Drake Haven MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment

Key Takeaways

  1. Drake Haven excels by converting cycling actions into 2/2 flying Drakes, enhancing card utility.
  2. Enchantment shines with instant-speed cycling, allowing flexible, strategic token generation.
  3. Leverage removal or graveyard disruption against Drake Haven to mitigate its board impact.

Text of card

Whenever you cycle or discard a card, you may pay . If you do, create a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying.

"If you want to truly test your survival skills, walk the Obelisk Path when the drakes are feeding." —Etha, initiate of Rhet crop


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Drake Haven possesses a unique ability that facilitates ongoing card utility. Whenever you cycle or discard a card, you can pay a mere one mana to create a 2/2 Drake creature token with flying. This empowers you with the potential to transform each discard into a tangible board presence, gradually tipping the scales of card advantage in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly accelerating resources in the conventional sense of ramping mana, Drake Haven does, however, convert each cycle or discard into a creature. This effectively accelerates your resource allocation by allowing you to invest otherwise idle mana into creating threats, turning a passive action into an aggressive advantage.

Instant Speed: The synergy of Drake Haven with instant-speed cycling cards is undeniable. This coupling allows for strategic flexibility, ensuring your mana isn’t wasted during your turn. You can cycle cards on your opponent’s turn, pay the extra mana, and generate drakes when it’s most advantageous. This keeps your opponents guessing and always on the defensive, wary of the aerial force you can amass at a moment’s notice.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Drake Haven demands a steady stream of cards to discard which can be a restrictive condition, especially when you are in need of keeping certain cards in hand for strategic purposes.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring a combination of generic and blue mana to cast, Drake Haven rests firmly in the realm of blue-based decks, potentially limiting its versatility across various deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an investment of three mana to get Drake Haven on the field and additional mana to activate its ability, it can feel costly when competing against more mana-efficient strategies within the format.


Reasons to Include Drake Haven in Your Collection

Versatility: Drake Haven fits seamlessly into cycle or discard-focused decks, enabling the creation of a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying virtually every time a card is cycled or discarded, offering a strategic advantage and increased board presence.

Combo Potential: This enchantment excels when paired with high-synergy cards that enable repeated cycling or discarding, allowing players to churn out a flock of flying drakes that can quickly overwhelm opponents.

Meta-Relevance: Given the card’s ability to consistently generate creature tokens, it can be a formidable asset in environments where board control and evasion are paramount, making it a card worth considering depending on the shifting dynamics of competitive play.


How to beat Drake Haven

Drake Haven stands out in Magic: The Gathering as an enchantment that fuels powerful cycling synergies, allowing players to create a 2/2 Drake with flying every time they cycle or discard a card. This can rapidly turn into an overwhelming situation with an armada of flying drakes. The key to dismantling this strategy lies in adeptly timing your enchantment removal cards. Naturalize and Disenchant provide straightforward solutions, swiftly removing Drake Haven from the battlefield before the drakes become too many.

Graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void can also be effective, as they prevent cards cycled into the graveyard from initiating the Haven’s ability, thus indirectly negating its power. Control decks can leverage counter spells, denying the opportunity for Drake Haven to resolve and start generating tokens. Aggressive burn strategies can apply pressure, forcing the Drake Haven player to react defensively, thereby disrupting their ability to effectively cycle and create drakes.

Ultimately, swiftly identifying and countering the strategy revolving around Drake Haven ensures that the enchantment doesn’t steer the game towards your opponent’s favor, displaying the importance of adaptability and knowledge of the Meta when facing unique mechanics in MTG.


BurnMana Recommendations

If you’re striving to reinforce your game and ensure those wins in MTG, understanding the roles that certain cards can play is crucial. Drake Haven is a prime example of an enchantment that can turn cycling or discarding actions into a powerful army of flying drakes, altering the gameplay in your favor. Whether it’s strategizing the right time to deploy those drakes or blending the enchantment with other synergistic cards, mastery of Drake Haven can add a new level of strategy to your deck. Eager to navigate the potential of such a versatile card? Dive in deeper and expand your gameplay strategies with us to harness the full might of Drake Haven.



Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Drake Haven MTG card by a specific set like Amonkhet and Amonkhet Promos, 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 Drake Haven and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Drake Haven Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2017-04-28 and 2020-08-13. Illustrated by John Severin Brassell.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12017-04-28AmonkhetAKH 512015NormalBlackJohn Severin Brassell
22017-04-29Amonkhet PromosPAKH 51s2015NormalBlackJohn Severin Brassell
32020-04-17Commander 2020C20 1102015NormalBlackJohn Severin Brassell
42020-08-13Amonkhet RemasteredAKR 592015NormalBlackJohn Severin Brassell

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Drake Haven has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2017-04-18 An ability that triggers whenever you discard a card doesn’t give you permission to discard cards. You’ll need another effect that instructs or allows you to discard them.
2017-04-18 An ability that triggers whenever you “cycle or discard” a card triggers only once if you cycle a card. The ability “Whenever you discard a card” is functionally identical to this ability; cycling is mentioned for clarity.
2017-04-18 If a player discards a card during their cleanup step due to having too many cards in hand, any appropriate abilities that trigger on discarding that card trigger. If this happens, those triggered abilities are put onto the stack and players receive priority in that cleanup step to cast spells or activate abilities (normally, no players may take actions during a cleanup step). Another cleanup step is created following that one.
2017-04-18 Some cards have an ability that triggers whenever you cycle any card. These triggered abilities resolve before you draw from the cycling ability.
2017-04-18 While resolving Drake Haven’s triggered ability, you can’t pay multiple times to get multiple Drakes.

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