Skyshroud Forest MTG Card
1997-10-14 - Number 326
2014-06-16 - Number 315
2015-05-06 - Number 244
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Land |
Key Takeaways
- Skyshroud Forest offers fluid mana ramping without coming into play tapped, enhancing early game advantage.
- Demands green-colorless mana and discards for ability activation, potentially disrupting multicolor decks.
- Despite activation costs, it’s a resilient, versatile pick for decks requiring specific mana fixing.
Text of card
Skyshroud Forest comes into play tapped. oc T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool. oc T: Add o U or o G to your mana pool. Skyshroud Forest deals 1 damage to you.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: While not directly impacting your hand, the Skyshroud Forest allows for fluid gameplay, helping to ensure that you are not set back by land drops. This subtle form of card advantage ensures you’re making the most of each turn’s land play.
Resource Acceleration: Skyshroud Forest ramps up your resources by tapping for green mana without entering the battlefield tapped, setting the stage for quicker and potentially game-changing plays. Every turn that you can accelerate your resources can lead to a significant advantage over your opponent.
Instant Speed: The legend of Skyshroud Forest doesn’t inherently involve instant-speed interactions; however, its ability to provide green mana at any time allows players to keep options open for instant-speed spells and abilities, which is crucial for maintaining flexibility and responding to opponents’ moves.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: When playing Skyshroud Forest, players may find the requirement to discard as part of the activation cost a hindrance, especially during late-game scenarios where hand sizes are typically smaller and every card counts.
Specific Mana Cost: Skyshroud Forest demands a specific combination of green and colorless mana to activate. This necessity can sometimes disrupt the fluidity of mana usage, particularly in multi-colored decks that rely on a diverse mana base to cast a variety of spells.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The card’s cost to tap for mana might seem steep when compared to other lands. There are numerous alternatives that provide mana without such costly activations, making Skyshroud Forest less appealing in a competitive environment where mana efficiency is key.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Skyshroud Forest offers flexibility for decks needing mana fixing, as it can tap for green mana or be used to generate colorless mana, which is perfect for multicolored or colorless-heavy decks.
Combo Potential: This land card works well with landfall abilities or other effects that are activated by lands entering the battlefield, making it a key piece in several strategic deck builds.
Meta-Relevance: As the game evolves, having accesible mana resources that are less vulnerable to nonbasic land hate cards can be a game-changer, making Skyshroud Forest a resilient choice in diverse formats.
How to beat
Skyshroud Forest poses a unique challenge when faced on the battleground of Magic: The Gathering. This card brings to the table not just a source of green mana but also the utility of converting mana to colorless, facilitating non-green spells or abilities within predominantly green decks. Its versatility is further enhanced by its land type, making it impervious to common non-land destruction.
One tactic to counter Skyshroud Forest’s advantages is through the strategic use of land disruption. Employing cards that target non-basic lands, such as Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin, can remove Skyshroud Forest from play, hindering an opponent’s mana flexibility. Additionally, cards like Blood Moon can neutralize its mana-producing capabilities by turning it into a simple Mountain, thus restricting an opponent’s access to green mana and potentially disrupting their game plan.
Ultimately, while Skyshroud Forest offers a potent mix of utility and resource management, a well-prepared player can navigate its challenges. By incorporating targeted land destruction or transformation within your deck, you can effectively minimize the advantages Skyshroud Forest brings to your opponent and maintain control of the game’s flow.
Cards like Skyshroud Forest
Within the vast terrain of land cards in Magic: The Gathering, Skyshroud Forest provides players a versatile blending of mana accessibility. Open for comparison, we have cards like Brushland, which shares the key functionality of tapping for colorless mana, as well as the option to deliver either green or white mana at the expense of life. Skyshroud Forest, however, exclusively offers green mana without the white, but imposes the same life penalty for the color.
Yavimaya Coast presents another parallel, extending a choice between colorless mana and either green or blue mana with a comparable life trade-off. What delineates Skyshroud Forest from these counterparts is its singularity in tapping for a single color. Additionally, unlike Yavimaya Coast and Brushland, Skyshroud Forest is not part of the notorious pain land cycle, thus sits at a less recognized tier in terms of utility and popularity.
Reflection upon these land cards illuminates Skyshroud Forest’s unique place in Magic: The Gathering. It offers a straightforward, yet lifesaving infusion of colored mana for decks that can afford the minor life sacrifice, thus cementing its role in niche deck constructions while coexisting amongst a varied spectrum of similar land options.
Cards similar to Skyshroud Forest by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Skyshroud Forest MTG card by a specific set like Tempest and Vintage Masters, 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 Skyshroud Forest 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
See MTG Products
Printings
The Skyshroud Forest Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 1997-10-14 and 2015-05-06. Illustrated by Roger Raupp.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1997-10-14 | Tempest | TMP | 326 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Roger Raupp | |
| 2 | 2014-06-16 | Vintage Masters | VMA | 315 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Roger Raupp | |
| 3 | 2015-05-06 | Tempest Remastered | TPR | 244 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Roger Raupp |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Skyshroud Forest has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
