Collective Brutality MTG Card
2016-07-22 - Number 85s
2016-07-22 - Number 85
2019-11-07 - Number 600
2023-03-21 - Number 103
2019-12-02 - Number 1085
2020-09-26 - Number EMN-85
| Card sets | Released in 6 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Sorcery |
| Abilities | Escalate |
Key Takeaways
- Versatile modes offer adaptability, allowing strategic responses to evolving board states and opponent actions.
- Can fuel graveyard synergies, proving pivotal for combos while hindering opponents via hand disruption.
- Despite mana and card costs, it remains a metagame-relevant card with substantial impact on gameplay.
Text of card
Escalate—Discard a card. (Pay this cost for each mode chosen beyond the first.) Choose one or more — • Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose an instant or sorcery card from it. That player discards that card. • Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. • Target opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Collective Brutality offers versatility by allowing you to discard an extra card for additional effects, giving you a strategic edge in using your resources effectively. The ability to potentially take a card from your opponent’s hand while also impacting the board can swing the game in your favor.
Resource Acceleration: Though not directly accelerating resources, the modality of Collective Brutality can have an indirect impact by ensuring you maintain board presence or disrupt your opponent’s plan, helping you to utilize your mana and resources efficiently in following turns.
Instant Speed: As a sorcery, Collective Brutality doesn’t quite fit this characteristic. However, its ability to swiftly remove a creature or discard powerful instant-speed spells from your opponent’s hand before they can be used mimics the tempo advantage often gained by instant speed interactions.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One of the notable downsides to playing Collective Brutality is its additional cost, which often necessitates discarding a valuable card. For players who are behind or holding onto key cards for their strategy, this requirement can be detrimental to their game plan.
Specific Mana Cost: Collective Brutality’s casting cost isn’t overly demanding, but it does require both black and generic mana. This can sometimes be restrictive, especially in multicolored decks where mana needs to be efficiently managed and allocated.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Collective Brutality offers a versatile set of abilities, its efficiency is sometimes questioned when compared to other options in the format. Players might find that for two mana, having to lose an additional card can be a steep price to pay, particularly if the immediate impact on the board is not substantial.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Collective Brutality offers a rare blend of modal options, allowing players to choose from discard, removal, or life drain depending on the situation. This flexibility makes it a valuable inclusion in decks that need to adapt to various game states.
Combo Potential: Not merely a disruptor, Collective Brutality is also a key piece in setting up combo plays. Its ability to discard cards from your own hand could enable reanimation strategies or fuel graveyard-based synergies with ease.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta heavy with creature-based aggro or reliant on instant and sorcery spells, Collective Brutality’s targeted discard and “kill” mode can disrupt the opponent’s plans while bolstering your own position—a tool that remains pertinent across various formats.
How to beat
Collective Brutality is a versatile card known for its multifaceted abilities that can escalate quickly in a game of Magic: The Gathering. The key to countering this card lies in understanding its modal nature and being proactive in preserving the resources it targets. Since it can strip a player of an instant or sorcery while potentially killing a creature and gaining life simultaneously, preemptive measures are your best defense.
One effective strategy involves maintaining a lower profile by not overextending on the battlefield with creatures susceptible to its -2/-2 effect. Additionally, keeping bait spells in hand could minimize the impact on your critical instants or sorceries. As for the life-draining aspect, it becomes less relevant if you keep your life total out of reach or if you can capitalize on the life exchange with effects that benefit when you gain or lose life.
Ultimately, staying ahead of Collective Brutality’s impact through strategic hand management and battlefield presence can render its advantages much less significant. It’s all about timing and smart resource allocation, ensuring that the use of the card by your opponent results in minimal advantage for them while maintaining your position for a stronger late-game.
Cards like Collective Brutality
Collective Brutality has solidified its place in the MTG arena as a versatile and impactful card, blending multiple effects in a single package. Its ability to escalate by discarding additional cards gives players a strategic edge in both hand manipulation and board presence. The card’s comparability is evident when looking at a card like Cryptic Command, which also presents multiple options, though at a higher mana cost and with a focus on instant speed interactions. Unlike Collective Brutality, which allows a player to choose from three potent effects, Cryptic Command demands more mana investment and deck building around blue spells.
Delving into the realm of hand disruption, we consider Duress. Although less versatile, Duress offers targeted discard at a lower cost without sacrificing your own resources. It falls short of providing the creature removal or life drain featured in Collective Brutality. Finally, Kologhan’s Command stands out in its similarity of modal choices and instant speed, but again at a higher mana cost. It offers more in terms of direct damage and artifact destruction which Collective Brutality lacks.
Within the landscape of modal spells in Magic: The Gathering, Collective Brutality enjoys a unique position. Its flexibility, cost-efficiency, and synergistic potential in specific decks make it a formidable choice for players looking to optimize interaction and resource management.
Cards similar to Collective Brutality by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Collective Brutality MTG card by a specific set like Eldritch Moon Promos and Eldritch Moon, 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 Collective Brutality 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
Printings
The Collective Brutality Magic the Gathering card was released in 6 different sets between 2016-07-22 and 2023-03-21. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2016-07-22 | Eldritch Moon Promos | PEMN | 85s | 2015 | Normal | Black | Johann Bodin | |
| 2 | 2016-07-22 | Eldritch Moon | EMN | 85 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Johann Bodin | |
| 3 | 2019-11-07 | Mystery Booster | MB1 | 600 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Johann Bodin | |
| 4 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 1085 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Volta Creation | ||
| 5 | The List | PLST | EMN-85 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Johann Bodin | ||
| 6 | 2023-03-21 | Shadows over Innistrad Remastered | SIR | 103 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Johann Bodin |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Collective Brutality has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Collective Brutality card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2016-07-13 | Additional costs don’t affect a spell’s mana value. |
| 2016-07-13 | Effects that reduce the cost of spells reduce the total cost, including any escalate costs added. |
| 2016-07-13 | If an effect allows you to cast a spell that has escalate without paying its mana cost, you pay escalate costs for that spell if you choose more than one mode. |
| 2016-07-13 | If one target of an escalate spell becomes illegal, the other targets will still be affected. If all of the targets become illegal, the spell won’t resolve. |
| 2016-07-13 | If two of the chosen modes of an escalate spell target a creature, you may choose the same creature for each mode’s target, or choose different creatures. The same is true if the chosen modes target a player (or opponent). |
| 2016-07-13 | You can’t choose any one mode multiple times. |
| 2016-07-13 | You choose all of your modes at once. You can’t wait to perform one mode’s actions and then decide to choose more modes. |
