Baloth Woodcrasher MTG Card
2009-10-02 - Number 157
2011-06-17 - Number 143
2013-11-01 - Number 136
2018-08-09 - Number 130
2022-12-02 - Number 630
| Card sets | Released in 5 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 6 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Beast |
| Abilities | Landfall |
| Power | 4 |
| Toughness | 4 |
Key Takeaways
- Triggers multiple landfalls in one turn, creating significant board advantage and pressure.
- Ramps mana rapidly, allowing for large Woodcrasher growth and potent turns.
- Instant-speed land plays surprise opponents, leveraging Woodcrasher’s destructive potential.
Text of card
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Baloth Woodcrasher gets +4/+4 and gains trample until end of turn.
Its insatiable hunger quickly depletes a region of prey. It must migrate from place to place to feed its massive bulk.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: When Baloth Woodcrasher connects with an opponent, you have the potential to trigger Landfall multiple times in a single turn, which can create a sizable advantage on the board. This synergy can quickly overwhelm opponents, particularly in decks built to maximize land drops.
Resource Acceleration: Since Baloth Woodcrasher benefits from land drops, it encourages strategies that ramp up your mana base. This can lead to explosive turns where you play multiple lands, accelerate your resources, and grow your Woodcrasher to an enormous size in the process.
Instant Speed: While Baloth Woodcrasher itself doesn’t have abilities that work at instant speed, it pairs well with cards that allow you to put lands onto the battlefield during your opponent’s turn. This interaction can create unexpected blockers or attackers, taking your opponent by surprise and amplifying the Woodcrasher’s landfall ability significantly.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Despite not having an inherent discard cost to play, Baloth Woodcrasher can be indirectly linked to discard drawbacks. Building a deck synergy around the landfall ability might require additional cards that facilitate land plays or recoveries, potentially straining your hand.
Specific Mana Cost: Baloth Woodcrasher requires a mix of generic and green mana, which enforces its play within green or multicolor decks geared towards ramping. This specific mana cost, including a commitment of four green mana, might limit the card’s flexibility in varied deck builds.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of six mana, Baloth Woodcrasher can be a steep investment in the early to mid-game. Given its power ramp is dependent on landfall triggers, other creatures in the same mana range could offer immediate board presence and effects without the conditional setup.
Reasons to Include Baloth Woodcrasher in Your Collection
Versatility: Baloth Woodcrasher offers a robust addition to landfall-themed decks. Its ability to become massive with each land you play makes it a threat in a variety of green-centric strategies.
Combo Potential: Teamed with cards that allow multiple land plays per turn or fetch lands from your deck, Baloth Woodcrasher can quickly evolve into a game-ending menace, synergizing well with other landfall mechanics.
Meta-Relevance: Given the prevalence of ramp strategies within the current meta, Baloth Woodcrasher’s capacity to capitalize on frequent land plays makes it a pertinent choice, able to stand toe-to-toe with popular powerhouse creatures.
How to Beat Baloth Woodcrasher in MTG
Baloth Woodcrasher can be a formidable presence on the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. With its ability to grow significantly larger whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, it can quickly become a threat that opponents must address. To neutralize this beast, consider using removal spells that can take it out regardless of its size, such as “Path to Exile” or “Doom Blade”.
Controlling the flow of the game is also crucial. Limiting land drops with effects that restrict players to one land per turn, like “Manglehorn” or “Authority of the Consuls”, can be an effective strategy. Additionally, employing countermeasures like “Ghost Quarter” to disrupt landfall triggers and reduce the number of lands on your opponent’s field could prevent the Woodcrasher from ever becoming a real problem.
Furthermore, instant-speed creature removals or board wipes like “Wrath of God” are valuable, as they allow a player to wait for their opponent to invest in building up their Woodcrasher, only to remove it before it can deal damage. Timing removal before the landfall trigger during the opponent’s turn is crucial. This approach conserves your resources while effectively keeping the board clear.
Cards like Baloth Woodcrasher
Baloth Woodcrasher emerges as a noteworthy creature in Magic: The Gathering, belonging to the roster of landfall giants. This beast shares a thematic and functional kinship with cards like Rampaging Baloths. While Rampaging Baloths can summon a 4/4 Beast creature token upon landfall, Baloth Woodcrasher leverages its ability to become a massive threat itself. Upon landfall, it gains a significant power boost, towering over the battlefield.
Groundbreaker is another similar force of nature, albeit with a different twist. While lacking the landfall trigger, Groundbreaker presents an immediate and explosive impact with its triple green mana base allowing for six points of damage upfront. However, it doesn’t offer the sustained board presence that Baloth Woodcrasher does. Conversely, Avenger of Zendikar functions with a landfall mechanism, producing a plant creature token each time a land enters under your control, and buffs those tokens with subsequent landfalls, making it a formidable card for progressive game domination.
Comparisons considered, Baloth Woodcrasher stands out for its raw power and ability to become an imposing force, enhancing its appeal to players seeking to capitalize on land-based strategies in their MTG decks.
Cards similar to Baloth Woodcrasher by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Baloth Woodcrasher MTG card by a specific set like Zendikar and Commander 2011, 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 Baloth Woodcrasher 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 Baloth Woodcrasher Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2009-10-02 and 2022-12-02. Illustrated by 6 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009-10-02 | Zendikar | ZEN | 157 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai | |
| 2 | 2011-06-17 | Commander 2011 | CMD | 143 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai | |
| 3 | 2013-11-01 | Commander 2013 | C13 | 136 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai | |
| 4 | 2018-08-09 | Commander 2018 | C18 | 130 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai | |
| 5 | 2022-12-02 | Jumpstart 2022 | J22 | 630 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Baloth Woodcrasher has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Baloth Woodcrasher 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 | 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. |
