Ivory Crane Netsuke MTG Card

Ivory Crane Netsuke - Saviors of Kamigawa

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact
Released	2005-06-03
Set symbol
Set name	Saviors of Kamigawa
Set code	SOK
Number	155
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Greg Hildebrandt

Key Takeaways

Ivory Crane Netsuke ensures a life boost during upkeep if you sustain a seven-card hand.
This artifact pairs well with card-draw strategies, providing advantages in slower-paced games.
Counterplay includes forced discards or targeted artifact removal to negate its effects.

Text of card

At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have seven or more cards in hand, you gain 4 life.

It is said that the feathers of a crane are clouds, plucked and sewn together by the hands of the kami.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Ivory Crane Netsuke offers a steady source of extra card draw when your hand is plentiful, ensuring you have a higher chance to access the resources you need to outmaneuver your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: This artifact can be particularly powerful in decks built around hand size maximization, effectively accelerating your game plan by providing additional life points which could be critical in the long game.

Instant Speed: While the Netsuke itself isn’t an instant, its ability triggers during the upkeep, giving you flexibility to manage your hand at the end of your opponent’s turn, ensuring you meet the condition for the life gain without having to compromise the timing of your other instant-speed strategies.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Ivory Crane Netsuke requires a seven-card hand at the end of your turn to gain life. This can be quite taxing, as keeping your hand full involves either not playing cards or having substantial card draw mechanics in place.

Specific Mana Cost: While the mana cost is only two generic mana, actually gaining a benefit from the Netsuke means adhering to its specific setup conditions. Not all decks can support consistently meeting this condition, especially in faster-paced games where resources are frequently played.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its relatively low cast cost, the real cost comes from meeting the Netsuke’s trigger condition. There are other cards within MTG’s extensive library that can provide life gain more reliably or with fewer prerequisites.

Reasons to Include Ivory Crane Netsuke in Your Collection

Versatility: Ivory Crane Netsuke offers a unique attribute to decks that focus on having a full hand. It works exceptionally well in formats where drawing lots of cards is a common strategy, enabling life gain in both control and combo settings.

Combo Potential: This card excels when combined with strategies that encourage a large hand size. It can turn cards like ‘Reliquary Tower’ or ‘Spellbook’ into consistent sources of life, making it a subtle but impactful tool for sustaining your game.

Meta-Relevance: In games where the pace is slower, and maintaining a healthy life total is paramount for long-term success, Ivory Crane Netsuke can be crucial. It serves as a deterrent for aggressive strategies, providing the needed buffer to establish your board presence and reach the late game.

How to beat

Ivory Crane Netsuke is a unique piece in player’s decks that leverages on their hand size to bolster their life total. Much like spells that reward you for having a full hand, Ivory Crane Netsuke grants you a life-giving advantage during your upkeep if you meet its seven-card criterion. This can often tip the scales in games, especially in formats where drawing cards and maintaining a sizeable hand is common.

To effectively counter this artifact, one might want to adopt strategies that force the opponent to discard cards, reducing their hand size and nullifying the Netsuke’s condition. Cards that cause each player to draw and then discard, such as Sudden Impact, become valuable as they disrupt the balance necessary for the Netsuke’s activation. Moreover, direct removal of artifacts is another clear-cut solution. Utilizing spot removal spells like Disenchant can quickly dismantle the Netsuke’s presence on the battlefield, curtailing any life gain benefits it might afford.

Therefore, incorporating discard mechanics or artifact removal into your strategy can significantly diminish the impact of Ivory Crane Netsuke, making it a manageable threat in your MTG confrontations.

Cards like Ivory Crane Netsuke

Ivory Crane Netsuke is an intriguing artifact that rewards players for maintaining a full grip on their cards in Magic: The Gathering. It finds its parallels in other cards that bolster life totals, such as Pristine Talisman. Similar to the Netsuke, Pristine Talisman provides a steady life gain, although it requires activation unlike the passive nature of Netsuke’s end-of-turn effect. Additionally, Talisman offers mana generation, a feature not found in the Netsuke’s arsenal.

Another comparable card is Sun Droplet, which also falls into the category of incremental life gain artifacts. Sun Droplet stores charge counters to heal over multiple turns, contrasting with Ivory Crane Netsuke’s larger single life boost when conditions are met. However, both share a dependency on specific game states to be effective—Sun Droplet on taking damage, Netsuke on hand size.

While evaluating these cards, it’s clear that Ivory Crane Netsuke holds a unique position with its passive but conditional life gain. This balance of game-state awareness and life management makes it a distinct choice for players adopting a more patient, controlling strategy in Magic: The Gathering.

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ivory Crane Netsuke MTG card by a specific set like Saviors of Kamigawa, 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 Ivory Crane Netsuke and other MTG cards: