Rumbling Crescendo MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Enchantment |
| Released | 1998-10-12 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Urza's Saga |
| Set code | USG |
| Number | 210 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Lawrence Snelly |
Key Takeaways
- Rumbling Crescendo can systematically dismantle an opponent’s mana base, skewing the game in your favor.
- Instant speed activation offers tactical flexibility, disrupting enemy plays at critical moments.
- The card requires careful play due to land sacrifices and red mana casting constraints.
Text of card
During your upkeep, you may put a verse counter on Rumbling Crescendo. o R, Sacrifice Rumbling Crescendo: Destroy up to X target lands, where X is the number of verse counters on Rumbling Crescendo.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Rumbling Crescendo can unleash a series of land destruction effects, providing a sustained advantage over the course of a game. This creates an opportunity to disable your opponent’s strategies by systematically targeting key lands.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing an immediate boost in resources, the long-term effect of hamstringing opponents can translate into a form of acceleration, as you potentially restrict their ability to cast spells while maintaining your own resource base.
Instant Speed: Possessing the capability to activate at instant speed gives players flexibility to make strategic moves during the end step of an opponent’s turn or in response to their actions, thereby maximizing the surprise element and efficiency of your plays. This timing can disrupt your opponent’s plans significantly and tip the balance in your favor.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Rumbling Crescendo demands sacrificing a land when you unleash its effect. For decks that count on maintaining a stable mana base, this can pose a serious setback, disrupting your game plan and potentially stalling your development.
Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost for Rumbling Crescendo includes a stringent requirement for red mana. This can be a hurdle in multicolored decks that might not always have the necessary red mana sources available when needed, limiting the card’s versatility.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost to cast that scales higher than some alternatives, Rumbling Crescendo sits at a point on the mana curve where players might prefer cards that can influence the board immediately or provide more substantial advantages. In some scenarios, this may reduce its overall efficacy in your deck.
Reasons to Include Rumbling Crescendo in Your Collection
Versatility: Rumbling Crescendo, a card from the Urza’s Saga, can be a flexible tool in any red deck that seeks to manipulate the battlefield. With its ability to destroy any type of permanent over time, it’s adept at handling various threats or paving the way for your victorious surge.
Combo Potential: This enchantment is an excellent addition to any deck looking to capitalize on destruction mechanics or land control strategies. It builds up ‘verse counters’ to tear through opponent’s tools systematically, aligning perfectly with decks that exploit the gradual dismantling of resources.
Meta-Relevance: In metagames where enchantments remain on the battlefield uncontested or where pacing the game to your benefit is crucial, Rumbling Crescendo can become a substantial threat. Its steady pressure can disrupt opponents’ strategies, maintaining relevance in many gameplay environments.
How to beat
Rumbling Crescendo is a unique enchantment that builds up to a destructive force in the realm of MTG. It boasts a formidable ability to place pressure on opponents by threatening to destroy their key permanents. However, its escalating power can be mitigated. The key tactic against it involves swift removal of the card before it accumulates the necessary verse counters. Instant speed enchantment removal spells, such as Disenchant or Naturalize, can efficiently handle Rumbling Crescendo without giving it a chance to reach its full tempo.
Additionally, counter magic can be a preemptive measure, ensuring Rumbling Crescendo never hits the battlefield. Cards like Counterspell or Dovin’s Veto offer a direct way to negate this potential threat. It is important to leverage these spells judiciously, keeping mana available during the opponent’s turn to disrupt their strategy.
Ultimately, dealing with Rumbling Crescendo involves recognizing its growing menace and addressing it before it overwhelms the game. Keeping removal or countermagic at the ready helps maintain control and avoid the crushing wave that Rumbling Crescendo intends to unleash upon reaching its peak performance.
Cards like Rumbling Crescendo
Rumbling Crescendo is a unique enchantment in the Magic: The Gathering array of cards that ratchets up the tension each turn. Its nearest kin might be the card Citadel of Pain, which also manipulates phase mechanics by penalizing players who don’t use all their mana. Yet, Rumbling Crescendo differs by allowing you to place a verse counter and then potentially destroy nonland permanents, a facet Citadel of Pain does not offer.
As we delve further, we encounter Dehydration, another enchantment that, like Rumbling Crescendo, can be a thorn in any opponent’s side. Dehydration taps down a creature and keeps it from untapping during its controller’s untap step, offering control akin to the destructive potential of Rumbling Crescendo. However, Rumbling Crescendo’s scalability with verse counters offers a recurrent threat, whereas Dehydration’s effect, while lasting, is singular in its application.
Considering the strategic value of each, Rumbling Crescendo stands out for its versatility and growing threat. The capacity to potentially clear multiple threats off the board gives it a substantial edge in MTG, particularly in games that stretch across numerous turns.
Cards similar to Rumbling Crescendo by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Rumbling Crescendo 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 Rumbling Crescendo and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Rumbling Crescendo has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Rumbling Crescendo card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | Adding a counter is optional. If you forget to add one during your upkeep, you cannot back up and add one later. |
