Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave MTG Card
2022-06-10 - Number 99
2022-07-07 - Number 134
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 7 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Instant — Adventure |
Key Takeaways
- Sword Coast Serpent enhances your deck with card advantage, flash speed, and resource acceleration.
- Challenges include a discard requirement, specific blue mana cost, and potential mana inefficiency.
- Its versatility, combo potential, and meta relevance make it a formidable asset in MTG play.
Text of card
Return target creature to its owner's hand. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: With Sword Coast Serpent MTG Card in your deck, you can tip the scales in your favor. When you unveil this card, it provides the possibility of bypassing the opponent’s defense, leading to gaining a great card advantage during gameplay.
Resource Acceleration: Utilizing the Sword Coast Serpent MTG Card provides a strategic edge in resource acceleration. By deploying this formidable creature, your threat level on the battlefield rises significantly. The large toughness rating of this card ultimately bolsters your barrier, creating a resource advantage that could potentially decide the outcome of the conflict.
Instant Speed: The Sword Coast Serpent is primarily a creature card, but it allows for instant speed interaction due to its flash ability. With it, you can introduce the Serpent at any time during your or your opponent’s turn. This can significantly change the pace and strategy of the game, proving your adaptive prowess in MTG.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The initial appeal of Sword Coast Serpent gets slightly reduced with its potential restriction. This card requires you to discard a card to use its primary role in combat. This demand may put you under pressure, especially during tight games where every card in your hand could change the outcome.
Specific Mana Cost: The key aspect that might limit its universal acceptance is its particular mana cost. Sword Coast Serpent requires a blue mana to cast, making it less flexible for players who prefer multi-color or non-blue decks. This factor will likely push players to restrict its usage primarily to decks that are abundant in blue mana.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The overall mana cost of Sword Coast Serpent is another downside. Despite its impressive power and toughness, it might not be a steal deal for everyone, considering its seven mana casting cost. There are undoubtedly other creatures in the game that offer better abilities at a lesser mana cost, raising questions about its efficiency.
Reasons to Include Sword Coast Serpent in Your Collection
Versatility: Sword Coast Serpent brings versatility to the game. The card allows you to shift gears quickly in the tide of a match, providing flexibility in a variety of deck styles. It operates flawlessly in blue-themed decks, strengthening your control over the board.
Combo Potential: Sword Coast Serpent possesses notable combo potential due to its unique abilities. Triggering its ward attribute could tilt the balance of play to your favor by making your opponent pay additional costs. This creature’s synergies open up new deck building strategies, broadening the scope of gameplay.
Meta-Relevance: Due to its attributes such as ward and its powerful status as a creature card, Sword Coast Serpent maintains notable relevance within the current meta. With control strategies being popular in the recent game scenario, this card’s powers can become a valued asset to your overall strategy.
How to beat
Sword Coast Serpent is an intriguing creature card that ups the game ante in Magic: The Gathering. This blue serpent comes with Hexproof and is known for its ability to boost the holder’s strength. The formidable strength and the protective mechanism make proceeding in the game challenging when this card is on the table. Comparable cards include Brine Giant, and Waker of Waves, but both lack the Hexproof characteristic of the Sword Coast Serpent.
The most effective way to tackle the Sword Coast Serpent is through board-clearing cards. Spells like Shatter the Sky or Wrath of God can remove it from the battlefield, despite its Hexproof. Plus, creatures that have “protection from blue” can also take it down from its hitherto unbeatable position. The bearers of Sword Coast Serpent also need to manage their resources, as the card has quite the mana cost.
To sum it up, facing a strong card like the Sword Coast Serpent could be tricky. However, optimal strategic moves, efficient resources management and the usage of effective board wipes can level the playing field in a game of Magic: The Gathering.
