Witch's Cottage MTG Card

Rarity	Common
Type	Land — Swamp
Released	2019-10-04
Set symbol
Set name	Throne of Eldraine
Set code	ELD
Number	249
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Gabor Szikszai

Key Takeaways

Witch’s Cottage can selectively recur creatures, enhancing draw quality without extra cost.
Requires three other Swamps for optimal effect, possibly hindering early game plans.
Compares favorably to other recursion lands by potentially not entering tapped.

Text of card

(: Add .) Witch's Cottage enters the battlefield tapped unless you control three or more other Swamps. When Witch's Cottage enters the battlefield untapped, you may put target creature card from your graveyard on top of your library.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Witch’s Cottage offers a unique form of card advantage by potentially returning a creature card from your graveyard to the top of your library. This subtle form of card selection ensures you draw into threats or key pieces without spending extra resources.

Resource Acceleration: As a land, Witch’s Cottage does not accelerate your mana on its own. However, it’s invaluable in decks that require a specific threshold of Swamps to fully capitalize on their abilities, effectively accelerating your strategy’s potential by meeting these conditions seamlessly.

Instant Speed: While Witch’s Cottage’s ability does not function at instant speed, its trigger upon entering the battlefield can be strategically timed with other land play mechanics. The nuances of this setup can provide surprise advantages over an opponent, readying your hand with vital creatures when most needed.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Witch’s Cottage doesn’t necessitate discarding to activate its abilities, enhancing its utility without sacrificing hand advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Witch’s Cottage requires one black mana to play, which restricts its inclusion to decks that can produce or accommodate black mana in their manabase.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Witch’s Cottage itself is inexpensive to play, its ability to return a creature card from your graveyard to the top of your library only triggers if you control three or more other swamps. This can be a high land count requirement, particularly in the early game or in multi-color decks where having three swamps in play isn’t always feasible.

Reasons to Include Witch’s Cottage in Your Collection

Versatility: Witch’s Cottage offers a seamless integration into various black-based decks. Its unique ability to put a creature card from your graveyard on top of your library ensures a valuable recursion effect in creature-heavy strategies.

Combo Potential: This land synergizes well with decks that capitalize on graveyard mechanics. In combination with self-mill or sacrifice themes, Witch’s Cottage can repeatedly enable key creatures to return to your hand, thereby enhancing your overall strategy.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where recursion can tip the scales, Witch’s Cottage finds its place. As the competitive scene adapts to graveyard manipulation and value-oriented play, this card emerges as a solid utility land in any black deck seeking to exploit these dynamics.

How to beat

Witch’s Cottage is a unique land card in Magic: The Gathering that has the potential to give players a strategic edge by returning a creature card from their graveyard to the top of their deck. It’s a valuable asset for decks that rely on key creatures, easily weaving into the flow of the match by seamlessly bringing back those crucial components.

When facing Witch’s Cottage, it’s essential to manage your opponent’s graveyard. Utilize cards like Tormod’s Crypt to remove targets before the Cottage’s ability triggers. Graveyard hate cards are also formidable tools, such as Leyline of the Void, which can negate the Cottage’s effectiveness entirely by exiling creatures before they hit the graveyard, disrupting your opponent’s game plan significantly.

It’s equally important to control the board and maintain pressure, ensuring the game state doesn’t favor the activation of Witch’s Cottage’s ability. Aggressive strategies might prevent your opponent from having the threshold of three or more other Swamps, thus keeping their powerful creatures at bay. By understanding and interrupting your opponent’s strategies, you ensure that Witch’s Cottage doesn’t become the turning point of the game.

Cards like Witch's Cottage

Witch’s Cottage is a unique land card that offers a distinct advantage in Magic: The Gathering. It’s akin to Mortuary Mire in that both have the capability to return a creature from your graveyard to the top of your library. Yet, Witch’s Cottage takes it a step further by not entering the battlefield tapped if you control three or more other Swamps, enabling an immediate impact on the game.

Comparatively, there’s Volrath’s Stronghold, which also returns creatures to the top of your library. However, the stronghold necessitates two mana to activate this ability, whereas Witch’s Cottage does this for free upon entry under the right conditions. Surprisingly, we also have Haunted Fengraf in the mix, which can randomly return a creature from your graveyard to your hand, offering a different form of recurrence.

Pinpointing the value of Witch’s Cottage within MTG reveals that it stands out in decks heavy with Swamps. It snugly fits into strategies that require frequent creature recovery without incurring extra mana costs, thus enhancing consistency in gameplay and optimizing the crucial land drops each turn.

Volrath's Stronghold - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Witch's Cottage by color, type and mana cost

Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt - MTG Card versions

Takenuma, Abandoned Mire - MTG Card versions

Westvale Abbey // Ormendahl, Profane Prince - MTG Card versions

Hostile Hostel // Creeping Inn - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Witch's Cottage MTG card by a specific set like Throne of Eldraine, 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 Witch's Cottage and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Witch's Cottage 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 Witch's Cottage card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2019-10-04	As these lands are entering the battlefield, they check for lands that are already on the battlefield. They won't see lands that are entering the battlefield at the same time (due to Scapeshift, for example).
2019-10-04	If another effect puts these lands onto the battlefield tapped, they enter tapped, even if you control enough lands with the appropriate basic land type.