Army Ants MTG Card

Visions (VIS)
1997-02-03 - Number 126

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number VIS-126

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Insect
Power	1
Toughness	1

Key Takeaways

Army Ants’ ability to destroy lands at instant speed offers significant strategic control over the game.
The card requires careful player resource management due to its land discard activation cost.
Despite its limitations, Army Ants’ disruption makes it a potent addition to land-focused strategies.

Text of card

oc T, Sacrifice a land: Destroy target land.

"Do not underestimate the power of many against one." —Sidar Jabari

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Army Ants offers a repeated ability to destroy opponent’s lands, which gradually depletes their resources while you maintain yours, essentially tipping the scale of card advantage in your favor over time.

Resource Acceleration: By methodically dismantling the opponent’s land base, Army Ants indirectly accelerates your comparative resource advantage. Each land destroyed potentially hinders your opponent’s ability to cast costly spells, giving you the upper hand in utilizing your resources more effectively.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of Army Ants’ activated ability allows you to use it at the end of your opponent’s turn. This strategic timing means you can keep mana available for other spells and abilities during your turn and choose to activate Army Ants when it’s most advantageous and less predictable for your adversary.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Army Ants demands that you discard a land card for its activated ability. This can deplete your land resources, potentially hindering your mana availability in the long game.

Specific Mana Cost: The activation of Army Ants’ ability requires a specific combination of mana—one red and one black—which may not seamlessly fit into multi-colored or colorless decks, thereby limiting its versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Though Army Ants offers a strategic land destruction option, its initial casting cost is three mana—one red, one black, and one generic. This can be relatively high considering other cards in the MTG universe provide more impactful board presence or immediate effects for a similar investment.

Reasons to Include Army Ants in Your Collection

Versatility: Army Ants offer a unique role in land destruction strategies, which can be seamlessly incorporated into various deck types. Their ability to dismantle an opponent’s mana base makes them a versatile pick for players looking to disrupt the field.

Combo Potential: These creatures synergize well with cards that benefit from or revive lands from the graveyard, turning land destruction into a strategic advantage for various combo plays.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where lands play a critical role, such as formats with heavy land use or prevalent multicolored decks, Army Ants can become a crucial tactical asset, keeping the meta in check and giving you the upper hand.

How to beat

Army Ants is a unique card that challenges players with its land destruction ability. Facing this card in a game of Magic: The Gathering requires a strategic approach. Protect your lands by keeping a robust suite of instant-speed removal spells handy that can interrupt the Ants before they start chipping away at your mana base. Being proactive with threats that demand an immediate answer can also divert attention away from your lands.

Additionally, counter spells can be effective in halting the Army Ants’ assault, especially if you’re able to counter the card upon its initial cast. Land enchantments that grant indestructibility or hexproof provide a layer of protection against such targeted abilities. Incorporating these strategies can help maintain your tempo and prevent your opponent from exploiting the full potential of Army Ants.

Effective sideboard choices, like land regeneration or spells that can swiftly produce land tokens, can also help mitigate the damage done by this relentless creature. Being prepared for this kind of disruption is key, as maintaining your mana sources often equates to maintaining control of the game itself against a relentless adversary like Army Ants.

Cards like Army Ants

Army Ants is a unique card in Magic: The Gathering that blurs the lines between land destruction and creature aggression. It can be compared to other land targeting creatures like Acidic Slime, which doesn’t just aim at lands but also any artifact, enchantment, or creature with flying upon entering the battlefield. However, Acidic Slime lacks the repeatable land destruction ability of Army Ants.

Looking at cards with similar functions, Raze comes to mind, an efficient but one-time use sorcery that requires the sacrifice of a land to destroy another. Unlike Raze, Army Ants offers a continual threat that can repetitively dismantle your opponent’s land base. Terastodon is another powerhouse capable of obliterating multiple noncreature permanents upon entrance, but it’s important to note the significant cost difference when comparing it to the more mana-accessible Army Ants.

All things considered, within the realm of Magic: The Gathering, Army Ants presents itself as a versatile threat capable of pressuring the mana resources of opponents while contributing to battlefield presence, distinguishing it amongst many in the creature-based land disruption category.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Army Ants MTG card by a specific set like Visions and The List, 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 Army Ants and other MTG cards: