Destructive Urge MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Enchant
Released	1998-10-12
Set symbol
Set name	Urza's Saga
Set code	USG
Number	180
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Andrew Robinson

Key Takeaways

Forces opponents to sacrifice lands, creating a significant resource imbalance in your favor.
Hinders opponent’s land development, indirectly bolstering your own resource advantage.
Instant-speed tricks with Destructive Urge can disrupt well-laid opponent strategies.

Text of card

Whenever enchanted creature successfully deals combat damage to a player, that player sacrifices a land.

Red sky at night, dragon's delight.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Destructive Urge ensures every creature hit becomes a potential threat to the opponent’s resources. Each successful attack mandates a sacrifice of a land, gradually depleting their ability to play costly spells and tipping the scales in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: Although not directly impacting your own resource pool, Destructive Urge effectively functions as resource acceleration by hindering your opponent’s land development. This can be seen as indirectly speeding up your own resource advantage as you maintain your land count while theirs is forcibly reduced.

Instant Speed: While Destructive Urge is not an instant itself, equipping it during your main phase can catch an opponent off-guard. This play sets you up to take immediate advantage upon entering the combat phase, potentially disrupting any plans your opponent had that relied on a full set of lands.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Destructive Urge doesn’t ask you to discard directly, it comes with its own demand — each time the enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, that player must sacrifice a land. This requirement can backfire if the opponent uses land destruction strategies against you, potentially leaving you at a resource disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Necessitating both red and green mana, Destructive Urge is limited to decks that can reliably produce both colors. This card could sideline players who have a preference for mono-colored or other two-color combinations, which may offer more strategic consistency.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, including both red and green, Destructive Urge sits at a mana range where players could start considering more impactful plays, such as board sweepers or game-shifting creatures. In environments where tempo plays a crucial role, the three-mana investment to potentially deny your opponent’s lands might not be the most efficient use of your turn.

Reasons to Include Destructive Urge in Your Collection

Versatility: Destructive Urge is a card that can adapt to various playstyles, finding its place in aggressive decks that aim to quickly disrupt opponents’ resources. Its ability to attach to any creature makes it a flexible addition to your arsenal, forcing opponents to consider the consequences of blocked or unblocked attacks.

Combo Potential: This card shines when combined with creatures that have evasion abilities such as flying or trample, ensuring damage to a player and triggering its land destruction. It can also synergize with cards that allow for multiple attacks within a turn, multiplying the land destruction effect and rapidly depleting an opponent’s mana base.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where players heavily rely on complex mana bases or specific lands for their strategies, Destructive Urge can serve as a powerful tool to dismantle those plans. Particularly effective in a meta with fewer instant speed removals, this card can become a recurrent threat that’s hard to ignore.

How to beat

Destructive Urge is a card that can test the resilience of your deck in the game of Magic: The Gathering. This enchantment attaches to a creature and mandates that its controller sacrifices a land whenever the enchanted creature deals combat damage. It’s a strategic element that can dismantle an opponent’s mana base over time, making it critical to address this card effectively during play.

One straightforward method to counter Destructive Urge is through creature removal. If you can destroy or exile the enchanted creature before it deals damage, the threat is neutralized. Instant speed spells such as Path to Exile or Fatal Push are excellent for dealing with creatures on the fly. Another angle of defense involves counterspells to prevent Destructive Urge from ever hitting the field. Spells like Counterspell or Mana Leak can intercept your opponent’s play, keeping your lands safe. Additionally, if Destructive Urge is already in play, enchantment removal becomes key. Look to include options like Naturalize or Disenchant to swiftly remove problematic enchantments from the game. By integrating these methods into your deck, the destructive potential of this card can be effectively managed and beaten.

Ultimately, facing Destructive Urge requires a proactive approach, armed with a toolbox of responses. Through consistent card draw and strategic play, overcoming this enchantment is not only possible but can also turn the tide of the game in your favor.

Cards like Destructive Urge

Within the realm of Magic: The Gathering, Destructive Urge holds a unique position among cards that compel action upon dealing combat damage. A direct parallel can be drawn to the card Poison the Well, which also motivates players to target and dismantle their opponent’s land base upon inflicting damage. However, Destructive Urge requires that the equipped creature must successfully deal combat damage to a player, triggering the land destruction. In contrast, Poison the Well requires a specific color commitment and results in immediate land destruction without the need for combat.

Another card akin to Destructive Urge is the notorious Goblin Gaveleer, emphasizing equipment synergy that increases its damage potential, although it lacks the land destruction aspect. Invigorated by equipment like Destructive Urge, it can significantly hamper an opponent’s mana base. Lastly, we consider Embercleave, which can be attached to a creature during combat to increase its damage output and trample ability. Though Embercleave does not directly destroy lands, the combination of trample and combat damage can lead to game-ending plays.

Hence, Destructive Urge stands out for its specific mechanism of enforcing land demise post combat, making it a strategic choice for players seeking to unbalance the delicate mana equilibrium of their adversaries in Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Destructive Urge by color, type and mana cost

Curse of Hospitality - MTG Card versions

Anax, Hardened in the Forge - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Destructive Urge MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Saga, 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 Destructive Urge and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Destructive Urge has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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