Drownyard Behemoth MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost9
RarityUncommon
TypeCreature — Eldrazi Crab
Abilities Emerge, Flash
Power 5
Toughness 7

Key Takeaways

  1. Drownyard Behemoth offers board control and can be a swift, game-changing creature in battle.
  2. It introduces resource efficiency through its emerge cost, adding a layer of strategy.
  3. The flash ability provides surprise tactics and extends versatility in gameplay.
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 (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.) Emerge (You may cast this spell by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost reduced by that creature's converted mana cost.) Drownyard Behemoth has hexproof as long as it entered the battlefield this turn.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Drownyard Behemoth offers an edge in board presence, effectively becoming a sizable creature that can sweep past many common threats. This can put the opponent on a swift clock, enhancing your chances of depleting their resources faster than they can recover.

Resource Acceleration: While Drownyard Behemoth itself doesn’t provide direct mana acceleration, its emerge cost offers a unique form of virtual resource advantage. By sacking a lesser creature, you’re able to place a formidable threat on the board at a potentially reduced mana cost, effectively accelerating your game plan.

Instant Speed: The flash ability of Drownyard Behemoth is a crucial aspect as it allows you to play the creature during your opponent’s turn. This not only means you can surprise your adversary with an unexpected blocker but also retain flexibility with your mana, responding appropriately to the changing tides of the match.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To unlock its full potential, Drownyard Behemoth requires a creature card to be discarded, which can significantly impact your hand and strategy, particularly if you are already contending with limited resources in play.

Specific Mana Cost: This behemoth demands a precise mana alignment, calling for both generic and specific color commitments that could potentially clash with the fluidity of a multi-color deck’s mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an investment of seven mana needed to bring Drownyard Behemoth into the fray, some players might find the cost steep when evaluating other creatures or spells available within the same mana range, which could offer more versatility or immediate board impact.


Reasons to Include Drownyard Behemoth in Your Collection

Versatility: Drownyard Behemoth is a card that can easily find a place in blue or artifact-centric decks. The ability to flash in and provide an immediate impact on the board makes it flexible both as a surprise blocker and as a potent attacker. Its addition to decks that focus on self-mill or graveyard mechanics can also be quite advantageous.

Combo Potential: The behemoth, with its emerge ability, supports strategies that take advantage of sacrificing creatures for greater effects. This could potentially set off a chain of enters-the-battlefield or leaves-the-battlefield triggers, paving the way for intricate combos that can swing the game in a player’s favor.

Meta-Relevance: In game environments where creature-based strategies prevail, the Drownyard Behemoth can be a game-changer. Its skulk ability ensures that it can only be blocked by creatures with greater power, allowing it to slip past the majority of potential blockers, making it relevant in metas with numerous smaller creatures.


How to Beat Drownyard Behemoth

The Drownyard Behemoth is an elusive threat within the vast card pool of Magic: The Gathering. Known for its flash ability, it allows for a surprise block or an immediate attack during a player’s turn. The Behemoth, part of the Eldrazi family, is often a game ender in MTG draft formats or a solid addition to Eldrazi-themed decks in casual play. Its significant toughness makes it an excellent defender while its emerge cost can turn the tides of battle by sacrificing a smaller creature to cast it for less.

To counter this formidable foe, removal spells that bypass its hexproof ability when it emerges are key. Cards like Murder or Doom Blade, which target creatures directly, might not be effective due to its flash ability being activated in response to such spells. Instead, employing board wipes such as Wrath of God or Damnation before the Behemoth can hit the board will circumvent the issue completely. Alternatively, counter spells remain useful as they can prevent the Behemoth from entering the battlefield in the first place—making options like Cancel or Negate powerful tools against it. Control decks with these elements are well-equipped to handle the sudden onslaught of a Drownyard Behemoth.


Cards like Drownyard Behemoth

Drownyard Behemoth is an intriguing creature card in Magic: The Gathering that brings a unique twist to the battlefield. It finds kinship with cards like Eldrazi Devastator, another formidable force with the same mana cost. Both share the common trait of trample, allowing you to push through defensive lines. Yet, the Behemoth’s flash ability allows you to cast it unexpectedly during your opponent’s turn, making it a versatile addition to your game plan.

