Tooth and Claw MTG Card

Enhances creature cards’ value by transforming them into threats, making for a resilient board presence. Offers strategic depth with instant speed activation, allowing responsive play and tactical advantage. Demands careful hand and mana management, posing a deck-building challenge due to its specific cost.

Tempest (TMP)
1997-10-14 - Number 210

Commander 2013 (C13)
2013-11-01 - Number 127

Eternal Masters (EMA)
2016-06-10 - Number 151

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment

Text of card

Sacrifice two creatures: Put a Carnivore token into play. Treat this token as a 3/1 red creature.

"You deify nature as female—kind and gentle—yet you cringe at what is natural." —Mirri of the *Weatherlight*

Cards like Tooth and Claw

Tooth and Claw is a versatile card in the ever-evolving MTG arena, carving a niche among creature sacrifice effects. Like its kin, such as Altar of Dementia, which can mill an opponent, Tooth and Claw offers a different strategic outcome, trading creatures for a formidable Carnivore token. Altar of Dementia doesn’t create creatures, but both encourage players to experiment with creature permanence.

Delving deeper into this card’s relatives, you might consider Goblin Bombardment, a card that transforms sacrifices into direct damage. It’s lower in cost, and while it doesn’t create creature tokens, it provides an immediate impact on the game state at the expense of your creatures. On another note, there’s the card Pattern of Rebirth, which uses the death of a creature to fetch another directly from your library, a powerful tool that differs from Tooth and Claw’s token generation but similarly leverages the loss of your own creatures for a benefit.

In examining Tooth and Claw’s place in MTG, its ability to turn the battlefield into a token-generating furnace sets it apart, ensuring it holds its own within the rich tapestry of sacrifice-related cards available to the discerning player.

Cards similar to Tooth and Claw by color, type and mana cost

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Purphoros, God of the Forge - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: With Tooth and Claw, you can continually convert creatures into a formidable threat, ensuring that every creature card provides ongoing value. This helps you maintain a steady board presence even while trading smaller creatures for larger advantages.

Resource Acceleration: This card operates as a resource acceleration tool by effectively transforming expendable creatures into a single, powerful token. This process leverages your existing resources, giving you an edge to overpower the opponent.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of activating Tooth and Claw at instant speed gives players significant strategic depth. It allows you to adapt to the flow of the game, responding to threats or opportunities at the most opportune moments without sacrificing your turn’s actions.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: For players looking to integrate Tooth and Claw into their strategies, it’s essential to weigh the necessity of discarding a creature card. This additional cost can set you back when your hand is already sparse, making it crucial to consider your resources before playing.

Specific Mana Cost: Another aspect to consider is the card’s demand for both red and colorless mana. This specific requirement can create a deck-building challenge, especially if your deck is color-diverse or if you’re contending with a mana base that doesn’t consistently provide the right colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that might be on the higher side for some decks, Tooth and Claw competes with other cards in the four-mana slot. Analyze your deck’s curve and determine if the sacrifice-to-token trade-off is worth the slot, particularly when there are numerous efficient creature generators on the market.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Tooth and Claw offers a unique ability to transform your creature resources into a formidable threat. It’s a dynamic card that adapts well to varying board states, making it a useful addition across a spectrum of Red-based decks.

Combo Potential: This card pairs exceptionally with strategies that profit from sacrificing creatures, triggering an array of effects from deck thinning to damage amplification. It’s that engine piece in decks that love to capitalize on creatures entering and leaving the battlefield.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where creature-based strategies often dominate, Tooth and Claw holds its ground. The evolving game landscape sees many players pivot towards creature-heavy decks, where this card thrives, aligning perfectly with the flux of creature interactions.

How to beat

Tooth and Claw is a versatile card known for its creature sacrificing mechanism, providing players in Magic: The Gathering the ability to convert board presence into immediate threats. With each creature you sacrifice, a 3/1 red Beast creature token enters the battlefield, augmenting your offensive potential. This can quickly turn the tide of a game if left unchecked.

To counteract Tooth and Claw, effective removal of the enchantment is crucial. Spells like Disenchant that can target and destroy enchantments are particularly valuable in this regard. Cards that offer graveyard disruption can also play a pivotal role, as they prevent recurring creature strategies often employed with Tooth and Claw. Additionally, strategies that minimize the number of creatures your opponent can maintain will greatly reduce the advantage Tooth and Claw provides.

It’s vital to remain proactive in managing your opponent’s creature count, employing board wipes or spot removal as necessary to keep their board clear. In this manner, even if Tooth and Claw is on the field, its effectiveness is greatly diminished without fodder for its ability. Combining these strategies will give you a solid foundation to triumph over the challenge posed by Tooth and Claw.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Tooth and Claw MTG card by a specific set like Tempest and Commander 2013, 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 Tooth and Claw and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Tooth and Claw Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 1997-10-14 and 2016-06-10. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1997-10-14	Tempest	TMP	210	1997	Normal	Black	Val Mayerik
2	2013-11-01	Commander 2013	C13	127	2003	Normal	Black	Val Mayerik
3	2016-06-10	Eternal Masters	EMA	151	2015	Normal	Black	Johann Bodin

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Tooth and Claw has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal