Salt Road Patrol MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Human Scout |
| Abilities | Outlast |
| Released | 2014-09-26 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Khans of Tarkir |
| Set code | KTK |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 5 |
| Number | 21 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Scott Murphy |
Key Takeaways
- Salt Road Patrol excels in providing sustained board strength through multiple activations of its outlast ability.
- Its mere presence can dictate opponent’s play, saving your resources for more impactful spells and actions.
- While resource-demanding, Salt Road Patrol proves its worth in counter-centered decks and patient strategies.
Text of card
Outlast (, : Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Outlast only as a sorcery.)
"Soldiers win battles, but supplies win wars." —Kadri, Abzan caravan master
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Salt Road Patrol’s outlast ability, which can be activated multiple times over the course of a game, reinforces your battlefield presence by bolstering your creature without requiring additional cards from your hand. This incremental growth mechanism can shift the balance in prolonged matches, where sustained card quality can outpace quantity.
Resource Acceleration: Although Salt Road Patrol itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, its mere presence can intimidate opponents into keeping their removal spells at bay. Using it in conjunction with cards that benefit from +1/+1 counters can lead to a synergy that effectively accelerates your board state’s development, turning what would be an ordinary creature into a formidable threat.
Instant Speed: While Salt Road Patrol’s outlast ability isn’t an instant-speed action, it harmonizes well within decks that operate with a surplus of instant-speed interactions. By strategically using your mana to outlast during your turn, you reserve the rest of your resources to respond to your opponent’s moves with instant-speed spells, merging a solid defense with a flexible and reactive game plan.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing Salt Road Patrol can be a smooth experience until you are forced to discard to enable its outlast ability. If you are in a pinch for resources, this requirement can put you at a further disadvantage by diminishing your hand, potentially impacting your long-term strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: Committing to Salt Road Patrol’s white color cost can be restrictive. If you’re running a multi-colored deck, it might not synergize well, making it less efficient to cast without access to sufficient white mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: For a common creature, Salt Road Patrol comes with a high mana cost for its initial stats. There are numerous other alternatives in the format that could provide you with a more immediate board presence or utility for the same or lower cost.
Reasons to Include Salt Road Patrol in Your Collection
Versatility: Salt Road Patrol is a solid role-player in limited formats, able to fit into various deck strategies. Its Outlast ability allows it to grow stronger over time, making it adaptable to the evolving needs of your game.
Combo Potential: This card synergizes well with +1/+1 counter strategies, making it a potential combo piece in decks that capitalize on counter proliferation or abilities that trigger from placing counters on creatures.
Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where combat interactions are key, Salt Road Patrol can become a formidable blocker or attacker over successive turns, maintaining relevance in a slowly paced, battle-oriented meta.
How to beat
Salt Road Patrol is a modest yet reliable creature commonly found in Magic: The Gathering’s Khans of Tarkir set. Known for its outlast ability, it can become a threat by gradually increasing its power and toughness. To effectively counter this card, players should focus on its limitations. Since the outlast ability can only be activated at sorcery speed, timing your removal spells while Salt Road Patrol is unable to receive counters is key.
Consider utilizing efficient removal spells or those that can bypass its growing size, such as Murderous Cut or Abzan Charm, which can handle creatures regardless of their toughness. Another strategy is to make use of bounce spells like Voyage’s End to return the creature to the opponent’s hand, negating any investment they have made in it. Lastly, preventing it from blocking with tactics like tapping or pacifism effects can help to mitigate its defensive capabilities. By understanding its strengths and weaknesses, players can adopt various strategies to ensure Salt Road Patrol doesn’t become an insurmountable blocker or a significant offensive force on the battlefield.
In summary, combatting Salt Road Patrol requires timing, choosing the right spells, and a tactical approach to the game state to overcome the incremental advantages it offers in prolonged matches.
Cards like Salt Road Patrol
Salt Road Patrol steps into the vast world of Magic: The Gathering as a sturdy card for those who appreciate a steadfast presence on the battlefield. Like its kin, the Ironclad Slayer, Salt Road Patrol shares the same mana investment but comes with Outlast, allowing you to bolster its strength over time. The Ironclad Slayer, however, offers utility by enabling the retrieval of an Aura or Equipment card from your graveyard when it enters the battlefield.
Analogous to the Salt Road Patrol is Ainok Bond-Kin. Both hail from the Khans of Tarkir block and feature Outlast as their key ability. Ainok Bond-Kin is slightly less mana-intensive, offers potential early game pressure, and it grants other creatures with +1/+1 counters the ability to pierce through enemy lines with first strike. Meanwhile, Salt Road Patrol requires a more patient strategy, slowly growing into a formidable defender or attacker on its own.
Assessing the landscape of similar creatures, Salt Road Patrol’s value lies in its resilience and the tactical advantage it can gain turn by turn. It’s a card that rewards foresight and complements strategies built around counters, distinguishing itself as a reliable, though not flashy, component of the MTG universe.
Cards similar to Salt Road Patrol by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Salt Road Patrol 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 Salt Road Patrol 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 MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Salt Road Patrol has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Salt Road Patrol card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2014-09-20 | Several creatures with outlast also grant an ability to creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them, including themselves. These counters could come from an outlast ability, but any +1/+1 counter on the creature will count. |
| 2014-09-20 | The cost to activate a creature’s outlast ability includes the tap symbol (). A creature’s outlast ability can’t be activated unless that creature has been under your control continuously since the beginning of your turn. |
