Vicious Battlerager MTG Card

Vicious Battlerager - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Dwarf Barbarian
Abilities	Spiked Retribution
Released	2022-06-10
Set symbol
Set name	Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
Set code	CLB
Power	1
Toughness	5
Number	155
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Cristi Balanescu

Key Takeaways

Contributes to card advantage and can accelerate resources when dealing combat damage.
Demanding specific mana and a high cost can limit deck-building flexibility and value.
Despite the cons, its first strike enhancement makes it a potent force in combat-oriented decks.

Decks using this card

MTG decks using Vicious Battlerager. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.

#	Name	Format	Archetype	Event
	Mono-Black Aggro	Legacy	Mono-Black Scam	2023 Asia Legacy Championship

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Vicious Battlerager MTG card by a specific set like Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, 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 Vicious Battlerager and other MTG cards:

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Text of card

When Vicious Battlerager enters the battlefield, you take the initiative. Spiked Retribution — Whenever Vicious Battlerager becomes blocked by a creature, that creature's controller loses 5 life.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When Vicious Battlerager enters the battlefield, its abilities can potentially provide you with additional card draws, either by enabling combat damage to players or through interaction with other card-drawing mechanics. This can result in maintaining a healthy hand size and outpacing your opponents in resources over time.

Resource Acceleration: As it enters the fray, Vicious Battlerager may synergize with cards that generate additional mana or tokens upon dealing combat damage. This can lead to a faster deployment of your hand, ramping up the pressure on your opponent or unlocking powerful spells ahead of schedule.

Instant Speed: Cards that interact well with Vicious Battlerager might be cast at instant speed, allowing you strategic flexibility. This adaptability means you can better respond to your opponent’s moves or optimize the timing of your plays to ensure Vicious Battlerager’s impact on the game is maximized with smart timing decisions.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Vicious Battlerager demands a card from your hand to be discarded when you cast it. This can be quite the setback, especially when your grip on the game depends on the cards you have. The strategic loss of valuable resources could ultimately swing the duel in your opponent’s favor when every card counts.

Specific Mana Cost: Deck building is an art that requires flexibility, but the Battlerager’s specific mana cost can be somewhat limiting. It requires red mana, making it less versatile for multi-color decks that may need to manage their mana base closely. This can affect the card’s synergy within the deck and restricts its usefulness primarily to red-oriented strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost that may be considered high for its provided effects, the Vicious Battlerager competes with other cards within the same mana range. Experienced players might find better value elsewhere, favoring creatures or spells that offer more impact on the board or greater utility. As players seek to optimize their decks, such a cost factor could nudge the Battlerager out of finely-tuned deck lists.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: The Vicious Battlerager card is a flexible inclusion across various deck types, seamlessly integrating into aggressive strategies that capitalize on dealing combat damage to players.

Combo Potential: This card plays well with abilities that trigger on attack or damage, offering the player multiple strategic avenues to explore within a single game.

Meta-Relevance: In a game landscape where player interaction and quick tempo plays are key, Vicious Battlerager holds its own by maintaining pressure and contributing to fast-paced matches.

How to beat

The Vicious Battlerager is a card that brings aggression and force to the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. To effectively counter this threat, players should consider options that neutralize combat advantages. Efficient removal spells can dispatch the Battlerager before it leverages its power boost capabilities. Utilizing control or bounce spells keeps the Battlerager at bay long enough to establish a robust defense or strike with your own offense uninterrupted.

Another strategy involves using deathtouch creatures which turn the Battlerager’s strength into a liability. Alternatively, combat tricks that can surprise opponents by powering up your own creatures or by employing instant-speed removal helps circumvent the Battlerager’s aggressive onset. It’s also wise to limit its impact by reducing targetable creatures when it attacks, thereby diminishing the value it derives each time it engages in combat.

Ultimately, success hinges upon anticipation and preparedness. Having the right answer at the right time doesn’t just neutralize the Vicious Battlerager; it swings the momentum of the duel in your favor, demonstrating that timing and control are just as crucial as power in the detailed world of Magic: The Gathering.

Cards like Vicious Battlerager

Vicious Battlerager introduces a powerful dynamic to aggressive strategies in Magic: The Gathering. This creature is akin to other cards like Angrath’s Marauders, which also amplify damage but with a different approach. Vicious Battlerager, for instance, excels in its ability to grant additional first strike damage when you are attacking, which can shift the battlefield in your favor swiftly. Angrath’s Marauders on the other hand, doesn’t provide first strike but does double the damage of your creatures, which can lead to devastating turns.

Comparatively, Rampaging Ferocidon offers a different angle of hindrance for your opponent by penalizing them for the creatures they play, yet it doesn’t bolster your attacking force like Vicious Battlerager. Goblin Gaveleer shares the trait of thriving in battle as it increases in power with each Equipment attached to it, but it lacks the raw first-strike advantage presented by the Battlerager.

Overall, while there are a variety of cards that increase combat damage or alter combat dynamics, Vicious Battlerager stands out due to its singular focus on enhancing first strike damage, establishing it as a unique asset for players who favor direct and forceful strategies in the game.

Cards similar to Vicious Battlerager by color, type and mana cost

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Demon of Catastrophes - MTG Card versions

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Vicious Battlerager has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Banned
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2022-06-10	A player who currently has the initiative may take the initiative again. This causes that player to venture into Undercity again, but does not cause them to have multiple initiative designations.
2022-06-10	If Vicious Battlerager becomes blocked by more than one creature, its triggered ability triggers once for each creature that blocked it.
2022-06-10	If the player with the initiative leaves the game, the active player takes the initiative at the same time that player leaves the game. If the active player is leaving the game or if there is no active player, the next player in turn order takes the initiative.
2022-06-10	If you aren’t in a dungeon when instructed to venture into Undercity, you will put Undercity into the command zone and move your venture marker to Secret Entrance (the first room).
2022-06-10	If you’re already in a dungeon when instructed to venture into Undercity, you move to the next room of that dungeon. If you are already in the last room, you will complete that dungeon and start Undercity. This is true whether you’re already in Undercity or any other dungeon.
2022-06-10	In a Two-Headed Giant game, if both players on a team deal combat damage to the player that has the initiative at the same time, the player with the initiative will choose the order of the triggered abilities. Then, as those abilities resolve, one team member takes the initiative (and ventures into Undercity) and then the other team member does the same. The last player to take the initiative keeps it until the initiative changes again.
2022-06-10	Only one player can have the initiative at a time. As one player takes the initiative, any other player that had the initiative ceases to have it.
2022-06-10	Similarly, when instructed to venture into Undercity, you can’t start a dungeon that isn’t Undercity.
2022-06-10	The initiative is a designation a player can have. A player with the initiative designation is said to “have the initiative.” The initiative carries two inherent rules. First, whenever a player takes the initiative, and at the beginning of the upkeep of the player with the initiative, that player ventures into Undercity. Second, whenever one or more creatures a player controls deal combat damage to the player who has the initiative, the first player takes the initiative. Also, some abilities will refer to having the initiative and provide other benefits.
2022-06-10	There is no initiative in a game until an effect instructs a player to take the initiative. Once a player is instructed to do this, they have the initiative until another player takes the initiative.
2022-06-10	You cannot venture into Undercity unless instructed to do so, either because you have the initiative at the beginning of your upkeep or because you take the initiative. Notably, if you aren’t in a dungeon and an effect instructs you to venture into the dungeon (not venture into Undercity), you can’t start Undercity.