Pearl Lake Ancient MTG Card


Pearl Lake Ancient - Khans of Tarkir
Mana cost
Converted mana cost7
RarityMythic
TypeCreature — Leviathan
Abilities Prowess, Flash
Released2014-09-26
Set symbol
Set nameKhans of Tarkir
Set codeKTK
Power 6
Toughness 7
Number49
Frame2015
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byRichard Wright

Key Takeaways

  1. Returns to hand by sacrificing lands, protecting card advantage in control matchups.
  2. Flashes in for strategic surprise and keeps mana free for other spells.
  3. Its high casting cost and specific mana demand challenge some decks.
Flash card art

Guide to Flash card ability

Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.

Text of card

Flash Pearl Lake Ancient can't be countered. Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.) Return three lands you control to their owner's hand: Return Pearl Lake Ancient to its owner's hand.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: With the ability to return to your hand by sacrificing three lands, Pearl Lake Ancient ensures that you maintain card presence. It’s a potent mechanism for outlasting control matchups where each card’s value is paramount.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly accelerating resources, the Leviathan’s ability to bounce back to your hand prepares you for land plays after a board wipe, setting the stage for a quick resurgence and potential mana flood.

Instant Speed: Being able to flash in Pearl Lake Ancient provides a strategic advantage, allowing you to surprise your opponent and keep mana available for counterspells or other instant-speed interactions until the need for a creature arises.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Pearl Lake Ancient’s return to hand ability requires the sacrifice of lands, which can be a substantial setback. Tapping out valuable resources to save one creature might leave you defenseless or unable to play other cards on your next turn.

Specific Mana Cost: This Leviathan demands three blue mana, making it less flexible in multicolored decks. Players running few islands may find it challenging to summon the Ancient consistently.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a steep seven mana to cast, Pearl Lake Ancient can be too much of an investment in faster paced games. By the turn you can cast it, opponents may have already developed a formidable board presence or have countermeasures in place.


Reasons to Include Pearl Lake Ancient in Your Collection

Versatility: Pearl Lake Ancient thrives in control decks where its flash ability lets you keep mana open for counterspells and react to your opponent’s actions. With no color restrictions on casting, it can be included in any deck that can produce the required mana.

Combo Potential: This Leviathan card has prowess, increasing its power and toughness each time you cast a noncreature spell. When combined with a strategy that casts numerous spells in a single turn, Pearl Lake Ancient becomes a formidable threat that can scale in power very quickly.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where board wipes and removal are prevalent, Pearl Lake Ancient’s ability to return to your hand ensures longevity and resilience. This can give you an edge by saving your creature from potential threats while still applying pressure on the board.


How to Beat

Pearl Lake Ancient is a formidable presence in Magic: The Gathering with its flash ability allowing it to surprise opponents and a resilience to sorcery-speed removal thanks to being able to return to hand. Tackling this leviathan requires strategic planning and resource management. One effective strategy is to limit the lands your opponent can play, thus restricting their ability to pay the cost of returning Pearl Lake Ancient to their hand. Cards that cause opponents to sacrifice creatures, such as Crackling Doom, bypass both Pearl Lake Ancient’s indestructibility and its return-to-hand mechanism.

Counterspells are also excellent for stopping Pearl Lake Ancient before it enters the battlefield. Since it’s not immune to counter magic, keeping up mana for a Dissolve or a Negate can be key. Lastly, using exile effects such as Path to Exile bypasses its protective abilities completely, removing Pearl Lake Ancient from the game without the option for your opponent to return it to their hand. A thoughtful combination of disruption, counterspells, and exile effects will help you navigate past the challenge of a Pearl Lake Ancient.


Cards like Pearl Lake Ancient

Exploring the depths of Magic: The Gathering’s vast library, Pearl Lake Ancient emerges as a powerful creature card, reminiscent of other high-impact Leviathans and Serpents. Like the formidable Stormtide Leviathan, Pearl Lake Ancient boasts a significant presence on the battlefield with its resilience and ability to manipulate the game state. While Stormtide Leviathan disrupts land-based strategies with its flood-inducing ability, Pearl Lake Ancient provides a different angle of defense through its flash and return to hand abilities, ensuring it can dodge removal and be a continuous threat.

Another creature with similar evasive capabilities is Aetherspouts, which shares a similar vein of disrupting opponent strategies albeit through a mass bounce effect rather than Pearl Lake Ancient’s individual protection. However, Aetherspouts lacks the recurring presence that Pearl Lake Ancient offers. Conversely, Kederekt Leviathan offers a parallel by returning all nonland permanents to their owners’ hands when it enters the battlefield, acting as a broad reset button, albeit without the option to reuse the effect as easily as with Pearl Lake Ancient.

In essence, Pearl Lake Ancient stands out in its category due to its unique blend of power, resilience, and tactical flexibility, making it a key player in any control-oriented MTG deck.

Stormtide Leviathan - MTG Card versions
Aetherspouts - MTG Card versions
Kederekt Leviathan - MTG Card versions
Stormtide Leviathan - Magic 2011 (M11)
Aetherspouts - Magic 2015 (M15)
Kederekt Leviathan - Shards of Alara (ALA)

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Pearl Lake Ancient MTG card by a specific set like Khans of Tarkir, 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 Pearl Lake Ancient and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Pearl Lake Ancient has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2014-09-20 A spell or ability that counters spells can still target Pearl Lake Ancient. When one resolves, Pearl Lake Ancient won’t be countered, but any additional effects of that spell or ability will still happen.
2014-09-20 Any spell you cast that doesn’t have the type creature will cause prowess to trigger. If a spell has multiple types, and one of those types is creature (such as an artifact creature), casting it won’t cause prowess to trigger. Playing a land also won’t cause prowess to trigger.
2014-09-20 Once it triggers, prowess isn’t connected to the spell that caused it to trigger. If that spell is countered, prowess will still resolve.
2014-09-20 Prowess goes on the stack on top of the spell that caused it to trigger. It will resolve before that spell.

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