Krosan Tusker MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 16 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost7
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Boar Beast
Abilities Cycling
Power 6
Toughness 5

Key Takeaways

  1. Krosan Tusker’s cycling ensures card draw plus land search, crucial for consistency and ramping.
  2. Strategically, it demands careful hand management and specific mana, which can be restrictive.
  3. Its utility across various MTG metas makes it a worthwhile addition to many decks.

Text of card

Cycling o G (o G, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.) When you cycle Krosan Tusker, you may search your library for a basic land card, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Krosan Tusker boosts your hand by letting you draw a card when you cycle it, and because cycling is an alternative cost, you can get the card draw even if you can’t cast the tusker itself.

Resource Acceleration: When you cycle Krosan Tusker, it allows you to search your library for a basic land card and put that card into your hand. This ensures land drops and helps to ramp your mana or adjust your mana base smoothly without missing a beat.

Instant Speed: Cycling is not limited to just your turn; you can perform it at instant speed. This provides flexibility, allowing you to wait until the end of your opponent’s turn to decide the best course of action, be it cycling for a new card or holding up mana for other tricks.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: As a player, when you utilize the cycling ability of Krosan Tusker, you need to be prepared to discard it. This could work against you, especially in situations where maintaining card advantage is crucial to your game plan or when your hand is already lacking in options.

Specific Mana Cost: To cast Krosan Tusker, you’ll require a mix of green and colorless mana. This demand for specific mana may not always align with your deck’s color scheme or the resources you have available at any given moment, potentially limiting the card’s overall versatility in your deck.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that rests on the higher end of the spectrum, Krosan Tusker may not always be the most mana-efficient choice. There are alternative creatures and cards available which could potentially offer you similar or better benefits for less mana investment, making Krosan Tusker a less favorable option in some scenarios.


Reasons to Include Krosan Tusker in Your Collection

Versatility: Krosan Tusker serves a dual role both as an early-game card draw to grab land and as a late-game sizable creature. This allows a smooth transition from ramping up your resources to putting a substantive threat on the board.

Combo Potential: Not only can it fetch you a land to ensure your land drops, but drawing a card means Krosan Tusker can synergize with strategies that care about card draw or landfall triggers.

Meta-Relevance: Versatile cards like Krosan Tusker remain relevant in various metas, especially where games tend to go longer. Its ability to fit into ramp decks or those seeking reliable card draw makes it a solid candidate for many collection strategies.


How to beat

Krosan Tusker offers a blend of utility for any player leveraging green’s strength in their deck. Its presence is substantial, not only as a creature but also as a way to ensure land drops and card advantage. When looking to tackle this versatile beast, consider its dual nature. Aside from being a sizable creature, it’s also an efficient draw mechanism through its cycling ability. Players may want to disable its cycling more than the creature itself.

To efficiently counter Krosan Tusker, targeted discard spells or graveyard disruption can impede the cycling advantage, stripping away the card drawing and land search benefit. Moreover, applying pressure through aggressive strategies can diminish the impact of a late-game Tusker as a threat. Control decks might look towards countermagic to prevent the Tusker from hitting the board at all, or exile effects to deal with it permanently once it’s in play. Each strategic approach requires timing and knowledge of the opponent’s potential plays. By incorporating these tactics, players can minimize the impact of Krosan Tusker and maintain the upper hand.

Ultimately, the key to defeating Krosan Tusker lies in the preemptive disruption of its cycling advantage or ensuring it never becomes a threat on the board. Smart plays and foresight can turn the tide of battle against this multifaceted creature.


BurnMana Recommendations

Embracing the full potential of the Krosan Tusker in your MTG deck can be a game changer. Its cycling ability is a deck-smoothing powerhouse, fetching you a basic land and a new card at instant speed. As you fine-tune your strategy, consider the Tusker’s versatility in multiple game scenarios. It can accelerate your resources early on or emerge as a considerable threat later. Dive deeper into the metagame by considering this behemoth’s utility and combo potential. For those seeking a deeper understanding and more refined strategies, join us to enhance your MTG knowledge and collection.


Cards like Krosan Tusker

Krosan Tusker holds a special place in the pantheon of cycling creatures within Magic: The Gathering. The Tusker stands toe to toe with other big-bodied creatures like Greater Sandwurm. Both provide immense late-game presence while offering the utility of cycling. Krosan Tusker, in particular, comes with the added advantage of card draw and land searching upon cycling, a boon for mana smoothing.

