the power issue, so edict effects like Diabolic Edict are valuable as well.

Alternatively, if Scurrid Colony has already reached its formidable stage with enough lands, direct damage spells that deal damage regardless of creature size, such as Lightning Bolt or Abrade, lose their effectiveness. In such cases, board wipes like Wrath of God or Damnation become critical to reset the board. Combat tricks can also serve as a method to take down the Colony in battle, using instants that shrink its power or toughness temporarily.

Lastly, maintaining a strong board presence yourself and utilizing creatures with deathtouch such as Fynn, the Fangbearer, can deter the Scurrid Colony from attacking, effectively neutralizing its menace on the battlefield.

Cards like Scurrid Colony

Scurrid Colony stands out in Magic: The Gathering as a versatile creature card that can easily be overlooked. With its ability to be both a reliable early blocker and a potential mid-game threat, it resembles other creature cards that offer similar flexibility. Take, for instance, the card Thicket Crasher, which also provides a power boost under certain conditions. While Thicket Crasher reliably gives your other creatures trample if you control an Elemental, Scurrid Colony requires four or more lands to become a formidable 4/4 creature.

Another card with comparable mechanics is Snapping Sailback, which has flash and can be a game-changer when played at the right moment. Although it doesn’t have the initial power that Scurrid Colony boasts when the land condition is met, it shines with the enrage ability, allowing it to grow stronger during combat. Then there’s the Trusty Packbeast, which brings versatility of a different sort – it returns an artifact card from your graveyard to your hand when it enters the battlefield, again showcasing flexibility though in a non-combat capacity.

Evaluating the strengths across different scenarios, Scurrid Colony finds its niche in Magic: The Gathering as a low-cost creature with a significant power ramp, making it an attractive option for decks looking to scale their board presence quickly.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Scurrid Colony MTG card by a specific set like Strixhaven: School of Mages, 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 Scurrid Colony and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Scurrid Colony 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
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2021-04-16	Because damage remains marked on creatures until the damage is removed as the turn ends, nonlethal damage dealt to Scurrid Colony may become lethal if the number of lands you control falls below eight.
2021-04-16	If the number of lands you control falls below eight, Scurrid Colony loses the +2/+2 bonus. This may cause it to die to damage that is already marked on it.