Violent Impact MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Cycling
Released	2017-04-28
Set symbol
Set name	Amonkhet
Set code	AKH
Number	154
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Jason Rainville

Key Takeaways

Disrupts opponents by targeting lands, hindering their turn progress and resource planning.
Aftermath offers additional grave casting, surprising opponents by destroying pivotal assets.
Resource acceleration indirectly occurs by stalling opponent’s plays, giving players strategic advantage.

Text of card

Destroy target artifact or land. Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Initiates in the heat of combat must be able to adapt to changing conditions.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Violent Impact stands out with its potential to disrupt an opponent’s strategy by targeting key nonbasic lands. Removing a land is essentially setting your opponent back a turn and could be crucial to preventing them from executing important plays. Its aftermath ability also grants a card advantage by providing an additional effect without needing to draw another card.

Resource Acceleration: Although Violent Impact doesn’t directly increase your mana pool, clearing the path of troublesome nonbasic lands can indirectly accelerate your resources by slowing down your opponent, giving you a better chance to deploy your threats unimpeded.

Instant Speed: While Violent Impact is a sorcery, its ability to be cast from the graveyard due to aftermath can catch an opponent off guard, especially if they’re relying on lands with pivotal activated abilities or those that generate considerable advantages. This disruption can be timed strategically to hinder your opponent’s resource planning.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Violent Impact’s utility can be hampered due to the discard prerequisite. Players might find themselves in a tight spot, having to forfeit a valuable card from their hand to fulfill this condition, especially during crucial moments when hand size and options are limited.

Specific Mana Cost: With its red mana necessity, Violent Impact may not seamlessly integrate into every deck. This requirement restricts the card to red-inclusive deck builds, potentially excluding it from various multi-colored or monocolor strategies that don’t feature red mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing a total of four mana, including three generic and one red, to destroy a land or artifact may not always be cost-effective compared to other cards in the vast pool of MTG. This can lead to less efficient deck performance, particularly in fast-paced games where mana efficiency can dictate the match’s outcome.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Violent Impact offers the dual utility of land disruption and artifact removal, making it a flexible sideboard option for a variety of decks. This ability is useful for dismantling opponent’s mana bases or nullifying key artifacts during gameplay.

Combo Potential: For decks that capitalize on land destruction or benefit from opponents having fewer resources, Violent Impact can be a cog in a strategy that pressures opponents and disrupts their tempo. It enhances the effectiveness of strategies that aim to limit the opponent’s options on the board.

Meta-Relevance: In meta environments where nonbasic lands and artifact strategies flourish, having access to an answer like Violent Impact can be critical. It keeps decks that rely heavily on specific nonbasic lands or crucial artifacts in check, giving players an edge against such strategies.

How to beat

Violent Impact offers a specialized function within the robust world of Magic: The Gathering, delivering the potential to target lands or artifacts for destruction. Its versatility finds its place in decks that need to dismantle ramp strategies or crucial artifacts, reshaping the flow of a match. Against Violent Impact, a smart strategy is to diversify your land or artifact base, ensuring not all your key resources are vulnerable to a single blow. Consider leveraging cards like Negate or Dispel, countering such destructive sorceries and keeping your assets safely in play.

Another angle is to bait the spell. Playing less critical or expendable artifacts or lands that you can afford to lose might prompt an early use of Violent Impact, safeguarding your more important pieces. It’s also worth noting that at four mana, Violent Impact is a relatively high-cost removal, allowing for a window of opportunity where you can develop your board before your opponent has mana available to cast it.

Ultimately, anticipating and preparing countermeasures for land and artifact removal like Violent Impact can fortify your MTG gameplay, helping you maintain a decisive edge.

Cards like Violent Impact

Violent Impact opens up strategic plays for players dealing with intractable artifacts and lands in MTG. It has a notable parallel in the form of Demolish, which also destroys target artifact or land but at a lower cost of four mana. However, where Violent Impact gains an edge is through its cycling ability, allowing a player to draw a card by paying the cycling cost if the destruction is not immediately necessary.

Shattering Spree is another card that echoes the artifact elimination aspect of Violent Impact but with a replication mechanic that potentially scales up the destruction. Unlike Violent Impact, it doesn’t target lands, and it’s more red mana-intensive. Conversely, Reclaiming Vines provides a closer comparison to Violent Impact with land destruction, but it excludes artifacts from its target range and lacks the flexibility of cycling.

When players are looking at options for handling threats posed by lands or artifacts, Violent Impact emerges as a versatile tool. Its dual functionality allows players to keep their deck fluid and adaptive, whether they’re targeting a problematic land or simply cycling for better options.

Cards similar to Violent Impact by color, type and mana cost

Draconic Intervention - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

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