Obsidian Giant MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Giant
Released	1998-06-24
Set symbol
Set name	Portal Second Age
Set code	P02
Power	4
Toughness	4
Number	109
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	David A. Cherry

Key Takeaways

Obsidian Giant provides immediate card advantage and adaptable strategies by replacing itself in hand.
It prompts opponents to use extra resources, allowing for subtle mana and board presence advantages.
While strong, it requires player discards and specific mana, potentially slowing early-game momentum.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Obsidian Giant provides robust card advantage, replacing itself in your hand the moment it enters the battlefield. This addition to your arsenal helps maintain the flow of options available to you, keeping your strategies adaptable and your opponents on their toes.

Resource Acceleration: While the Obsidian Giant might not directly produce mana, its formidable presence often forces opponents to commit additional resources to handle it. This can indirectly lead to acceleration as you maintain a board presence without expending further resources, allowing you to invest in other aspects of your game plan.

Instant Speed: Though it may not have the instant speed nomenclature, the Obsidian Giant allows for instant-speed-like reactions. With abilities that trigger upon casting or entering the battlefield, you can effectively respond to your opponent’s actions, making it a versatile tool that keeps your opponent guessing.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the drawbacks of the Obsidian Giant is its reliance on player discard to unleash its full potential. This can be particularly challenging when you’re already struggling with maintaining a healthy hand size. Depleting your resources to power up a single creature leaves you vulnerable to an opponent’s counter-strategy, potentially leaving you at a disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Being color locked, the Obsidian Giant requires a narrow band of mana to be played effectively. This can cause issues in multicolored decks where mana flexibility is crucial. It forces players to carefully manage their mana base, ensuring the right type and amount is available at the critical moments, which isn’t always feasible.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a significant mana investment needed to summon the Obsidian Giant onto the battlefield, it might stall your early-game progression. Players often seek a balance between cost and impact, and in a game where tempo can be crucial, dedicating such a large amount of resources to a single card play can be seen as a tactical misstep, especially when there are more cost-efficient creatures and spells vying for a spot in your deck.

Reasons to Include Obsidian Giant in Your Collection

Versatility: Obsidian Giant fits a range of deck playstyles, especially those looking for powerful late-game board presence. It can be a game-changer for decks that capitalize on creature-based strategies due to its substantial size.

Combo Potential: This card could synergize with decks that benefit from having high-power creatures, and can be used in tandem with spells or abilities that trigger from casting such creatures or when dealing combat damage.

Meta-Relevance: Within the shifting landscape of the meta, a well-timed Obsidian Giant can dominate the battlefield against control decks. Its resilience and impact can significantly shift the game’s outcome, making it a contender in various metas.

How to Beat Obsidian Giant

Overcoming Obsidian Giant in a game of Magic: The Gathering can be quite strategic. This formidable creature excels in decks that manipulate the battlefield with its mass and might. To effectively counter it, consider cards that can neutralize large threats before they stabilize the board. Removal spells like Path to Exile or Fatal Push can efficiently deal with the Giant, bypassing its size by removing it from play directly. Control decks can outmaneuver Obsidian Giant’s impact with countermagic, ensuring it never hits the table.

Another strategy is to go under the giant—employing a faster, more aggressive deck that pressures the opponent before Obsidian Giant can be cast. Alternatively, leveraging board wipes like Wrath of God or Damnation can reset the playing field, nullifying the advantage gained by summoning such a substantial creature. Timing and anticipation are key, as allowing Obsidian Giant to take over can lead to an insurmountable board state for your opponent.

In essence, dealing with Obsidian Giant requires proper threat assessment and resource allocation. Ensure your deck has tools to address giant creatures, and be poised to act before the giant’s presence dominates the game.

Cards like Obsidian Giant

The Obsidian Giant stands tall in the array of giants throughout Magic: The Gathering. A comparison with similar colossal kin sheds light on its place in the game. Keystone Giant, for instance, shares the same mana value but boasts the power to play with the top card of your library. Yet, the Obsidian Giant’s characteristic ability to gain first strike offers a tactical edge in direct confrontations.

Then there is the Thundercloud Shaman. This giant not only rumbles onto the battlefield with a significant impact, potentially clearing out smaller creatures but commands a higher mana investment. While impactful, the Thundercloud Shaman is situantional, leaving room for the more straightforward and consistently aggressive playstyle of the Obsidian Giant. Akin to the Obsidian Giant’s potential for immediate battlefield impact is the Sunrise Sovereign. Although costing more mana, it uplifts other giants with a substantial power boost and trample, fostering an environment where our stalwart obsidian warrior could thrive.

Each giant carries its role within the broader Magic: The Gathering metascape, where the Obsidian Giant offers a solid blend of first strike initiation and robustness—valued traits for enthusiasts of the mighty behemoths.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Obsidian Giant MTG card by a specific set like Portal Second Age, 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 Obsidian Giant and other MTG cards: