Nissa's Zendikon MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Enchant
Released	2020-09-25
Set symbol
Set name	Zendikar Rising
Set code	ZNR
Number	197
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Campbell White

Key Takeaways

Nissa’s Zendikon turns a land into a creature, maximizing card utility and providing an edge in combat.
Despite its upsides, the card’s specific cost and discard requirement can pose deck-building challenges.
Knowing its interactions and counters can drastically improve your gameplay and outmaneuver opponents.

Text of card

Enchant land Enchanted land is a 4/4 Elemental creature with reach and haste. It's still a land. When enchanted land dies, return that card to its owner's hand.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nissa’s Zendikon offers a unique form of card advantage by transforming a land you control into a potent creature, effectively giving you additional threat without losing a land permanently. This keeps your hand full of other strategies while putting pressure on your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: By turning a basic land into a creature, the card provides an alternate avenue for resource acceleration. It enables you to make the most out of your lands, and should the creature leave the battlefield, the land returns to your control, ready to be utilized for mana once more.

Instant Speed: The ability to play Nissa’s Zendikon at instant speed allows for surprising combat tricks or to create an unexpected blocker. This flexibility can disrupt your opponent’s plans and can be a decisive factor in the pace and outcome of the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Nissa’s Zendikon necessitates that players discard another card, which could potentially put them at a disadvantage, especially when they’re managing scant hand sizes. This requirement can disrupt crucial hand dynamics and decision-making strategies mid-game.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost of Nissa’s Zendikon includes green mana, which may restrict its inclusion to exclusively green or green-inclusive multicolor decks. Players relying on decks without access to green mana won’t be able to benefit from this card, limiting its versatility across the full spectrum of deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The return you get from investing mana into Nissa’s Zendikon can be weighed as suboptimal when other cards with lower mana requirements possibly yield similar or greater value. In MTG, efficiency is key, and sometimes a higher mana cost can deter a card’s playability in fast-paced games where tempo is crucial.

Reasons to Include Nissa’s Zendikon in Your Collection

Versatility: Nissa’s Zendikon shines in numerous deck configurations as it transforms a land into a potent creature, all the while keeping the land’s mana-producing capability intact when it’s not attacking.

Combo Potential: Firstly, the card synergizes well with landfall strategies, setting off triggered abilities each time it’s played. Secondly, when the animated land dies, it goes back to your hand, ready to retrigger enter-the-battlefield effects or to be recast for continual value.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where control and creature-based strategies prevail, Nissa’s Zendikon offers a unique edge. It’s a resilient threat against board wipes and removal, slipping back into your hand to be used repeatedly, ensuring you maintain pressure on the board.

How to beat

Nissa’s Zendikon adds an intriguing dynamic to land strategies in Magic: The Gathering, turning a land into a formidable elemental creature with vigilance and haste. It excels in decks that benefit from creature synergies, especially given its ability to return a land to your hand if the elemental token is destroyed.

To effectively counter Nissa’s Zendikon, removal spells that exile or cause the opponent to sacrifice a creature can be quite potent, as these methods prevent the land’s retrieval, disrupting their mana base. Graveyard hate cards that exile cards from the graveyard can also limit the impact of Nissa’s Zendikon by preventing repetitive play of the land-turned-creature tactic. Fast-paced aggro decks can outpace the tempo of Nissa’s Zendikon as well, often claiming victory before the card’s advantages are fully utilized.

Ultimately, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of Nissa’s Zendikon can clearly guide players in crafting a strategic response. Implementing the right counters not only neutralizes the elemental’s threat but can also toss a wrench in your opponent’s land-centric strategy, leading you to a triumphant win in the realm of Magic: The Gathering.

Cards like Nissa's Zendikon

Nissa’s Zendikon brings an interesting dynamic to the field of Magic: The Gathering by turning a land into a formidable creature. It resonates with a spell such as Awaken the Bear, which similarly animates land, giving it a chance to swing for damage. Nissa’s Zendikon, however, has the added benefit of returning the land to its owner’s hand if the creature dies, offering a unique form of resilience not found in Awaken the Bear.

Another kin is Guardian Zendikon, which has an echo in its function of enlivening lands. Both spells summon defensive capabilities out of the very ground players tread upon. However, Guardian Zendikon’s created creature boasts vigilance, distinct from Nissa’s Zendikon’s strategy of potentially reclaiming your land upon its creature’s demise.

To evaluate, although each card has its individual merits based on the situation at hand, Nissa’s Zendikon presents a particularly intriguing option for Magic: The Gathering players who appreciate creature flexibility and the safety net of recouping their land resources.

Cards similar to Nissa's Zendikon by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nissa's Zendikon MTG card by a specific set like Zendikar Rising, 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 Nissa's Zendikon and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nissa's Zendikon has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal