Sylvan Advocate MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Elf Druid Ally
Abilities Vigilance
Power 2
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Sylvan Advocate scales with lands, becoming stronger and aiding defense while maintaining offensive pressure.
  2. Boosts land creatures significantly, rewarding players for integrating land ramp strategies within their decks.
  3. Vigilance allows for reaction-ready gameplay, complementing a board-persistent strategy in MTG.
Vigilance card art

Guide to Vigilance card ability

In the strategic universe of Magic: The Gathering (MTG), the vigilance ability stands out as a powerful tool for players. This potent keyword allows creatures to attack without tapping, keeping them ready and alert to defend against incoming threats. It represents a perfect balance between aggression and defense, offering a dynamic approach to gameplay. Lets dive deeper into how vigilance shapes the battlefield.

Text of card

Vigilance As long as you control six or more lands, Sylvan Advocate and land creatures you control get +2/+2.

"The land gives of itself. Its abundance provides, even in times of chaos."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sylvan Advocate shines in decks that focus on lands, due to its ability to grow stronger as you play additional land cards. This vigilant creature can potentially become a sizable threat, effectively allowing you to apply pressure while still keeping up defenses, creating a lasting impact on the board and tipping the scales in card quality.

Resource Acceleration: Although the Sylvan Advocate doesn’t directly provide mana acceleration, its synergy with land creatures becomes a formidable force as you nurture your mana base. Its static ability boosts land creatures significantly, which complements strategies centred on land ramp, essentially rewarding you for resource acceleration you’re already employing in your game plan.

Instant Speed: The strength of Sylvan Advocate may not lie in instant speed interaction, but its vigilance means that you’re always ready to react. This gives you the freedom to attack without the drawback of leaving yourself open to counters. The Advocate provides a continuous presence on the board, one that doesn’t wane when you apply pressure during your turn, allowing you to effectively manage threats at all times.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sylvan Advocate does not directly necessitate discarding cards, which can be seen as advantageous for maintaining hand size. However, it’s essential in decks centered around card synergies, where each card is valuable, and discarding could be detrimental.

Specific Mana Cost: Sylvan Advocate carries a specific green and colorless mana requirement for its casting, which makes it inherently less flexible for multi-colored decks or those that may not have ample access to green mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of two mana, Sylvan Advocate is reasonably priced for its stats and abilities; however, in a fast-paced game, players might seek lower-cost creatures to establish board presence more quickly, or conversely, look for more impactful creatures at the same cost.


Reasons to Include Sylvan Advocate in Your Collection

Versatility: Sylvan Advocate is a card that can seamlessly fit into various deck types, particularly those that are land-centric or emphasize creature-based strategies. Its ability to boost your land creatures makes it adaptable to changing game conditions.

Combo Potential: This card synergizes well with land-awakening effects or cards that turn lands into creatures, thus can become a key piece in decks that exploit land-based combos, beefing up an army of animated lands.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where aggressive creature decks thrive, Sylvan Advocate holds its ground as both an early blocker and a late-game threat due to its power and toughness scaling with your land count, making it perpetually relevant on the battlefield.


How to beat

Sylvan Advocate is a versatile creature card that becomes quite a force in Magic: The Gathering once a player has six or more lands. This growth in power and toughness, along with giving a boost to land creatures, makes it a considerable threat on the battlefield. To effectively counter this card, players should focus on removal spells that can bypass its base toughness.

Relying on instant-speed removal like Path to Exile or Fatal Push offers a swift solution to deal with the Advocate before it becomes a bigger problem. Board wipes, such as Wrath of God or Damnation, can also clear the Advocate regardless of the lands you have in play. It’s vital to manage the creature before the player reaches the land threshold, otherwise, you might find yourself facing not only a formidable creature but also an enhanced legion of animated lands.

To sum it up, staying ahead of the land count and maintaining removal options are key strategies against Sylvan Advocate. The ability to anticipate and respond before it turns into a major threat is essential in keeping the Advocate from taking over the game.


BurnMana Recommendations

Exploring MTG strategies with the Sylvan Advocate can be an enriching endeavor, especially when integrated into land-centric decks. Its capability to empower not just itself but other land creatures can swiftly shift the dynamics of your gameplay. Whether you’re defending against early aggression or advancing towards late-game dominance, this vigilant creature provides consistency and versatility. If the strengths and potential of Sylvan Advocate resonate with your game plan, it might be time to weave this card into your deck. Ready for a deeper dive into strategic deck-building and card synergy? Join us for more insights and build your path to becoming an adept MTG player.


Cards like Sylvan Advocate

Sylvan Advocate is a versatile creature card that has found its place in many Magic the Gathering decks that favor land synergy. It cam be paralleled with Tireless Tracker, which also thrives on land interaction. While Tireless Tracker excels at generating card advantage through Clue tokens when a land enters the battlefield, Sylvan Advocate instead bolsters itself and other land creatures once a player reaches six lands, enhancing board presence significantly without the need for additional cards.

Another comparable card is Tarmogoyf, known for its dynamic power and toughness that scale with the variety of card types in all graveyards. While Tarmogoyf can potentially grow larger than Sylvan Advocate, it doesn’t offer the same level of immediate board impact or supportive role for land creatures. Similarly, Courser of Kruphix presents a strong comparison, providing a constant stream of life points and card advantage through lands played from the top of one’s library, yet it lacks the late-game power boost that Sylvan Advocate grants.

Each of these creatures possesses unique interactions with lands, but Sylvan Advocate stands out for its ability to turn lands into formidable creatures later in the game, presenting itself as an invaluable asset for players utilizing land-centric strategies in their Magic the Gathering gameplay.

Tireless Tracker - MTG Card versions
Tarmogoyf - MTG Card versions
Courser of Kruphix - MTG Card versions
Tireless Tracker - MTG Card versions
Tarmogoyf - MTG Card versions
Courser of Kruphix - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sylvan Advocate MTG card by a specific set like Oath of the Gatewatch and Oath of the Gatewatch Promos, 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 Sylvan Advocate and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Sylvan Advocate Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2016-01-22 and 2020-09-25. Illustrated by Volkan Baǵa.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12016-01-22Oath of the GatewatchOGW 1442015NormalBlackVolkan Baǵa
22016-01-22Oath of the Gatewatch PromosPOGW 144s2015NormalBlackVolkan Baǵa
32020-09-25Zendikar Rising CommanderZNC 842015NormalBlackVolkan Baǵa

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sylvan Advocate has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2016-01-22 A “land creature” is a permanent that’s both a land and a creature.
2016-01-22 Damage remains marked on creatures until the turn ends. If Sylvan Advocate’s ability stops applying (because Sylvan Advocate leaves the battlefield or you no longer control six or more lands), then any land creatures that needed the toughness bonus to stay alive will be destroyed.

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