Brine Giant MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	7
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Giant
Released	2020-01-24
Set symbol
Set name	Theros Beyond Death
Set code	THB
Power	5
Toughness	6
Number	44
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Yongjae Choi

Key Takeaways

Brine Giant excels in enchantment-based decks, providing significant cost-value and board presence.
Reduced casting cost enables early deployment, potentially swinging the game tempo in your favor.
Despite its power, Brine Giant’s need for blue mana and high base cost can limit deck inclusion.

Text of card

This spell costs less to cast for each enchantment you control.

The oracles of Meletis foresaw neither its rise from the depths nor the destruction it would leave in its wake.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Brine Giant offers the potential for significant value in decks centered around enchantments. When built around properly, it becomes a massive threat that’s difficult to deal with, without requiring multiple cards to do so.

Resource Acceleration: With the ability to reduce its casting cost in an enchantment-heavy deck, Brine Giant can hit the battlefield sooner than expected. This creates an opportunity to outpace the opponent by deploying a high-impact creature ahead of schedule.

Instant Speed: While Brine Giant itself does not interact at instant speed, its presence can have a synergistic relationship with cards like flash enchantments that can further decrease its casting cost unexpectedly during the opponent’s turn, leveraging both the element of surprise and efficient mana usage.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Brine Giant requires a specific setup to reduce its mana cost, which might involve discarding or utilizing cards that enable enchantments in your graveyard, diminishing your hand and resources.

Specific Mana Cost: This giant’s casting cost demands blue mana, making it less flexible and potentially challenging to include in multi-colored decks that might not always have the necessary blue mana sources available at the right time.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a base mana cost that is steep, especially in faster-paced games, the Brine Giant can be a cumbersome card to play. Many players might opt for creatures with lower mana costs, even if they don’t possess similar stats, to ensure a more consistent and speedy gameplay.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Brine Giant has a place in decks that capitalize on enchantments, reducing its cost substantially and potentially allowing for earlier and impactful plays.

Combo Potential: This card pairs well with strategies built around enchantment synergies, where it can become both a robust blocker and an efficient beater on the battlefield.

Meta-Relevance: Especially effective in a meta heavy with enchantments, Brine Giant’s presence on the board can pose a considerable challenge for opponents who aren’t equipped to handle large creatures.

How to beat

Brine Giant presents a unique challenge in the world of Magic: The Gathering due to its affinity for enchantments, which can significantly reduce its casting cost. To come out on top against this towering creature, players should focus on managing the battlefield. Removing enchantments from the opponent’s field is an effective strategy, as it increases the Giant’s casting cost, potentially stalling an opponent’s game plan.

As direct removal can be costly, countering Brine Giant during the casting phase is another efficient tactic. Utilizing counter spells ensures that the creature never hits the board, thereby maintaining tempo in your favor. Efficient removal spells which bypass the Giant’s typically tough defenses can be game changers as well—consider spells that exile or force the opponent to sacrifice their creature to get around the Giant’s bulk.

Moreover, keeping a robust defense is crucial. Having creatures or spells that can block or deter attacks will help buy time as you execute your strategy. Remember, the key is to adapt and use your deck’s strengths to navigate around the cost-efficient nature of Brine Giant, ultimately maintaining board control and leading you to victory.

Cards like Brine Giant

Brine Giant is an intriguing presence in the realm of high-cost creatures in Magic: The Gathering. It bears resemblance to other creatures like Colossus of Akros, which is another colossal figure that has an imposing mana cost but can dominate the battlefield if successfully deployed. The Brine Giant, on the other hand, sports an affinity for enchantments, allowing its casting cost to be significantly reduced, making it more accessible sooner.

Another creature worth noting is Stormtide Leviathan. While the Leviathan doesn’t share the cost-reducing feature of Brine Giant, it compensates with a game-altering effect that restricts land-based creatures from attacking. Both creatures have the potential to sway the tides of battle dramatically, albeit in different manners. Lastly, Phyrexian Colossus offers another comparison point. This artifact creature bypasses traditional mana costs by dealing damage to its own controller, presenting a unique cost-benefit scenario relative to Brine Giant’s enchantment leveraging.

When comparing these behemoths, Brine Giant’s strength lies in its synergy with enchantments, potentially turning a late game threat into an unexpectedly timely play when enchantments stack up, thereby offering strategic depth to decks focusing on such synergies.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Brine Giant MTG card by a specific set like Theros Beyond Death, 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 Brine Giant and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Brine Giant has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2020-01-24	Once you announce that you’re casting a spell, no player may take actions until the spell has been paid for. Notably, opponents can’t try to change by how much Brine Giant’s cost is reduced.
2020-01-24	The cost reduction ability reduces only the generic mana in Brine Giant’s cost. The colored mana must still be paid.
2020-01-24	To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions (such as that of Brine Giant). The mana value of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was.