Dryad of the Ilysian Grove MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 7 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment Creature — Nymph Dryad
Power 2
Toughness 4

Key Takeaways

  1. The card allows for consistent land plays, increasing the chance of accessing more impactful cards sooner.
  2. It offers valuable mana flexibility, especially in multicolor decks, ensuring smooth gameplay.
  3. Instant speed plays are improved, giving players more reactive potential in the game.

Text of card

You may play an additional land on each of your turns. Lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is not just about putting extra lands into play but it’s also about enabling smoother draws throughout the match. By allowing you to play an additional land on each of your turns, it increases the likelihood of depleting your hand of lands, which leads to drawing into more action spells and keeping the momentum in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: This powerful Nymph provides crucial resource acceleration by letting you play that extra land each turn. This can lead to a quicker deployment of high-cost spells, providing a significant advantage over the opponent. What’s more, it seamlessly improves your mana base by allowing all your lands to tap for mana of any color, crucial for multicolor decks looking to eliminate any mana inconsistencies.

Instant Speed: While not an instant itself, the Dryad’s land-enabling effect indirectly bolsters your instant-speed interactions. By ramping up your land play, you get more mana available to respond to opponents’ threats on their turn. This extra mana resource can be pivotal in casting those game-changing instants or activating abilities that can disrupt your opponent’s strategy or protect your board.


Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: Dryad of the Ilysian Grove comes with a two-color mana requirement, making it potentially difficult to cast in a timely manner within decks that run more than two colors or have a strict mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove might come into play later than other ramp cards, which can put players at a tempo disadvantage in the early game.

Discard Requirement: While not part of its inherent abilities, the Dryad’s high utility may force players into tough decisions when faced with discard effects, as it is often a valuable card they would prefer to keep.


Reasons to Include Dryad of the Ilysian Grove in Your Collection

Versatility: Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is a highly adaptable card that can be a key piece in a diverse array of decks. Its ability to let lands you control tap for any color of mana means it can fix your mana base regardless of how many colors your deck is running.

Combo Potential: The Dryad pairs well with landfall abilities and effects that benefit from multiple land drops. This green creature enables potent combinations with cards that capitalize on the abundance of land types, heralding potential game-changing turns.

Meta-Relevance: In a format that values efficient land utilization, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove maintains its relevance. Its passive effect of allowing an additional land to be played each turn can escalate your board state, ensuring you stay ahead in resource-heavy metagames.


How to Beat

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is a potent magic card that offers a dual threat through land versatility and ramping capabilities. The ability to play an additional land on each of your turns can quickly escalate the pace of the game. Moreover, the dryad turns all lands into every basic land type simultaneously, ensuring that mana fixing is never an issue.

Defeating this card requires a straightforward strategy — removal. Rapid removal spells like Fatal Push or Path to Exile can effectively handle the dryad before its land-based advantages fully materialize. It’s also critical to keep AoE (Area of Effect) cards or global removal spells, such as Wrath of God, in your arsenal to clear the board. These responses are efficient ways to mitigate the tempo that Dryad of the Ilysian Grove aims to establish for your opponent.

Controlling the game’s pace, maintaining removal options, and anticipating the need to reset the board are key tactics. Implement these while considering how your opponent may leverage the dryad’s benefits, and you’ll stand a better chance at reigning in their strategy.


BurnMana Recommendations

As you harness the potency of Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, it’s crucial to recognize how it fits within the wider MTG meta. The acceleration and versatility it offers can be pivotal; but remember, with great power comes great focus. Consider synergies with landfall abilities and how it can be a lynchpin in meta-relevant decks. Still, always be ready with removal strategies and keep an eye out for smart plays from your opponent. Ready to augment your strategic depth with the Dryad? Dive deeper with us into the enriching world of MTG deck-building and strategy!


Cards like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is a powerful card that allows players to have a more flexible mana base in Magic: The Gathering. It is often compared to Courser of Kruphix, which also permits an additional land play each turn. However, the Dryad steps up the game by permitting lands you control to be every basic land type in addition to their other types, thus improving mana fixing significantly.

Another card that shares some similarities is Oracle of Mul Daya, allowing an additional land to be played as well as playing with the top card of your library revealed. Both these cards enable ramp strategies but Oracle of Mul Daya comes with a higher mana cost and the advantage of deck manipulation. Exploration, a simpler enchantment, also allows an additional land play each turn, but lacks the mana diversity and body that Dryad of the Ilysian Grove provides.

When comparing these alternatives, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove not only accelerates land play but also enhances mana flexibility, making it a valuable inclusion in land-centric decks. Its unique blend of ramp and color fixing capabilities makes it stand out from similar cards, cementing its role in a variety of Magic: The Gathering formats.

Courser of Kruphix - MTG Card versions
Oracle of Mul Daya - MTG Card versions
Exploration - MTG Card versions
Courser of Kruphix - Born of the Gods (BNG)
Oracle of Mul Daya - Zendikar (ZEN)
Exploration - Urza's Saga (USG)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Dryad of the Ilysian Grove MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Secret Lair Drop, 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 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Dryad of the Ilysian Grove Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2019-12-02 and 2023-08-04. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 799532015normalblackScott Murphy
22019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 1912015normalborderlessFiona Staples
32020-01-24Theros Beyond DeathTHB 3262015normalblackScott Murphy
42020-01-24Theros Beyond DeathTHB 1692015normalblackScott Murphy
52020-01-24Theros Beyond Death PromosPTHB 169s2015normalblackScott Murphy
62020-01-24Theros Beyond Death PromosPTHB 169p2015normalblackScott Murphy
72023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 8912015normalblackScott Murphy

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Dryad of the Ilysian Grove has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2020-01-24 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove’s first ability is cumulative if you control more than one. It’s also cumulative with other effects that let you play additional lands, such as the one from Escape to the Wilds.
2020-01-24 Each land you control will have the land types Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. They’ll also have the mana ability of each basic land type (for example, Forests have “: Add .”). They’ll still have their other subtypes and abilities.
2020-01-24 Giving a land additional basic land types doesn’t change its name or whether it’s legendary or basic.

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