Evolution Sage MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityUncommon
TypeCreature — Elf Druid
Abilities Landfall,Proliferate
Power 3
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. Evolution Sage allows flexibility, offering game advantages with its landfall-triggered proliferate ability.
  2. Lands play more than fuel for spells, transforming also into powerful proliferation catalysts.
  3. Despite some shortcomings, Evolution Sage’s board-impacting prowess often tips the scales in your favor.

Text of card

Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.)

"To care for yourself, cultivate the world. To care for the world, cultivate yourself."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Evolution Sage offers significant flexibility by letting players proliferate, which can increase your creatures’ strength or even your life total if you’re using the right cards. By increasing counters, you gain the benefit of a bigger beast or additional health, thus creating card advantage through more potent threats.

Resource Acceleration: Evolution Sage shines when you have several permanents with counters. With its Landfall ability, every land you play leads to proliferating your counters across the board. This acceleration of resources increases the potency of your cards at a faster than normal rate, giving you an unmistakable upper hand.

Instant Speed: Although Evolution Sage isn’t played at instant speed, its benefits occur instantaneously. As soon as you play a land, the Sage’s proliferate ability kicks in, which allows you to increase the counters on all your permanents. This “immediate effect” style of gameplay ensures that your board presents a growing threat that reacts swiftly to your actions.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One challenging aspect of playing with Evolution Sage is its relatively high discard requirement. This may leave you deplete of resources since you’re required to discard a card as part of the casting cost. If your hand is already low, it can impact your strategy substantially.

Specific Mana Cost: Another limitation of Evolution Sage is its specific mana requirement. Being a green card, it must be bolstered by a deck that can generate the required amount of green mana. Consequently, it restricts its inclusion to certain deck themes or archetypes where green mana is abundant.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana cost for Evolution Sage is another factor to consider. Sitting at three mana – one generic and two green – for its proliferate trigger effect, there are alternative cards available in MTG that offer similar abilities at a lower cost. So, you might want to examine your deck for more efficient and cost-effective cards.

Although Evolution Sage does have certain drawbacks, its strengths often overshadow these when utilized effectively within the right deck.


Reasons to Include Evolution Sage in Your Collection

Versatility: Evolution Sage resonates with a range of decks, particularly those built around the proliferate mechanic or aimed at amassing a plethora of counters. Its power to proliferate on landfall makes it an integral part of any counter-heavy strategy.

Combo Potential: Evolution Sage intertwines beautifully with a swarm of counter-loving cards. It can supercharge strategies revolving around +1/+1 counters, loyalty counters, or even infect decks with its prolific proliferate ability.

Meta-Relevance: Within the current meta-game that embraces mid-range or control strategies, the counter-proliferation skill and adaptability of Evolution Sage can contribute enormous value. Coupled with its three-cost mana efficiency, it’s a force to reckon with in various match-ups.


How to beat

Evolution Sage is a notable card in Magic: The Gathering with its landfall ability, that deserves a spot on any player’s radar. This powerful card makes use of the landfall mechanic, translating each land drop into a proliferation of +1/+1 counters on your creatures, or charge counters on your artifacts. Importantly, it’s strength lies not in its power or toughness, but in its exceptional ability to change the battlefield in your favor.

However, despite its potency, Evolution Sage possesses its share of vulnerabilities. Efficient removal spells can easily dispatch this three-cost card. Utilizing cards that hinder its landfall ability, such as Ashiok, Dream Render or Damping Sphere, can also significantly limit its effect on gameplay. Furthermore, creature control cards, like Pacifism or Capture Sphere will stall Evolution Sage’s proliferating prowess, giving you a strategic upper hand.

Ultimately, to vanquish Evolution Sage, understanding its reliance on lands and using cards that curb its proliferating prowess can shift gameplay in your favor. Remember, it’s not always about the card’s immediate power but more about how you use your own arsenal in response.


BurnMana Recommendations

Diving into the complexities of MTG, Evolution Sage stands out as a compelling choice for any deck that capitalizes on counters. Its ability to proliferate through landfall makes it a dynamic addition capable of tipping the scales in your favor. Whether you are crafting a formidable defense or charging toward victory, this card can be the linchpin in your strategy. However, keeping in mind both its strengths and vulnerabilities ensures a well-rounded approach to gameplay. To fully harness the potential of Evolution Sage within your MTG collection, join us for deeper insights and optimize your deck for success.


Cards like Evolution Sage

Evolution Sage is an exceptional card in the Magic: The Gathering universe due to its unique Proliferate ability. In this respect, it mirrors other cards like Flux Channeler that also rely on this distinctive feature. However, the key difference between the two is that Flux Channeler’s Proliferate ability triggers whenever you cast a noncreature spell, while Evolution Sage’s ability triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control. This variance can significantly influence the gameplay depending on your land resources.

Look at Merfolk Skydiver, another card with a Proliferate ability. But this one has flying and its Proliferate effect is dependent on its +1/+1 counter, making it have a substantially different playstyle than Evolution Sage. Then there’s Karn’s Bastion, which has the capability to Proliferate once per turn, at the expense of tap, four generic mana, and itself. This card can serve as a significant threat in a late-game scenario due to its constant Proliferate threat.

In conclusion, Evolution Sage holds up well against these similar cards in MTG. Its unique trait of a land stage-based Proliferate action offers a distinct advantage, especially in a deck with several lands entering play frequently.

Flux Channeler - MTG Card versions
Merfolk Skydiver - MTG Card versions
Karn's Bastion - MTG Card versions
Flux Channeler - MTG Card versions
Merfolk Skydiver - MTG Card versions
Karn's Bastion - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Evolution Sage MTG card by a specific set like War of the Spark and Zendikar Rising Commander, 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 Evolution Sage and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Evolution Sage Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2019-05-03 and 2023-11-17. Illustrated by Simon Dominic.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12019-05-03War of the SparkWAR 1592015NormalBlackSimon Dominic
22020-09-25Zendikar Rising CommanderZNC 652015NormalBlackSimon Dominic
32022-04-29New Capenna CommanderNCC 2872015NormalBlackSimon Dominic
42023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One CommanderONC 1082015NormalBlackSimon Dominic
52023-11-17The Lost Caverns of Ixalan CommanderLCC 2402015NormalBlackSimon Dominic

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Evolution Sage has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderRestricted
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2023-02-04 An ability that triggers "Whenever you proliferate" triggers even if you chose no permanents or players while doing so.
2023-02-04 If a permanent ever has both +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters on it at the same time, they're removed in pairs as a state-based action so that the permanent has only one of those kinds of counters on it.
2023-02-04 If a player or permanent has more than one kind of counter on it, and you choose for it to get additional counters, it must get one of each kind of counter it already has. You can't have it get just one kind of counter it already has and not the others.
2023-02-04 Players can respond to a spell or ability whose effect includes proliferating. Once that spell or ability starts to resolve, however, and its controller chooses which permanents and players will get new counters, it's too late for anyone to respond.
2023-02-04 To proliferate, you can choose any permanent that has a counter, including ones controlled by opponents. You can choose any player who has a counter, including opponents. You can't choose cards in any zone other than the battlefield, even if they have counters on them.
2023-02-04 You don't have to choose every permanent or player that has a counter, only the ones you want to add another counter to. Since "any number" includes zero, you don't have to choose any permanents at all, and you don't have to choose any players at all.

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