Benthic Explorers MTG Card
1996-06-10 - Number 24b
1996-06-10 - Number 24a
2009-09-07 - Number 29
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Merfolk Scout |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 4 |
Key Takeaways
- Benthic Explorers grants consistent card draw and land untapping, enhancing long-game strategies.
- Its synergy with instant-speed spells allows surprising plays during an opponent’s turn.
- Despite its strategic potential, hand depletion and specific mana needs pose challenges.
Text of card
oc T: Untap target tapped land an opponent controls to add one mana of any type that land produces to your mana pool.
Distant Atlantis charged these Explorers with the task of venturing into unknown waters to track the despised Viscerids.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: In the realm of MTG, keeping your hand flush with options is crucial. Benthic Explorers provides an effective way to sift through your deck and access more of your resources. The untap ability tied to land provides repeated opportunities for card draws, essential for staying ahead in the long game.
Resource Acceleration: The ability to untap land each time a creature is tapped not only furnishes you with the potential for additional mana but does so at a rate that can quickly outpace your opponent. This capability is especially potent in formats where resource management plays a pivotal role in securing victory.
Instant Speed: Benthic Explorers may not have an ability that functions at instant speed inherently, but its synergy with instant-speed spells is noteworthy. Being able to untap lands during your opponent’s turn allows for surprise plays and reactive strategies, giving you the upper hand in the delicate dance of timing and control.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Engaging in the deep-sea ventures of Benthic Explorers requires putting another card from your hand into your graveyard. This requirement can become a strategic setback when your hand is nearly depleted or when every card counts for your gameplay strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: Summoning the Benthic Explorers demands a specific array of mana, including one blue. This can sometimes be a constraint if your deck isn’t tuned to generate the necessary mana efficiently, or if you’re facing a mana color screw during crucial turns.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that sums up to four mana, Benthic Explorers enter a competitive slot in your deck. There are alternative creatures or spells that might offer you greater utility or more impact on the game at a lower or equivalent mana investment, making these Explorers sometimes overshadowed in deck building choices.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Benthic Explorers plays well in numerous settings due to its ability to untap lands for mana, making it a seamless addition to decks that prioritize consistent land plays or seek to maximize resource availability. Its adaptability as a 4-drop creature allows it to fit effortlessly into various game phases.
Combo Potential: Known for synergy with cards that benefit from untapping, Benthic Explorers can be a key component in combinations that generate infinite mana or draw. Integrating it with cards that have tap or untap triggers can potentially unlock powerful engines within a deck.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where games tend to stretch into later turns, the incremental advantage gained from Benthic Explorers’ consistent land untapping can give players the upper hand. It’s especially potent against strategies that rely on resource denial, restoring balance by providing additional land uses each turn.
How to beat Benthic Explorers
Benthic Explorers offers a unique blend of creature utility and resource advantage in the underwater depths of the game. With the ability to untap this creature and delve into your library for additional land cards, Benthic Explorers can anchor a powerful mana ramp strategy. This card rewards patience and strategic tapping, often culminating in a significant lead in available resources.
However, an Achilles heel to this aquatic advantage is removal and counterplay. Swift removal spells that can target creatures are your best bet. This stops the Explorers cold before they can begin to mine the depths of a player’s deck. Utilizing instant-speed removal, such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile, allows you to dismantle your opponent’s strategy at a crucial moment, potentially leaving them stranded without the expected mana boost.
Additionally, counter strategies can play a pivotal role. Considering cards that limit untapping abilities or implementing creatures that can tap an opponent’s creatures, such as Gideon’s Lawkeeper, can effectively prevent the Benthic Explorers from ever uncovering additional lands. By staying proactive and employing either the right removal or tap-down tactics, one can navigate the murky waters Benthic Explorers creates and emerge victorious.
Cards like Benthic Explorers
Benthic Explorers weaves its own unique position in the deck-thinning and mana acceleration strategies of the deep MTG pool. This card offers a peculiar form of ramp, reminiscent of cards like Deranged Assistant. While both cards provide a mana boost, Benthic Explorers allows for untapping potential beyond the graveyard fueling aspect of Deranged Assistant. The tapping of a creature for mana or card access is an intriguing ability, similarly found in Dreamscape Artist, which also gives an edge in mana fixing but leans towards land ramp through Harrow-effect.
Another parallel can be drawn with Apprentice Wizard. Both cards provide blue mana, though the Wizard does so more directly, yet lacks the exploratory untapping mechanism that defines the explorers. Furthermore, Drowner of Secrets shares the theme of tapping creatures but diverts the benefit toward controlling the opponent’s deck rather than supplementing one’s own resources.
Assessing these cards in the context of gameplay strategy, Benthic Explorers holds a steady course with its unique untapping feature, albeit at a slower tempo compared to its counterparts. Its niche lies in endurance matches where the long-term value of untapping can outweigh the upfront speed other similar cards might offer.
Cards similar to Benthic Explorers by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Benthic Explorers MTG card by a specific set like Alliances and Alliances, 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 Benthic Explorers and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Benthic Explorers Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1996-06-10 and 2009-09-07. Illustrated by Greg Simanson.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996-06-10 | Alliances | ALL | 24b | 1993 | Normal | Black | Greg Simanson | |
| 2 | 1996-06-10 | Alliances | ALL | 24a | 1993 | Normal | Black | Greg Simanson | |
| 3 | 2009-09-07 | Masters Edition III | ME3 | 29 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Greg Simanson |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Benthic Explorers has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Benthic Explorers card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | This ability is not targeted any more. |
| 2009-10-01 | Benthic Explorers checks the effects of all mana-producing abilities of the land untapped to pay its cost, but it doesn’t check the costs of those abilities. For example, Vivid Crag has the ability “, Remove a charge counter from Vivid Crag: Add one mana of any color.” If you untap a tapped Vivid Crag an opponent controls while paying for Benthic Explorers’s ability, you can add one mana of any color to your mana pool. It doesn’t matter whether that Vivid Crag has a charge counter on it. |
| 2009-10-01 | Benthic Explorers doesn’t care about any restrictions or riders an opponent’s land (such as Ancient Ziggurat or Hall of the Bandit Lord) puts on the mana it produces. It just cares about types of mana. |
| 2009-10-01 | The types of mana are white, blue, black, red, green, and colorless. |
| 2009-10-01 | Untapping a tapped land an opponent controls is part of the cost of Benthic Explorers’s ability. If no opponent controls a tapped land, the ability can’t be activated. |
| 2009-10-01 | When determining what types of mana an opponent’s land could produce, take into account any applicable replacement effects that would apply to that land’s mana abilities (such as Contamination’s effect, for example). If there is more than one, consider them in any possible order. |
