Nesting Dragon MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Dragon
Abilities Flying,Landfall
Power 5
Toughness 4

Key Takeaways

  1. The card sets up incremental advantage, multiplying threats with landfall-induced Dragon Egg tokens.
  2. Nesting Dragon offers resource acceleration and potential aerial defense with its token production.
  3. Strategic play can use its ability to weave defensive and offensive tactics effectively.

Text of card

Flying Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, create a 0/2 red Dragon Egg creature token with defender and "When this creature dies, create a 2/2 red Dragon creature token with flying and ': This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.'"


Card Pros

Card Advantage: When Nesting Dragon lands on the battlefield, it sets you up for an incremental advantage. Its ability to create 0/2 Dragon Egg creature tokens with each land entering the battlefield under your control effectively leaves your opponents contending with multiple threats, giving you a card advantage with every landfall.

Resource Acceleration: Beyond just the creature generation, those Dragon Egg tokens represent potential for resource acceleration. Upon their demise, they unleash a 2/2 red Dragon creature token with flying, which can work as an offensive force or a defensive aerial blockade, facilitating your progression in the game with increased pressure on opponents.

Instant Speed: While Nesting Dragon’s ability isn’t at instant speed, the dragons it creates can certainly impact the board during the most crucial times. Gaining these tokens can occur on each land play, which means playing a land on your turn and possibly during an opponent’s turn, if you have a way to drop lands at instant speed, offering strategic depth to your game plan.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Nesting Dragon’s abilities don’t entail a discard action, but managing the eggs requires careful play. Any miscalculation can lead to losing potential creature tokens, which could put you at a disadvantage in terms of board presence and momentum.

Specific Mana Cost: Nesting Dragon demands a significant red and green mana investment. Its presence in a multi-colored deck could be restrictive, as it requires a stable mana base to cast consistently without delay. Players must carefully construct their deck to accommodate this cost without sacrificing the deck’s overall fluidity.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: At five mana, including two red and one green, Nesting Dragon sits at a higher mana cost bracket. While it certainly has a strong impact on the game by creating Dragon Egg tokens, in fast-paced games, the initial investment might be too steep, potentially putting players behind in the early to mid-game stages where speed and efficiency are crucial.


Reasons to Include Nesting Dragon in Your Collection

Versatility: Nesting Dragon holds its ground as a pivot for various deck builds, shining in strategies that capitalize on land ramp and creature tokens. Its ability to produce Dragon Egg tokens upon a land hitting the graveyard gives it multi-faceted use across numerous play styles.

Combo Potential: This fiery behemoth pairs wonderfully with land sacrifice mechanics, thereby unlocking explosive plays. Its eggs, once hatched, offer a secondary wave of dragon threats that work well in concert with mass-reanimation tactics or devour effects.

Meta-Relevance: With a format that frequently sees graveyard interactions and a penchant for wide board states, Nesting Dragon can be a formidable asset. It provides a resilient threat against board wipes and an offensive edge in the face of stalling opponents, fitting comfortably into the meta’s puzzle.


How to Beat Nesting Dragon

Nesting Dragon is a unique creature card that brings a tactical advantage to players in Commander and other casual formats in Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to create Dragon Egg tokens when a land enters the battlefield under your control can quickly turn the tide of battle. To effectively counter this card, consider using removal spells that can bypass the tokens it creates. Direct damage spells that destroy the creature before the landfall ability triggers are excellent options.

Moreover, board wipes can be especially devastating after Nesting Dragon has amassed a couple of Dragon Eggs on the field, as it prevents the opponent from gaining the advantage of having 2/2 flying Dragon tokens when the Eggs die. Exiling effects are also efficient against it, nullifying the death-trigger effect of the Dragon Eggs completely. Lastly, transformative enchantments that neutralize abilities can render Nesting Dragon a mere blocker, stripping away its strategic utility and making it easier to handle on the battlefield.

In consideration of these strategies, outmaneuvering Nesting Dragon requires timely interrupts and leveraging spell effects that nullify both its presence and the subsequent tokens. By keeping these tactics in your arsenal, you can neutralize the threat of this formidable card and maintain control over the game.


BurnMana Recommendations

Crafting a deck around Nesting Dragon offers unique strategic advantages whether you’re dominating the skies in Commander or enhancing your casual MTG deck. With its landfall-triggered Dragon Eggs, it’s a force that rewards clever land play and synergizes with sacrificing mechanics for unexpected bursts of power. To incorporate Nesting Dragon’s strength in your gameplay, blend it with cards that allow for land recursion or instant-speed land plays. This adds value to each of your lands and turns them into potential dragon threats. Discover ways to maximize its potential and enhance your MTG collection by learning more about strategic deck building with Nesting Dragon.


Cards like Nesting Dragon

Nesting Dragon finds its place in the pantheon of impressive creature cards within MTG. Stepping into the territory where terrain and creatures intersect, this card is akin to the likes of Dragonmaster Outcast. The outcast summons a formidable dragon token upon each of your upkeeps if you control six or more lands. What sets Nesting Dragon apart is its ability to create a 0/2 Dragon Egg token with defender whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control and these hatch into 2/2 flying dragons when they perish, potentially weaving a web of defensive and offensive strategies.

In a similar lane, we have Rampaging Baloths, which leverages its landfall ability to create 4/4 green Beast creature tokens. While Nesting Dragon ensures aerial dominance and a staggered board presence, Rampaging Baloths amass a ground force that can quickly become overwhelming. Then there’s Avenger of Zendikar that creates a 0/1 green Plant creature token for each land you control upon entering the battlefield. Although these tokens don’t possess the initial stopping power of a dragon egg, they can grow exponentially in power and toughness with subsequent land drops.

Within the context of MTG’s myriad options, Nesting Dragon offers a unique blend of defensive utility and offensive potential, making it a valuable asset in the right deck build.

Dragonmaster Outcast - MTG Card versions
Rampaging Baloths - MTG Card versions
Avenger of Zendikar - MTG Card versions
Dragonmaster Outcast - Worldwake (WWK)
Rampaging Baloths - Zendikar Promos (PZEN)
Avenger of Zendikar - Worldwake (WWK)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nesting Dragon MTG card by a specific set like Treasure Chest and Commander 2018, 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 Nesting Dragon and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Nesting Dragon Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2016-11-16 and 2023-08-04. Illustrated by Jehan Choo.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12016-11-16Treasure ChestPZ2 706492015normalblackJehan Choo
22018-08-09Commander 2018C18 242015normalblackJehan Choo
32023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 2452015normalblackJehan Choo
42023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 5462015normalblackJehan Choo

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nesting Dragon has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2018-07-13 Because Nesting Dragon’s landfall ability doesn’t assign a name to the tokens, the tokens are named by their given creature types: “Dragon Egg.” This means that the creatures have the same name as the creature card Dragon Egg, although the tokens have no mana cost and their converted mana cost is 0.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks