Cliffrunner Behemoth MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Cliffrunner Behemoth doesn’t directly offer card draw, but its substantial presence on the board can pressure opponents and often demands an answer, which can lead to a two-for-one situation if they must use more than one card to deal with it.

Resource Acceleration: While not a mana ramp card itself, the Cliffrunner Behemoth can benefit from various forms of resource acceleration due to its mana cost, enabling a quicker deployment than usual and paving the way for a swift and sizeable impact on the battlefield.

Instant Speed: Although Cliffrunner Behemoth is a creature played at sorcery speed, its haste-enabling condition when you control a red or white permanent means it can unexpectedly strike the turn it comes into play, similar to the surprise factor of an instant-speed spell.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Cliffrunner Behemoth potentially puts you at a card disadvantage as it puts pressure on your hand, compelling you to maintain certain card types to get the most from its abilities.

Specific Mana Cost: This creature requires a precise blend of mana types to cast. The need for both red and green can be restrictive and demands a dedicated mana base, which may not fit all deck strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, it competes with other prominent creatures and spells in that range. Its cost-to-impact ratio may deter players from including it in their deck when there are more impactful four-mana options available.

Reasons to Include Cliffrunner Behemoth in Your Collection

Versatility: Cliffrunner Behemoth is a flexible addition to many decks due to its substantial toughness and potential for haste. This makes it suitable for both offensive and defensive strategies.

Combo Potential: Cliffrunner Behemoth synergizes well with decks that manipulate land types, such as those involving landfall or domain mechanics, maximizing its potential by ensuring it often has haste and lifelink.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where creature-based strategies are prevalent, the Behemoth’s substantial presence on the board can serve as an effective deterrent, while its lifelink ability helps maintain your life total against aggressive decks.

How to Beat

The Cliffrunner Behemoth is a resilient creature card in MTG, boasting not only significant power and toughness but also the potential for haste and lifelink, given the right board state. Defeating this mighty behemoth requires a strategic approach. Its conditional abilities are dependent on controlling a red or white permanent, so one method is to focus on controlling your opponent’s permanent colors. Utilizing color-specific removal or board wipes that eliminate those key permanents reduces the Behemoth’s effectiveness dramatically, rendering it without its haste or lifelink benefits.

As a four-mana cost creature, it’s not out of reach for timely removal spells like Murder or Path to Exile to deal with it before it can impact the game. Additionally, countering it with spells like Cancel or Mana Leak when it’s cast also proves effective. Another tactic, if Behemoth has already entered the battlefield, is to employ enchantments like Pacifism, or creatures with deathtouch to neutralize it as a threat. Remember, understanding your opponent’s deck and predicting when they may play the Cliffrunner Behemoth can give you the upper hand in planning your moves to overcome it.