Savai Thundermane MTG Card

Savai Thundermane - Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Elemental Cat
Released	2020-04-24
Set symbol
Set name	Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Set code	IKO
Power	3
Toughness	2
Number	205
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Svetlin Velinov

Key Takeaways

Savai Thundermane ensures ongoing card advantage through efficient cycling and dynamic game adaptability.
It excels in resource acceleration but requires precise mana, potentially limiting deck versatility.
Despite a higher mana cost, its unique abilities offer significant tactical advantages in various metas.

Text of card

Whenever you cycle a card, you may pay . When you do, Savai Thundermane deals 2 damage to target creature and you gain 2 life.

A crackling roar is the last sound many hunters hear.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Savai Thundermane provides sustained card advantage by enabling you to cycle cards efficiently, ensuring that you’re not falling behind in the late game and are able to find the necessary resources when you need them.

Resource Acceleration: When played, Savai Thundermane can serve as an engine for resource acceleration. It can potentially return to your hand by fulfilling a condition, allowing you to reuse its cycling ability multiple times for more card filtering and potential synergies with other cards that benefit from cycling or discarding.

Instant Speed: Savai Thundermane offers the flexibility of instant speed cycling. This allows you to adapt swiftly to the evolving state of the game, cycling it away when you have unused mana or when you need to search for an answer during an opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Savai Thundermane obliges the player to discard a card to use its lightning effect, which could deplete your hand when you might need those cards for future turns.

Specific Mana Cost: This creature’s activation cost is pinpointed in red and white mana. Players running multicolored or off-theme decks might struggle to consistently meet this requirement.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Savai Thundermane’s ability can be impactful, the cost of three mana for its activation is sizable. Considering other cards in the format, there could be more cost-effective alternatives for controlling the battlefield or dealing damage.

Reasons to Include Savai Thundermane in Your Collection

Versatility: Savai Thundermane offers a unique mixture of aggression and utility. Its ability to control the board while accelerating your offensive makes it a strong addition to any deck focused on tempo or that prizes flexibility.

Combo Potential: This card easily synergizes with cycling strategies, enabling players to remove opponent creatures while cycling through their deck for the perfect combo pieces. The life gain from cycling also helps maintain your staying power.

Meta-Relevance: With an ever-shifting MTG landscape, Savai Thundermane holds its ground by fitting into a range of competitive environments. It thrives particularly in scenarios where managing opponent threats and sustaining life total are crucial to outpace the opposition.

How to beat

Savai Thundermane emerges as a unique challenge for players in the vast world of Magic: The Gathering. This dynamic card offers an advantage by potentially controlling the battlefield with its ability to deal damage to target creature or planeswalker. To overcome this obstacle, it’s critical to neutralize its ability or outpace its damage potential. A successful tactic is to remove it from the battlefield swiftly with removal spells before your opponent can utilize its damage output. Cards like Murderous Rider or Heartless Act prove useful here; they bypass its damage-dealing capability by eliminating it directly.

Another strategy is to outnumber Savai Thundermane with an array of creatures, diluting its impact by spreading the damage it can deal. Moreover, utilizing cards that grant indestructibility or protection from red can nullify the threat it imposes, allowing you to maintain board presence. It’s also worth considering to simply outlast it by gaining life through cards like Revitalize, making the damage less relevant. Through these methods, players can deftly handle Savai Thundermane, ensuring it doesn’t roar out of control during gameplay.

Thus, understanding the variety of approaches to handle this menace helps ensure that the card doesn’t impede your pathway to victory. With careful planning and strategic gameplay, you can prevent Savai Thundermane from disrupting your own game plan.

Cards like Savai Thundermane

Savai Thundermane emerges as a versatile creature in MTG that can influence the battlefield in more ways than one. When we look at cards like Skyknight Legionnaire, we find a similarity in flying abilities, providing an aerial threat to opponents. Yet, Savai Thundermane offers an added utility with its ability to deal damage to both creatures and planeswalkers, thus granting players more tactical options during combat.

Considering Swashbuckling, another comparison is drawn. Though Swashbuckling is an Aura that boosts a creature’s power and grants it haste, Savai Thundermane itself combines the haste ability intrinsically with the potential for direct damage, without the need to rely on other cards for enhancement. It not only accelerates the pace but also maintains card advantage.

The intrinsic value of Savai Thundermane in MTG is further highlighted when compared to cards like Volcanic Geyser. While both can deal damage to a target, Savai Thundermane does so recurrently, offering continuous pressure rather than a one-time impact, though at the potential cost of creature sacrifice. Overall, this card holds its ground with added flexibility and pressure tactics that make it a noteworthy contender in its category.

Skyknight Legionnaire - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Savai Thundermane MTG card by a specific set like Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, 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 Savai Thundermane and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Savai Thundermane has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2020-04-17	If the target creature is an illegal target by the time Savai Thundermane’s reflexive triggered ability tries to resolve, the ability won’t resolve. You won’t gain 2 life.
2020-04-17	If you pay while Savai Thundermane’s triggered ability is resolving, the reflexive triggered ability triggers and will resolve separately. This is different from effects that say “If you do . . .” in that players may take actions after you’ve paid mana but before damage is dealt.
2020-04-17	Some cards with cycling have an ability that triggers when you cycle them, and some cards have an ability that triggers whenever you cycle any card. These triggered abilities resolve before you draw from the cycling ability.
2020-04-17	Triggered abilities from cycling a card and the cycling ability itself aren’t spells. Effects that interact with spells (such as that of Cancel) won’t affect them.
2020-04-17	While resolving Savai Thundermane’s triggered ability, you can’t pay more than once to have it deal more damage or gain more life.
2020-04-17	You can cycle a card even if it has a triggered ability from cycling that won’t have a legal target. This is because the cycling ability and the triggered ability are separate. This also means that if either ability is countered (with Disallow, for example), the other ability will still resolve.
2020-04-17	You can pay even if Savai Thundermane leaves the battlefield before its triggered ability resolves. The reflexive triggered ability will still trigger if you do.