When compared to Benthic Infiltrator, which also features a form of evasion in the form of unblockable, Drownyard Behemoth adds bulkier stats, but at the cost of higher mana. While the Infiltrator assures damage each turn, the Behemoth acts as a surprise blocker or a sudden beater. Examining the colossus Ulamog’s Crusher, another creature from the Eldrazi lineup, we see a more aggressive mandatory attack each turn. Drownyard Behemoth, on the other hand, offers control over its attack, allowing for strategic gameplay.

Each of these creatures adds its own flavor to the MTG universe, with Drownyard Behemoth standing out for its surprise element and the potential to turn the tides with its sizable presence on the board.

Eldrazi Devastator - MTG Card versions
Benthic Infiltrator - MTG Card versions
Ulamog's Crusher - MTG Card versions
Eldrazi Devastator - Battle for Zendikar (BFZ)
Benthic Infiltrator - Battle for Zendikar (BFZ)
Ulamog's Crusher - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)

Cards similar to Drownyard Behemoth by color, type and mana cost

Leviathan - MTG Card versions
Thing from the Deep - MTG Card versions
Chromescale Drake - MTG Card versions
The Unspeakable - MTG Card versions
Grozoth - MTG Card versions
Breaching Leviathan - MTG Card versions
Sailors' Bane - MTG Card versions
Leviathan - Time Spiral Timeshifted (TSB)
Thing from the Deep - The List (PLST)
Chromescale Drake - Darksteel (DST)
The Unspeakable - The List (PLST)
Grozoth - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Breaching Leviathan - Commander 2014 (C14)
Sailors' Bane - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate (CLB)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Drownyard Behemoth MTG card by a specific set like Eldritch Moon and Shadows over Innistrad Remastered, 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 Drownyard Behemoth and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Drownyard Behemoth Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2016-07-22 and 2023-03-21. Illustrated by Jason Kang.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12016-07-22Eldritch MoonEMN 42015normalblackJason Kang
22023-03-21Shadows over Innistrad RemasteredSIR 42015normalblackJason Kang

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Drownyard Behemoth has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

DateText
2016-07-13 A creature’s converted mana cost is determined solely by the mana symbols printed in its upper right corner (unless that creature is the back face of a double-faced card, is a melded permanent, or is copying something else; see below). If the mana cost includes , X is considered to be 0. If it’s a single-faced card with no mana symbols in its upper right corner (because it’s an animated land, for example), its converted mana cost is 0. Ignore any alternative costs or additional costs (such as kicker) that were paid as the creature was cast.
2016-07-13 Colored mana components of emerge costs can’t be reduced with emerge.
2016-07-13 Each card with emerge is colorless and has an emerge cost that includes one or more colors of mana. These cards are still colorless if you pay the emerge cost.
2016-07-13 If you sacrifice a creature with in its mana cost, that X is considered to be 0.
2016-07-13 Once you begin to cast a spell with emerge, no player may take actions until you’re done. Notably, opponents can’t try to remove the creature you wish to sacrifice.
2016-07-13 The converted mana cost of a creature spell with emerge isn’t affected by whether its emerge cost is paid. For example, if you cast Elder Deep-Fiend for its emerge cost and sacrifice a creature whose converted mana cost is 3, Elder Deep-Fiend’s converted mana cost remains 8.
2016-07-13 The converted mana cost of the back face of a double-faced card is the converted mana cost of its front face. The converted mana cost of a melded permanent is the sum of the converted mana costs of its front faces. A creature that’s a copy of either has a converted mana cost of 0.
2016-07-13 The creature chosen to be sacrificed is still on the battlefield up through the time that you activate mana abilities. Its abilities may affect the spell’s cost, be activated to generate mana, and so on. However, if it has an ability that triggers when a spell is cast, it will have been sacrificed before that ability can trigger.
2016-07-13 There is no moment during the turn Drownyard Behemoth enters the battlefield in which it doesn’t have hexproof. The earliest opportunity for an opponent to target it is during the next turn’s upkeep step.
2016-07-13 You may sacrifice a creature with a converted mana cost of 0, such as a token creature that’s not a copy of another permanent, to cast a spell for its emerge cost. You’ll just pay the full emerge cost with no reduction.
2016-07-13 You may sacrifice a creature with converted mana cost greater than or equal to the emerge cost. If you do, you’ll pay only the colored mana component of the emerge cost.

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