Deep Reconnaissance MTG Card

Odyssey (ODY)
2001-10-01 - Number 236

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number ODY-236

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Flashback

Key Takeaways

Ongoing mana investment helps Deep Reconnaissance fuel land consistency for progressively stronger plays.
Graveyard disruption or swift plays can effectively negate the slower advantages offered by this card.
Understanding its mechanics is crucial to integrating it optimally in deck-building or countering it in play.

Text of card

Search your library for a basic land card and put that card into play tapped. Then shuffle your library. Flashback o4o G (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Deep Reconnaissance offers the ability to skim through your deck, efficiently sorting the top cards and potentially leading to a better draw in subsequent turns. This scouting action can enhance your hand’s quality over time, ensuring you have access to the best strategies and tactics as your game progresses.

Resource Acceleration: By potentially revealing additional lands, Deep Reconnaissance facilitates resource acceleration, allowing for more significant and more impactful plays earlier in the game. Consistent land drops are essential to maintaining the tempo and ensuring your deck runs smoothly, and this card helps provide that consistency.

Instant Speed: The versatility of instant speed allows savvy players to wait for the optimum moment for execution, maintaining the element of surprise and making it harder for opponents to predict your moves. Deep Reconnaissance enables you to end your turn without committing resources, keeping them available for reactionary plays or for casting spells on an opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In the gameplay dynamics of a fast-paced match, the discard element that comes with Deep Reconnaissance can prove to be a hefty price. This card necessitates players to discard, which could potentially limit strategic options, particularly when hand size is reduced to minimal resources.

Specific Mana Cost: Deep Reconnaissance has a mana cost that is tied to specific color requirements. This means that it fits best within decks that are built around its color identity, potentially creating a barrier for inclusion in more versatile, multi-color builds where mana flexibility is essential.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Deep Reconnaissance offers the valuable benefit of library manipulation, its mana cost is on the higher side when compared to other cards with similar functions. This cost might deter players from including it in their decks, especially when lower-cost alternatives could free up mana for additional tactical plays in a turn.

Reasons to Include Deep Reconnaissance in Your Collection

Versatility: Deep Reconnaissance offers adaptability in deck-building, seamlessly integrating into strategies that require land optimization or seek to manipulate the library. Its ability to search for basic lands ensures a smoother mana curve in a variety of MTG deck archetypes.

Combo Potential: This card can set the stage for powerful combos, particularly in landfall decks where each land drop triggers advantageous abilities. Additionally, it can help assemble the perfect land combinations needed to activate critical plays.

Meta-Relevance: In a game state that prioritizes consistent land drops for maintaining tempo, Deep Reconnaissance can be pivotal. It can secure land stability, helping you to keep pace within various metagame trends and ensuring your deck functions at its full potential.

How to beat

Deep Reconnaissance stands out in Magic: The Gathering as a unique card that delves into your deck’s depths, uncovering lands round after round. Its potency hinges on ongoing mana investment to sift through the top layer of your deck, potentially unlocking a steady stream of lands that fuel your game. Yet, despite the advantage it grants in land consistency, Deep Reconnaissance is not unstoppable.

To effectively disrupt this card, consider employing graveyard disruption tactics or quick, decisive plays that outpace the slow buildup of advantage it offers. Cards such as Tormod’s Crypt can eliminate the cards targeted by Deep Reconnaissance’s ability, while Ashiok, Dream Render not only exiles graveyards but also stifles further searches. Accelerating your game plan to apply pressure before Deep Reconnaissance can fully benefit your opponent could be key. A swift aggro strategy or a deck abundant with counter spells to deflect initial plays and subsequent activations will undermine the value Deep Reconnaissance aims to provide. In essence, quick pacing or strategic disruption can serve as your best line of defense against this land-revealing enchantment.

By understanding the nature of Deep Reconnaissance and having the right counters at your disposal, you can navigate around its slow but steady advantage and maintain control of the game board.

Cards like Deep Reconnaissance

Deep Reconnaissance stands out in MTG as a versatile sorcery, facilitating both mana fixing and land utility. A close relative in terms of utility is Sylvan Scrying. While Sylvan Scrying lacks the flashback feature of Deep Reconnaissance, it allows players to search for any land card, not just basic ones, giving it a broader application in certain decks.

Exploration is another noteworthy counterpart; though not a direct search-and-play mechanism, it permits multiple land plays per turn, which can accelerate the mana base significantly. However, it trades instant land ramp for a potentially ongoing advantage, which differs from Deep Reconnaissance’s immediate impact and one-time reuse. Cultivate is also reminiscent, providing immediate access to basic lands with a similar effect, but it doesn’t offer the same iterative potential provided by Deep Reconnaissance’s flashback ability.

Overall, while there are a variety of MTG cards that provide similar functionality, Deep Reconnaissance holds its own by offering single-use land search with the added late-game versatility through flashback, making it a distinct choice for many decks looking to optimize land plays.

Cards similar to Deep Reconnaissance by color, type and mana cost

Rosethorn Acolyte // Seasonal Ritual - MTG Card versions

Lovestruck Beast // Heart's Desire - MTG Card versions

Gift of the Gargantuan - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Deep Reconnaissance MTG card by a specific set like Odyssey and The List, 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 Deep Reconnaissance and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Deep Reconnaissance Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2001-10-01 and 2001-10-01. Illustrated by Jeff Remmer.