Yoked Ox MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Ox
Power 0
Toughness 4

Key Takeaways

  1. Yoked Ox excels as a low-cost defender, thwarting early attacks and maintaining a strong board presence.
  2. Its simple mana requirement allows for quick deployment without compromising strategy or mana resources.
  3. Pairs well with other cards, enhancing deck synergy through tapping or interactions at instant speed.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Yoked Ox itself does not directly confer card advantage in the traditional sense of drawing additional cards, its mere presence can contribute to a strategic advantage. It acts as a reliable blocker, capable of deterring attackers and preserving more valuable creatures or your life total for future turns. This defensive capability enables you to maintain board presence, which can be indirectly beneficial in terms of card economy.

Resource Acceleration: Yoked Ox is not a card that provides resource acceleration in the form of additional mana or ramp. However, its low casting cost allows for an early game presence, which means you can allocate your mana resources to other spells sooner. This early placement can prove critical in setting up your defenses while developing your mana base and strategy.

Instant Speed: Although Yoked Ox is a creature and not an instant, its one white mana cost means it can easily be played alongside other spells. This frees up your manageability, giving you flexibility to play at a more responsive pace. The capacity to deploy Yoked Ox without significantly impeding your ability to interact with the game at instant speed is a subtle yet valuable tactical advantage.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Yoked Ox doesn’t require discarding cards, giving you one less worry about depleting your hand.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s mana cost is plain, needing only a single white mana to cast, which can easily fit into most decks without straining the mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of just one white mana, Yoked Ox is an incredibly low investment for a resilient defender, negating concerns of a high mana cost.


Reasons to Include Yoked Ox in Your Collection

Versatility: Yoked Ox is a low-cost creature that easily fits into defensive and life-gain decks. Its resilience in the early game can be essential for stabilizing against aggressive strategies.

Combo Potential: While it may not seem like a typical combo piece, Yoked Ox can contribute to decks that utilize cards to tap or untap creatures for various effects, benefiting strategies built around card synergy.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta filled with quick, aggressive decks, Yoked Ox serves as a valuable blocker, capable of thwarting early assaults and protecting more valuable creatures or your life total until you can deploy your game-winning strategy.


How to beat

Yoked Ox may not seem like a formidable threat in the diverse ecosystem of Magic: The Gathering creatures, but its resilience in the early game can pose a challenge. The strength of Yoked Ox lies in its sturdy defensive stat line for a low mana cost. As a result, early aggressive creatures often find themselves at a standstill against it. To effectively navigate around this four-legged roadblock, it’s crucial to incorporate removal spells that can bypass its high toughness, such as Pacifism, into your deck.

Disregard the temptation to engage in unfavorable combat. Instead, deploy flyers or creatures with trample to circumvent the Ox’s terrestrial stand. Enchantments that nullify its defensive capabilities, like Dead Weight, can turn the tide by minimizing the Ox’s impact on the board. Additionally, waiting to deploy larger creatures that can surpass the Ox’s toughness will force your opponent to seek other means to protect themselves. Ultimately, while Yoked Ox can be an early-game nuisance, a strategic approach ensures it won’t become a lasting problem on your path to victory.


Cards like Yoked Ox

Yoked Ox stands as a reliable inclusion among low-cost creatures in Magic: The Gathering. The card is specifically designed to be an early defensive option, similar to other one-mana creatures like the hardy Norwood Ranger. Although lacking the ranger’s ability to deal damage, Yoked Ox compensates with a stout defense, making it a tough barrier in the early game. A comparable card would be the keen-eyed Tasseled Dromedary, which also presents a single-mana cost structure and an identical defensive statistic.

Where Yoked Ox particularly shines is in its capacity to endure early onslaughts, much like the stoic Cathedral Membrane. Although the Membrane comes with an additional cost to block, it serves a similar purpose as a deterrent against early aggressors. Another noteworthy comparison is to the resilient Wall of Runes, which not only provides a comparable defensive presence but also offers an additional scry effect, giving it a slight edge in terms of card utility.

Judging these cards, Yoked Ox may not boast complex abilities, yet it’s precisely this simplicity and durability that make it a preferred wall for many decks aimed at stalling opponents during the critical early turns of a match in Magic: The Gathering.

Norwood Ranger - MTG Card versions
Tasseled Dromedary - MTG Card versions
Cathedral Membrane - MTG Card versions
Wall of Runes - MTG Card versions
Norwood Ranger - Portal Second Age (P02)
Tasseled Dromedary - Kaladesh (KLD)
Cathedral Membrane - New Phyrexia (NPH)
Wall of Runes - War of the Spark (WAR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Yoked Ox MTG card by a specific set like Theros and Magic Origins, 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 Yoked Ox and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Yoked Ox Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2013-09-27 and 2019-07-12. Illustrated by Ryan Yee.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12013-09-27TherosTHS 372003normalblackRyan Yee
22015-07-17Magic OriginsORI 422015normalblackRyan Yee
32019-07-12Core Set 2020M20 412015normalblackRyan Yee

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Yoked Ox has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

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