Contrasting it with Shefet Monitor, another creature with cycling, the Tusker offers a broader impact. While the Monitor only fetches a specific land type without drawing a card, Krosan Tusker can fetch any basic land and replace itself in your hand. Yet for some, the Monitor’s lower cycling cost might fit a tighter mana curve.

The blend of versatility, card advantage, and mana fixing places Krosan Tusker as a solid choice in decks that value these attributes. Its presence can swing the late game while its cycling ensures it’s never a dead draw. These characteristics allow the Tusker to distinguish itself in a lineup of cycling creatures and utility beasts.

Greater Sandwurm - MTG Card versions
Shefet Monitor - MTG Card versions
Greater Sandwurm - Amonkhet (AKH)
Shefet Monitor - Amonkhet (AKH)

Cards similar to Krosan Tusker by color, type and mana cost

Thorn Elemental - MTG Card versions
Penumbra Wurm - MTG Card versions
Stone-Tongue Basilisk - MTG Card versions
Thriss, Nantuko Primus - MTG Card versions
Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps - MTG Card versions
Somberwald Beastmaster - MTG Card versions
Cultivator Colossus - MTG Card versions
Garruk's Horde - MTG Card versions
Avenger of Zendikar - MTG Card versions
Hundroog - MTG Card versions
Enormous Baloth - MTG Card versions
Ancient Ooze - MTG Card versions
Cytospawn Shambler - MTG Card versions
Panglacial Wurm - MTG Card versions
Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer - MTG Card versions
Duskdale Wurm - MTG Card versions
Pelakka Wurm - MTG Card versions
Engulfing Slagwurm - MTG Card versions
Kalonian Behemoth - MTG Card versions
Maul Splicer - MTG Card versions
Thorn Elemental - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Penumbra Wurm - Ultimate Masters (UMA)
Stone-Tongue Basilisk - Odyssey Promos (PODY)
Thriss, Nantuko Primus - Judgment (JUD)
Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Somberwald Beastmaster - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Cultivator Colossus - Innistrad: Crimson Vow (VOW)
Garruk's Horde - Welcome Deck 2017 (W17)
Avenger of Zendikar - Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
Hundroog - Legions (LGN)
Enormous Baloth - Tenth Edition (10E)
Ancient Ooze - Scourge (SCG)
Cytospawn Shambler - Dissension (DIS)
Panglacial Wurm - The List (PLST)
Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer - Tenth Edition (10E)
Duskdale Wurm - Iconic Masters (IMA)
Pelakka Wurm - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)
Engulfing Slagwurm - Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)
Kalonian Behemoth - Salvat 2011 (PS11)
Maul Splicer - New Phyrexia (NPH)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Krosan Tusker MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Onslaught, 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 Krosan Tusker and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Krosan Tusker Magic the Gathering card was released in 15 different sets between 2002-10-07 and 2023-08-04. Illustrated by Kev Walker.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 325752003normalblackKev Walker
22002-10-07OnslaughtONS 2721997normalblackKev Walker
32003-01-01Friday Night Magic 2003F03 112003normalblackKev Walker
42010-06-18ArchenemyARC 622003normalblackKev Walker
52010-11-08Magic Online Theme DecksTD0 A781997normalblackKev Walker
62011-06-17Commander 2011CMD 1642003normalblackKev Walker
72013-09-06Duel Decks: Heroes vs. MonstersDDL 592003normalblackKev Walker
82013-11-01Commander 2013C13 1542003normalblackKev Walker
92014-06-16Vintage MastersVMA 2182015normalblackKev Walker
102014-12-05Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. LilianaGVL 112015normalblackKev Walker
112018-03-16Masters 25A25 1782015normalblackKev Walker
122019-06-14Modern HorizonsMH1 1692015normalblackKev Walker
132019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 12552015normalblackKev Walker
142020-09-26The ListPLST DDU-142015normalblackKev Walker
152020-09-26The ListPLST ONS-2721997normalblackKev Walker
162023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 3022015normalblackKev Walker

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Krosan Tusker has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2008-10-01 Cycling is an activated ability. Effects that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle or Rings of Brighthearth) will interact with cycling. Effects that interact with spells (such as Remove Soul or Faerie Tauntings) will not.
2008-10-01 The cycling ability and the triggered ability are separate. If the triggered ability doesn't resolve (due to being countered with Stifle, for example, or if all its targets have become illegal), the cycling ability will still resolve and you'll draw a card.
2008-10-01 When you cycle this card, first the cycling ability goes on the stack, then the triggered ability goes on the stack on top of it. The triggered ability will resolve before you draw a card from the cycling ability.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks