Surrakar Marauder MTG Card


Surrakar Marauder - Zendikar
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Surrakar
Abilities Landfall
Released2009-10-02
Set symbol
Set nameZendikar
Set codeZEN
Power 2
Toughness 1
Number113
Frame2003
LayoutNormal
BorderBlack
Illustred byKev Walker

Key Takeaways

  1. Surrakar Marauder enhances gameplay with card draw abilities and unexpected instant summons.
  2. Balancing its high mana cost and discard requirements is crucial for effective play.
  3. It’s a versatile inclusion for decks that capitalize on direct combat damage.

Text of card

Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Surrakar Marauder gains intimidate until end of turn. (It can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Surrakar Marauder can potentially provide card advantage by allowing extra draws when damage is dealt to an opponent. This can bolster your hand and give you more options as the match progresses.

Resource Acceleration: The Marauder can contribute to resource acceleration by potentially untapping lands with its hit-triggered ability. This can be particularly useful for playing additional spells or using activated abilities sooner than usual.

Instant Speed: Surrakar Marauder’s ability to be summoned at instant speed is a significant advantage. This flexibility can lead to strategic plays, such as surprising your opponent during combat or on their turn, possibly disrupting their plans while advancing your board state.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Surrakar Marauder’s abilities can come at the cost of precious card advantage. Engaging this particular creature’s full potential might necessitate discarding a valuable card that could hinder your hand in the long run.

Specific Mana Cost: If your deck doesn’t align with Surrakar Marauder’s exact mana requirements, casting it can become more challenging. This restricts its versatility and integration into various deck types compared to more flexibly costed creatures.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana investment to summon Surrakar Marauder is substantial when weighed against other options. Those looking to optimize their mana curve might find alternatives that provide comparable or greater utility without the steep cost.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Surrakar Marauder is a card that can seamlessly integrate into decks that utilize creatures with evasion or that benefit from player life loss. Its landfall ability giving it unblockable for a turn allows it to fit nicely into strategies that aim to deal combat damage to a player directly.

Combo Potential: With its potential to be unblockable every turn you play a land, Surrakar Marauder can be a key component in combo setups that rely on hitting the opponent consistently. Pairing it with cards that trigger upon dealing combat damage to a player can unlock new levels of synergy in your deck.

Meta-Relevance: If your local or broader meta involve games where creatures can often decide the outcome, the Surrakar Marauder’s ability to be consistently unblockable can turn the tide by promoting a reliable source of damage and providing a persistent threat to your opponents.


How to Beat Surrakar Marauder

Surrakar Marauder, a creature known for its evasive qualities, can be a tricky opponent to tackle in Magic: The Gathering. As a creature that adopts unblockability whenever you control no other creatures, it’s engineered for one-on-one confrontations where it can deal damage without fear of being blocked. This characteristic makes it particularly pesky in situations where creating a wide board presence isn’t your strategy.

To gain the upper hand, consider employing removal spells that can bypass its unblockability. Instant-speed options like Murder or Go for the Throat offer a quick and efficient means to remove the Marauder regardless of your opponent’s board state. Furthermore, spot removal spells that don’t target, such as Wrath of God or Damnation, are capable of wiping the board and are equally effective at dealing with this evasive threat. Finally, utilizing enchantments like Pacifism to lock the creature down or edict effects like Diabolic Edict that compel a sacrifice can maneuver around its dodging capabilities, neutralizing the threat it poses to your game plan. By incorporating these measures into your deck, you can confidently face Surrakar Marauder’s challenge on the battlefield.


Cards like Surrakar Marauder

Surrakar Marauder from Magic: The Gathering stands out in the realm of aggressive creature cards. It’s akin to cards like Mist-Cloaked Herald, also known for its evasion ability — in this case, being unblockable. Surrakar Marauder adds a twist with its landfall feature, granting it not only unblockability but also power increase, which Mist-Cloaked Herald lacks. The Marauder’s dependence on land drops for its boost, however, introduces a conditionality absent in the consistent Herald.

Another parallel can be drawn with Slither Blade, a creature card that boasts unblockability but doesn’t offer the dynamic power-scaling of the Surrakar Marauder. While Slither Blade can consistently slip past defenses, it doesn’t leverage the battlefield’s evolving state like the Marauder does with land landfall triggers. Conversely, Tidal Warrior may not be unblockable, but it shares the characteristic of manipulating the game’s state by turning lands into Islands, providing a different kind of utility and strategic depth.

Reviewing these comparisons, Surrakar Marauder positions itself competitively within MTG’s creature cards, particularly for its potential to scale attack power while also evading blockers—a compelling blend for players valuing adaptability and offense.

Mist-Cloaked Herald - MTG Card versions
Slither Blade - MTG Card versions
Tidal Warrior - MTG Card versions
Mist-Cloaked Herald - MTG Card versions
Slither Blade - MTG Card versions
Tidal Warrior - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Surrakar Marauder MTG card by a specific set like Zendikar, 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 Surrakar Marauder and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Surrakar Marauder has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2009-10-01 If an attacking creature has intimidate, what colors it is matters only as the defending player declares blockers. Once it’s blocked, changing its colors won’t change that.
2009-10-01 Intimidate looks at the current colors of a creature that has it. Normally, if Surrakar Marauder has intimidate, it can’t be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures. If it’s turned white, then it can’t be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or white creatures.
2009-10-01 The landfall ability triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control for any reason. It triggers whenever you play a land, as well as whenever a spell or ability (such as Rampant Growth) causes you to put a land onto the battlefield under your control. It will even trigger when a spell or ability causes another player to put a land onto the battlefield under your control (as can happen with Yavimaya Dryad’s ability, for example).
2009-10-01 When a land enters the battlefield under your control, each landfall ability of the permanents you control will trigger. You can put them on the stack in any order. The last ability you put on the stack will be the first one that resolves.

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