Dormant Volcano MTG Card

Visions (VIS)
1997-02-03 - Number 161

Commander 2014 (C14)
2014-11-07 - Number 291

Dormant Volcano - Commander Anthology Volume II (CM2)

Commander Anthology Volume II (CM2)
2018-06-08 - Number 246

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Land

Key Takeaways

Dormant Volcano can contribute to card advantage by ensuring mana availability for spell casting.
It enables resource acceleration, ramping up red mana sources essential for demanding spells.
The card has a downside of entering tapped and necessitating land discard, affecting game tempo.

Text of card

Dormant Volcano comes into play tapped. When Dormant Volcano comes into play, return an untapped mountain you control to owner's hand or bury Dormant Volcano. oc T: Add o R and one colorless mana to your mana pool.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Dormant Volcano does not directly enable you to draw more cards, it can contribute to card advantage over time by ensuring you have the necessary mana to cast the spells in your hand. This can indirectly result in more drawn cards as the game progresses.

Resource Acceleration: This land card comes into play tapped but allows you to ramp up your resources. By sacrificing an untapped mountain you control, Dormant Volcano provides you with an additional red mana source, which can be crucial for playing more demanding spells earlier in the game.

Instant Speed: Even though Dormant Volcano enters the battlefield tapped and isn’t used at instant speed, having a land that can potentially provide two colors of mana without using a spell slot can free up your hand to hold instants and other quick-response cards to play during critical moments.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Dormant Volcano necessitates the discard of a land card from your hand to activate its ability. This can be risky, especially if you are already struggling with the quantity of lands available to play spells efficiently.

Specific Mana Cost: Upon entering the battlefield, Dormant Volcano provides you with red and colorless mana, but it requires one of each red and colorless to be untapped. This specific mana production may not always align with your deck’s mana curve or color requirements, potentially leaving you with unusable mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although it can ramp up your land count, the initial investment and the tempo loss from having it enter the battlefield tapped make Dormant Volcano a less than ideal choice when faster and more versatile land options are available to players desiring consistent mana acceleration.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Dormant Volcano’s ability to provide both red and colorless mana makes it a flexible addition to any deck that runs on a red mana base. It finds a home in multicolored decks requiring red mana without sacrificing the deck’s color diversity.

Combo Potential: With the landfall mechanic being prominent in some formats, Dormant Volcano can trigger landfall abilities twice—once when it enters the battlefield, and again when it allows you to play the returned land. This can be particularly useful in decks designed to exploit these triggers for powerful effects.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where managing land resources is crucial, Dormant Volcano can provide a slight edge. By bouncing a land back to your hand, it can help avoid mana flooding and offers synergy with cards that benefit from playing lands or having a full hand.

How to beat

Dormant Volcano is a unique land card that can be tricky in Magic: The Gathering because it enters the battlefield tapped and demands the sacrifice of another land. However, it compensates for this by providing an acceleration in mana generation of two specific colors—red and colorless. The key to overcoming Dormant Volcano’s advantages is to capitalize on the initial setback it imposes on the owner by accelerating your own board presence.

One strategy is to apply early game pressure, deploying threats that must be answered before your opponent can fully benefit from the Volcano’s mana acceleration. Also, consider using land destruction or bounce spells to target the Volcano specifically. By playing a tempo game and disrupting your opponent’s mana base while they’re still stabilizing, you can gain a significant advantage. Inclusion of cards that penalize non-basic lands, like Blood Moon, can turn Dormant Volcano’s extra mana production into a liability, strengthening your position further.

Ultimately, your approach to beating Dormant Volcano hinges on maximizing the window of opportunity created by its entrance conditions and maintaining pressure to prevent your opponent from capitalizing on its later game potential.

Cards like Dormant Volcano

Dormant Volcano serves as a unique land card within the array of mana-producing lands in Magic: The Gathering. It’s often compared to cards like Karoo and Jungle Basin, which are part of a group known as “bounce lands” because they return another land to your hand when they enter the battlefield. Dormant Volcano has a special place in this cohort due to its ability to add both red and colorless mana to your pool, although it does come into play tapped and requires the sacrifice of an untapped mountain, which can be a strategic setback.

Analogous in function, we find Gruul Turf. Similar to Dormant Volcano, it has the bounce effect, yet it provides both red and green mana. Balancing between the benefits and timing, it’s crucial for players to consider their deck’s mana curve. Then there’s the option of Coral Atoll, which provides blue and colorless mana. This selection could potentially slow down the rhythm of the game due to its entry conditions, much like Dormant Volcano.

Overall, while Dormant Volcano fits well within the strategy of decks requiring specific color combinations, it’s important to weigh the opportunity cost of its drawback against other comparable lands in the player’s deck construction.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Dormant Volcano MTG card by a specific set like Visions and Commander 2014, 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 Dormant Volcano and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Dormant Volcano Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 1997-02-03 and 2018-06-08. Illustrated by John Avon.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1997-02-03	Visions	VIS	161	1997	Normal	Black	John Avon
2	2014-11-07	Commander 2014	C14	291	2015	Normal	Black	John Avon
3	2018-06-08	Commander Anthology Volume II	CM2	246	2015	Normal	Black	John Avon

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Dormant Volcano has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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