Yavimaya Hollow MTG Card

Urza's Destiny (UDS)
1999-06-07 - Number 143

Vintage Masters (VMA)
2014-06-16 - Number 325

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Rarity	Rare
Type	Legendary Land

Key Takeaways

Yavimaya Hollow stands out by safeguarding creatures with its instant-speed regeneration ability.
Its specific green mana cost and activation can impact the early-game mana management.
Aside from defense, it can catalyze combos, reinforcing its utility in diverse decks.

Text of card

oc T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool. o G, oc T: Regenerate target creature.

For all its traps and defenses, Yavimaya has its havens, too.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Yavimaya Hollow grants a formidable advantage by providing a method to protect key creatures from being destroyed. This ongoing threat of regeneration keeps opponents guessing and allows for a more dominant board presence that can pivot games in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: As with most utility lands, Yavimaya Hollow offers a unique form of acceleration not by increasing mana quantity but by conserving valuable resources. By regenerating a creature, you effectively nullify the mana and possibly a card your opponent spent trying to remove it. This makes their removal spells less efficient and bolsters your mana investment over time.

Instant Speed: The ability to regenerate a creature at instant speed is what sets Yavimaya Hollow apart. You can decide to use the land’s ability as a response to an enemy’s actions, ensuring your critical creatures survive the harshest of spells or combat scenarios. This reactive capability makes the card a strategic asset during complex and fast-paced gameplay.

Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: Yavimaya Hollow features a specific mana cost that requires green, potentially limiting its inclusion to decks that can produce green mana or have a mana base flexible enough to accommodate color-specific utility lands.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an activation cost of one green mana plus tapping the land itself, Yavimaya Hollow’s ability to regenerate a creature can be costly, especially in the early game when resources are scarce or when trying to develop your board with creatures and other spells.

Discard Requirement: While not directly imposing a discard requirement, Yavimaya Hollow’s necessity to leave mana open can indirectly lead to players discarding due to hand size limits if they are unable to efficiently use all their resources each turn.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Yavimaya Hollow is notably flexible, effortlessly finding a role in Commander decks that prioritize the protection and longevity of crucial creatures. Its ability to regenerate any target creature can save pivotal pieces from removal and board wipes.

Combo Potential: Aside from safeguarding valuable creatures, Yavimaya Hollow can engage in synergies with cards that benefit from the regeneration mechanism or that trigger from using activated abilities.

Meta-Relevance: Given the presence of aggressive removal in many competitive formats, Yavimaya Hollow retains relevance by offering a reliable way to preserve key creatures against such strategies, maintaining board presence and momentum.

How to beat Yavimaya Hollow

Yavimaya Hollow is a distinguished land card that players incorporate into their decks for its regenerative abilities. Its capacity to protect creatures from being destroyed makes it a tactical asset in Magic: The Gathering. The key to outmaneuvering this regenerative power lies in neutralizing the Hollow’s ability or avoiding the regeneration trigger altogether.

Efficient strategies involve using spells that exile, such as Path to Exile, which removes creatures from the battlefield without initiating the regeneration process. Another effective tactic is applying -1/-1 counters; as these can’t be regenerated from, a card like Black Sun’s Zenith can side-step Yavimaya Hollow’s defensive mechanism. Additionally, employing counterspells to prevent Yavimaya Hollow from being activated in the first place, or land destruction cards to remove it from the playing field, can prove decisive.

Understanding and anticipating your opponent’s strategy enables you to conserve resources and time your responses effectively. By adapting your deck with precise answers and keeping control of the field, you can surpass the resilience Yavimaya Hollow offers, ensuring it doesn’t become an insurmountable obstacle in your path to victory.

Cards like Yavimaya Hollow

Yavimaya Hollow has carved out its niche in Magic: The Gathering as a land card that offers more than just mana. Unlike basic Forests, Yavimaya Hollow brings a unique ability to the field – it can regenerate target creature. This ability sets it apart from less flexible lands and greatly impacts game dynamics by keeping key creatures in play.

In its category, we find Gaea’s Cradle as another powerful land with specialized effects, producing mana based on the number of creatures you control. However, its lack of direct creature protection contrasts sharply with Yavimaya Hollow’s defensive capability. Volrath’s Stronghold offers a different form of utility by potentially returning creatures from the graveyard to your library, yet, it cannot shield them from immediate threats the way Yavimaya Hollow can during combat or in response to removal.

Analyzing these comparisons, Yavimaya Hollow stands out for its protective function, which can be pivotal in maintaining board presence. Its capacity to both contribute mana and defend creatures grants it a special role among lands in Magic: The Gathering. Though its mana ability is color-restricted, the defensive value it provides is often deemed worthy of inclusion in decks that can accommodate it.

Volrath's Stronghold - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Yavimaya Hollow MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Destiny 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 Yavimaya Hollow and other MTG cards: