Shivan Gorge MTG Card
1998-10-12 - Number 326
2012-08-31 - Number 12
2022-09-09 - Number 232
2020-09-26 - Number USG-326
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Legendary Land |
Key Takeaways
- Incremental damage over time with Shivan Gorge applies pressure without depleting your hand of resources.
- The land’s instant speed activation allows for strategic plays and flexibility during any turn.
- Despite some mana cost challenges, its unique damage ability makes it a worthy component in various decks.
Text of card
oc T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool. o R, oc T: Shivan Gorge deals 1 damage to each of your opponents.
Both forge and pyre.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: While Shivan Gorge isn’t a direct source of card advantage, it creates incremental value over the course of the game. By consistently dealing damage to your opponent, you pressure them while maintaining a full grip of cards ready to respond to the board.
Resource Acceleration: Shivan Gorge serves as a land that taps for colorless mana, which smoothly integrates into your mana base. Although not a classic accelerator, its utility goes beyond just mana production, offering a repeatable source of damage without costing you additional cards.
Instant Speed: The ability to deal damage to each opponent at instant speed gives Shivan Gorge flexibility. During any player’s turn, you can activate the ability when it’s most opportune, such as after blockers are declared, or in response to life-gain, ensuring that no turn is wasted.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Unlike other lands, Shivan Gorge forces you to tap substantial resources with no immediate board presence boost, potentially setting back your game tempo.
Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both colorless and red mana, Shivan Gorge can be challenging to activate in multi-color decks, potentially leading to mana problems during critical gameplay moments.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of tapping the land and two additional mana to activate, this card is less mana efficient for the damage it deals compared to other direct damage options available.
Reasons to Include Shivan Gorge in Your Collection
Versatility: Shivan Gorge offers a unique utility land option that can fit into various deck archetypes. Its ability to inflict damage to each opponent gives it a place in commander decks or any multi-player format, where incremental damage can add up over time.
Combo Potential: This land has synergy with cards that benefit from dealing non-combat damage or that increase the number of land activations you can achieve in a turn. The ability to ping each opponent also makes it a sneaky combo enabler in prolonged games.
Meta-Relevance: In meta environments where games tend to go long or stall with numerous creature standoffs, Shivan Gorge provides a way to break the deadlock and whittle down opponents’ life totals. It’s a slow burn strategy component that’s often overlooked but can be critically effective.
How to beat
Shivan Gorge is a utility land with a niche role in Magic: The Gathering. This card can be the source of a slow, but steady, trickle of damage to an opponent’s life total. Unlike lightning-fast burn spells, Shivan Gorge demands prolonged play and consistent mana availability to truly influence the game. Its place in a game strategy is distinctive, as it can bypass creatures and direct damage straight to your adversary.
To effectively counter Shivan Gorge’s ability, one might consider a few strategies. Control decks equipped with land destruction or direct counterspells can handle this card adeptly, leaving the opponent’s investment unfulfilled. Taking an aggressive approach of ramping up damage can also render the ping of life from Shivan Gorge somewhat inconsequential by outpacing it. Enchantment removal spells like Disenchant or targeted land destruction such as Ghost Quarter can neutralize the threat entirely. Additionally, life-gain strategies easily mitigate the incremental damage done by Shivan Gorge, further diminishing its impact on the game’s outcome.
Consequently, when facing a deck including Shivan Gorge, remember that it often represents a long game approach. Address it swiftly with your toolset, or race past the slow burn it provides, and you’ll nullify its effect, maintaining dominance over the match with your strategic foresight.
Cards like Shivan Gorge
Shivan Gorge is an intriguing land card within Magic: The Gathering that gives players the unique ability to directly deal damage to each opponent. As an alternative to the impactful, damage-dealing lands, we consider cards like Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Valakut harnesses the power of mountains to deal damage, yet Shivan Gorge does not depend on the quantity of mountains in play, offering consistency in its activation cost.
Also worthy of comparison is the card Keldon Megaliths, which similarly requires an activation cost to deal damage to a target player. Though it lacks Shivan Gorge’s blanket approach, hitting each opponent, it bypasses restrictions linked with having no cards in hand. Moreover, there’s Ramunap Ruins, another formidable card capable of dealing damage, but sacrificing it is a prerequisite to utilize its ability. Shivan Gorge remains on the field ready to be activated each turn, providing a persistent threat.
When looking at these options side by side, Shivan Gorge stands out for its straightforward and recurring effect, carving a niche for itself among MTG utility lands focused on delivering direct, incremental damage throughout the game.
Cards similar to Shivan Gorge by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Shivan Gorge MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Saga and From the Vault: Realms, 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 Shivan Gorge 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
Printings
The Shivan Gorge Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 1998-10-12 and 2022-09-09. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1998-10-12 | Urza's Saga | USG | 326 | 1997 | Normal | Black | John Matson | |
| 2 | 2012-08-31 | From the Vault: Realms | V12 | 12 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Adam Paquette | |
| 3 | The List | PLST | USG-326 | 1997 | Normal | Black | John Matson | ||
| 4 | 2022-09-09 | Dominaria United Commander | DMC | 232 | 2015 | Normal | Black | John Matson |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Shivan Gorge 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 Shivan Gorge 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 | The damage has no color. It is not red. |
