Cavern Lampad MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment Creature — Nymph
Abilities	Bestow,Intimidate
Released	2013-09-27
Set symbol
Set name	Theros
Set code	THS
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	81
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Volkan Baǵa

Key Takeaways

Cavern Lampad offers strategic flexibility as a creature or aura, fitting well into deck curves.
The bestowed intimidate ability grants unexpected tactical advantages during critical moments.
Despite its versatility, Cavern Lampad’s discard requirement and specific mana cost may limit its use.

Text of card

Bestow (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.) Intimidate Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has intimidate.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Cavern Lampad offers indirect card advantage by enhancing a creature’s capabilities and potentially outclassing the opposition. This can lead to more favorable trades or direct damage, thereby tipping the scales of the field in your favor without losing card equity.

Resource Acceleration: While Cavern Lampad itself doesn’t provide direct resource acceleration, its moderate casting cost fits well within many deck curves, allowing for efficient use of mana. Additionally, its bestow mechanic offers flexibility, effectively serving as a creature or an aura that persists even after a creature’s demise.

Instant Speed: Although Cavern Lampad itself operates at sorcery speed, it brings the strategic advantage of instant speed effects when bestowed. Its intimidate ability can surprise an opponent by suddenly making a creature harder to block at a critical moment, potentially leading to unexpected and decisive plays. This can change the board state on the fly, providing a significant tactical benefit in many games.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Cavern Lampad requires you to sacrifice another creature as part of its inspired ability, which could be demanding if your board presence is weak or you’re running low on creatures.

Specific Mana Cost: With a mana cost that includes double black, Cavern Lampad may strain mana resources in multicolored decks, making it a less flexible addition to anything but mono-black or heavy black-oriented strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: At four mana, Cavern Lampad’s investment is significant, especially when considering other creatures or enchantments with similar or better abilities that cost less, potentially offering greater value early on in the game.

Reasons to Include Cavern Lampad in Your Collection

Versatility: Cavern Lampad can transform any creature into a more formidable threat, offering a strategic advantage in a variety of decks focused on aggressive or midrange tactics.

Combo Potential: Thanks to its enchantment nature and Intimidate ability, this card works well with strategies built around auras and creatures that benefit from evasive abilities, providing a pathway to land crucial hits on an opponent.

Meta-Relevance: As games often pivot on the ability to break through stalemates, Cavern Lampad’s granting of Intimidate can be an unexpected game-changer, especially in environments where creature-heavy strategies dominate.

How to beat Cavern Lampad

Cavern Lampad presents a unique challenge as an enchantment creature card in the context of Magic: The Gathering. Similar in function to other cards that enhance creatures, Cavern Lampad offers the valuable gift of intimidation with its bestowed Intimidate ability, enabling a creature to be blocked only by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color. This can turn a simple creature into a significant threat, making it less likely to be stopped by your opponent’s defenses.

To counteract Cavern Lampad’s potential impact, you’ll want to focus on versatile removal spells capable of targeting both enchantments and creatures. Instant-speed removal like Naturalize or Disenchant can be particularly effective as they can disrupt the Lampad before combat damage is dealt. Board wipes that clear multiple creatures irrespective of their abilities will also be useful, as they negate the advantage granted by Intimidate. Furthermore, having artifact creatures in your deck ensures you have reliable blockers regardless of the Cavern Lampad’s bestowed power. Keeping these strategies in mind will help you maintain control over the board and mitigate the threats posed by Cavern Lampad.

Ultimately, understanding the various methods to address enchantment creatures within Magic: The Gathering is essential. Cavern Lampad’s ability to grant Intimidate might initially seem daunting, but with the right strategy and card selection, you can ensure it doesn’t dim the chances of your victory.

Cards like Cavern Lampad

Cavern Lampad adds a layer of strategy to creature enhancement in MTG. Much like other enchantment creatures such as Nighthowler, Cavern Lampad can be used to increase a creature’s power. While Nighthowler amplifies a creature’s power based on the number of creature cards in all graveyards, Cavern Lampad gives a creature the ability to intimidate opponents, making it harder for creatures of a different color to block it.

Another enchantment, Ethereal Armor, shares the similarity of buffing a creature, yet it focuses on the number of other enchantments you control for its strength. In contrast, Cavern Lampad offers a consistent boost regardless of enchantment count, coupled with the advantage of making a creature more elusive. Erebos’s Emissary is another creature that can be used similarly to Cavern Lampad, as it can give a creature a boost in power, but it requires sacrificing another creature for a larger temporary gain, unlike the static upgrade Cavern Lampad provides.

Overall, Cavern Lampad has its place among enchantment creatures in MTG, standing out for its unique ability to grant intimidate, thus providing both a reliable power increase and an improved combat dynamic for players.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Cavern Lampad MTG card by a specific set like Theros, 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 Cavern Lampad and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Cavern Lampad has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2013-09-15	Auras attached to a creature don't become tapped when the creature becomes tapped. Except in some rare cases, an Aura with bestow remains untapped when it becomes unattached and becomes a creature.
2013-09-15	If a permanent with bestow enters the battlefield by any method other than being cast, it will be an enchantment creature. You can't choose to pay the bestow cost and have it become an Aura.
2013-09-15	On the stack, a spell with bestow is either a creature spell or an Aura spell. It's never both, although it's an enchantment spell in either case.
2013-09-15	Unlike other Aura spells, an Aura spell with bestow isn't countered if its target is illegal as it begins to resolve. Rather, the effect making it an Aura spell ends, it loses enchant creature, it returns to being an enchantment creature spell, and it resolves and enters the battlefield as an enchantment creature.
2013-09-15	Unlike other Auras, an Aura with bestow isn't put into its owner's graveyard if it becomes unattached. Rather, the effect making it an Aura ends, it loses enchant creature, and it remains on the battlefield as an enchantment creature. It can attack (and its abilities can be activated, if it has any) on the turn it becomes unattached if it's been under your control continuously, even as an Aura, since your most recent turn began.