Avenging Druid MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Human Druid |
| Released | 1998-06-15 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Exodus |
| Set code | EXO |
| Power | 1 |
| Toughness | 3 |
| Number | 105 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | normal |
| Border | black |
| Illustred by | Daren Bader |
Key Takeaways
- Avenging Druid offers the dual function of milling and accelerating mana in one creature.
- Its attack-based trigger adds dynamic gameplay but comes with inherent discard risks.
- While versatile, its higher mana cost and specific color requirement limit deck integration.
Text of card
If Avenging Druid damages any opponent, you may reveal cards from your library until you reveal a land card. Put that land into play and put all other revealed cards into your graveyard.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Avenging Druid transforms your deck’s creatures into potential lands on the battlefield, effectively cycling through your deck and putting valuable resources into play.
Resource Acceleration: As the Druid deals combat damage, you’re not just placing a land onto the battlefield but potentially setting up explosive turns by chaining multiple creatures and lands together, ramping up your mana sources swiftly.
Instant Speed: Although Avenging Druid itself isn’t an instant, it benefits greatly from instant-speed spells that can manipulate the top card of your library or protect the Druid, ensuring each attack yields the maximum potential card advantage and resource acceleration.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: With Avenging Druid, each attack requires you to mill until you reveal a land card. While this could potentially fill your graveyard with useful creatures and spells, it can also inadvertently discard cards you’d rather have in your hand, leading to an undesirable depletion of resources.
Specific Mana Cost: Avenging Druid comes with a converted mana cost that includes one green. This potentially limits its inclusion to green-centric or multicolored decks, constraining deck-building choices for those looking to optimize mana bases or play outside of green strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Bearing a cost of three mana, this card may seem reasonable at first. However, when considering its need to connect with an opponent to gain its main benefit, and the fact that it lacks inherent evasion or protection, other cards might offer a more immediate and less conditional impact on the game state for a similar or even lower mana investment.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Avenging Druid offers a unique ability to mill cards while turning attacks into potential mana resources. This can seamlessly adapt to decks focusing on graveyard strategies or needing creature-based ramp.
Combo Potential: Each attack from Avenging Druid could potentially put a powerful creature card into the graveyard ready to be reanimated, setting up game-changing plays or enabling potent graveyard combos.
Meta-Relevance: With a shifting landscape in many MTG formats, having a card that manipulates the graveyard can be essential, especially if you’re facing decks that rarely interact with or anticipate this tactic.
How to beat
Avenging Druid is an intriguing creature card from Magic: The Gathering that presents a unique challenge on the battlefield. When this creature successfully deals damage to an opponent, its controller may put a creature card from their library directly into play. This effect can quickly turn the tides of a game if not addressed swiftly. The key to countering Avenging Druid lies in preventing it from landing its attack. Removal spells, defensive creatures, and enchantments that restrict combat can effectively neutralize the threat this card poses.
Engaging in smart blocking strategies and maintaining control over the board are essential tactics. Cards with reach or flying can be especially useful in stymieing the Druid’s attack potential. Moreover, instant-speed removals like Path to Exile or Fatal Push can dispatch it before it ever gets the chance to wreak havoc. In essence, keeping Avenging Druid from connecting with a player is the cornerstone of beating it – an endeavor that demands both tactical plays and timely reactions.
Therefore, overcoming the challenge posed by Avenging Druid is about anticipation and preparedness. By keeping your defenses up and utilizing quick removals, the druid’s formidable ability can be rendered moot, maintaining the balance of power on the battlefield in your favor.
Cards like Avenging Druid
Avenging Druid is an intriguing creature card within the realm of Magic: The Gathering, sharing similarities with other deck-manipulating cards, yet standing out with its distinctive mechanic. Its closest parallel might be Satyr Wayfinder, which also provides the ability to look at the top four cards of your library, albeit with less dire consequences than our Druid’s trigger.
Another card to contemplate is Grisly Salvage, presenting a more controlled way to fill your graveyard by choosing a creature or land card from the top five cards and then placing the others into the graveyard. While Avenging Druid offers the thrill of uncertainty with possible massive graveyard filling upon dealing combat damage, Grisly Salvage affords a more refined, albeit possibly less potent, selection.
Then we have Hermit Druid, which holds a storied place in MTG as a potent graveyard filler. Unlike Avenging Druid, Hermit Druid can be activated at will, but it requires the absence of basic lands in your deck to achieve its full potential. Avenging Druid’s combat damage trigger can represent an unpredictable, yet possibly game-changing, graveyard ramp without such a deck-building constraint.
By examining these similar cards, we can see that Avenging Druid offers a unique blend of combat interaction and potential graveyard acceleration, providing an interesting option for players looking to utilize their graveyard as a strategic resource.
Cards similar to Avenging Druid by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Avenging Druid MTG card by a specific set like Exodus, 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 Avenging Druid 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 Magic products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Avenging Druid has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Avenging Druid card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | Putting a land onto the battlefield does not count as playing a land. |
| 2004-10-04 | The ability does not work if all damage is prevented. |