BurnMana Recommendations
With the Sword Coast Serpent carving its niche in MTG, it has become clear that it offers key advantages for those who favor blue mana decks. The balance it offers between strong defense and the ability to shift the pace of the game with instant speed interactions make it a noteworthy contender in any strategic setup. For those looking to enhance their deck with dynamic plays and embrace the meta-relevance of control strategies, incorporating this MTG card could be a game-changer. Get to know more about how to optimize the Sword Coast Serpent in your collection by joining our community and taking your gameplay to the next level.
Cards like Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave
Sword Coast Serpent has made a splash in Magic: The Gathering as a superior blue creature card. A compelling point of comparison is to the Arena Trickster, another creature from the blue mana pool. Both serve as powerful blockers and are capable of being formidable finishers. However, Sword Coast Serpent sets itself apart with its keystone ability – to be unblockable when it becomes powered up. Arena Trickster,while powerful, lacks this unique maneuver.
Sea Gate Serpent presents another interesting comparison. Closer in concert to Sword Coast Serpent due to its shared Serpent lineage and unblockable feature. However, Sea Gate Serpent doesn’t boast the prowess of increasing its own power like the Sword Coast Serpent. On the downside, it’s worth noting that activating the Sword Coast Serpent’s power-up ability can be mana intensive.
In conclusion, comparing different characters’ abilities and examining the potential strategic worth of various cards, Sword Coast Serpent proves to be an exceptional player in MTG, courtesy of its rare unblockable feature and power up ability.
Cards similar to Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave MTG card by a specific set like Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate and Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate, 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 Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- 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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Printings
The Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2022-06-10 and 2022-07-07. Illustrated by Caio Monteiro.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022-06-10 | Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate | CLB | 99 | 2015 | Adventure | Black | Caio Monteiro | |
| 2 | 2022-07-07 | Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate | HBG | 134 | 2015 | Adventure | Black | Caio Monteiro |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-06-10 | An adventurer card is a permanent card in every zone except the stack, as well as while on the stack if not cast as an Adventure. Ignore its alternative characteristics in those cases. For example, while it’s in your graveyard, Altar of Bhaal is an artifact card whose mana value is 2. |
| 2022-06-10 | An effect may refer to a card, spell, or permanent that “has an Adventure.” This refers to a card, spell, or permanent that has an adventurer card’s set of alternative characteristics, even if they’re not being used and even if that card was never cast as an Adventure. |
| 2022-06-10 | Casting a card as an Adventure isn’t casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to the Adventure. |
| 2022-06-10 | Casting a noncreature spell after Sword Coast Serpent has become blocked will not cause it to become unblocked. |
| 2022-06-10 | If a spell is cast as an Adventure, its controller exiles it instead of putting it into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves. For as long as it remains exiled, that player may cast it as a permanent spell. If an Adventure spell leaves the stack in any way other than resolving (most likely by being countered or by failing to resolve because its targets have all become illegal), that card won’t be exiled and the spell’s controller won’t be able to cast it as a permanent later. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an adventurer card ends up in exile for any other reason than by exiling itself while resolving, it won’t give you permission to cast it as a permanent spell. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an effect copies an Adventure spell, that copy is exiled as it resolves. It ceases to exist as a state-based action; it’s not possible to cast the copy from exile. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative Adventure name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an object becomes a copy of an object that has an Adventure, the copy also has an Adventure. If it changes zones, it will either cease to exist (if it’s a token) or cease to be a copy (if it’s a nontoken permanent), and so you won’t be able to cast it as an Adventure. |
| 2022-06-10 | If you cast an adventurer card as an Adventure, use only its alternative characteristics to determine whether it’s legal to cast that spell. |
| 2022-06-10 | When casting a spell as an Adventure, use the alternative characteristics and ignore all of the card’s normal characteristics. The spell’s color, mana cost, mana value, and so on are determined by only those alternative characteristics. If the spell leaves the stack, it immediately resumes using its normal characteristics. |
| 2022-06-10 | You must still follow any relevant timing rules for the permanent spell you cast from exile. Normally, you’ll be able to cast it only during your main phase while the stack is empty. |