Lantern Scout MTG Card
2015-10-02 - Number 37s
2015-10-02 - Number 37
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Human Scout Ally |
| Abilities | Rally |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 2 |
Key Takeaways
- Lantern Scout excels in card advantage by negating damage with its lifelink ability.
- Its Rally ability indirectly quickens board presence, granting critical life resources.
- Instantly grants lifelink for surprise combat advantage, outweighing its mana cost.
Text of card
Rally — Whenever Lantern Scout or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Hedron lanterns fend off more than just the darkness.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: While Lantern Scout itself may not draw cards, it shines in maintaining card advantage by providing repeatable life gain. This ability allows you to sustain your resources against aggressive strategies, effectively negating damage from multiple sources over time.
Resource Acceleration: Lantern Scout doesn’t directly ramp your mana, but its Rally ability accelerates your board presence. By giving your creatures lifelink until end of turn, it ensures that each attack not only pressures your opponent but also bolsters your life total, which is a crucial indirect resource in prolonged matches.
Instant Speed: Though Lantern Scout is a creature, its impact is similar to that of an instant. Upon entering the battlefield, it instantly grants lifelink to your team, catching opponents off-guard during crucial combat phases, and potentially turning the tide of a race without the wait associated with sorcery-speed alternatives.
Card Cons
Specific Mana Cost: Lantern Scout’s casting requirement of one colorless and two white mana can restrict deck building, limiting its inclusion to mainly white-centric or two-color decks rather than a wider array of multicolor combinations.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing three mana to play, Lantern Scout may come down a bit late in the game, especially in aggressive decks looking to establish a board presence quickly. Its impact may be diminished if played after the most critical combat phases have already passed.
Discard Requirement: While Lantern Scout itself does not have a discard requirement, it is worth mentioning that cards with similar abilities sometimes do. This can result in resource loss and potential disadvantage, which thankfully does not apply to Lantern Scout, giving it a slight edge in this area.
Reasons to Include Lantern Scout in Your Collection
Versatility: Lantern Scout offers a lifeline to various deck builds. As a creature with the Ally subtype, it provides an instant boost in life total, especially valuable in decks that need to stabilize against aggressive opponents.
Combo Potential: This card shines in Ally-themed decks, enabling multiple triggers on cast, and is known for its synergies within this tribe. Moreover, its ability can work well with cards that care about life gain or creatures entering the battlefield.
Meta-Relevance: With a meta that often includes aggressive strategies, Lantern Scout’s life gain ability can tip the scales, offering an edge in the battlefield. Its capability to momentarily give your creatures lifelink allows you to swing the momentum in your favor, thus remaining a relevant choice in many game scenarios.
How to beat
Lantern Scout is a renowned ally creature card that boosts players’ deck resilience by providing life gain in Magic: The Gathering. When played effectively, it can be a consistent source of life points due to its rally ability, ensuring that whenever it or another ally enters the battlefield under your control, you gain life equal to the number of creatures you control. This ability can quickly turn the tide, creating a substantial life buffer that can be difficult to overcome.
To counteract the advantages Lantern Scout offers, players should focus on removal spells that can take it out before its rally effect can be utilized. Cards that can exile or force a player to sacrifice a creature might be particularly effective, given that they can sidestep the card’s potential to trigger lifegain when it enters the battlefield. Board clear spells are also beneficial as they can address not only Lantern Scout but the multitude of allies potentially accumulating on the opponent’s side. Preventing allies from gathering on the battlefield in the first place limits the life-gaining impact of the Scout, making it far less of a threat.
Ultimately, while Lantern Scout can provide a significant advantage in terms of life gain, utilizing timely removal and strategic board clears can minimize its impact, keeping the battlefield in a manageable state for players facing this card.
Cards like Lantern Scout
Lantern Scout is an impactful creature in the world of Magic: The Gathering, bringing a dynamic presence to the battlefield. Its ability to grant lifelink to all your creatures upon entering the battlefield can swing games in your favor. When we look at cards like Ondu War Cleric, we can see that while it also focuses on life gain, its activation is slower, requiring a tap and collaboration with an ally creature. Lantern Scout, however, provides an immediate effect across the entire board, no taps required.
Kabira Evangel is another ally that resonates with Lantern Scout’s style of play. Although it provides a different form of protection by granting your allies the ability to not be blocked, it doesn’t have the same immediate impact on life totals. Furthermore, the lifelink from Lantern Scout can be a major factor in races or combat-heavy games, potentially overshadowing the temporary unblockability from the Evangel.
Then we have Cliffhaven Vampire, which works well in life gain strategies and has a draining effect on each gain of life. Different from Lantern Scout, it requires a more specialized deck to be effective. In enveloping the roles of both an offensive and defensive asset, Lantern Scout shines by contributing to your life total while increasing the pressure on your opponent in a single move.
Cards similar to Lantern Scout by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Lantern Scout MTG card by a specific set like Battle for Zendikar Promos and Battle for 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 Lantern Scout 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 Lantern Scout Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2015-10-02 and 2015-10-02. Illustrated by Steven Belledin.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar Promos | PBFZ | 37s | 2015 | Normal | Black | Steven Belledin | |
| 2 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar | BFZ | 37 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Steven Belledin |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Lantern Scout has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Lantern Scout card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2015-08-25 | If a creature with a rally ability enters the battlefield under your control at the same time as other Allies, that ability will trigger once for each of those creatures and once for the creature with the ability itself. |
| 2015-08-25 | When an Ally enters the battlefield under your control, each rally 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 to resolve. |
| 2015-08-25 | multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant. There usually isn’t much benefit in having the rally ability resolve more than once in a turn, other than that new creatures will be affected by the ability resolving an additional time. |
