Squandered Resources MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	1997-02-03
Set symbol
Set name	Visions
Set code	VIS
Number	137
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Romas Kukalis

Key Takeaways

Provides immediate mana flexibility, crucial for combos or responding to threats during gameplay.
Demands careful play to avoid detrimental loss of land, which could weaken board position.
Fits into specific deck strategies, excelling in land recursion combos or high-speed plays.

Text of card

Sacrifice a land: Add to your mana pool one mana of any type the sacrificed land could produce. Play this ability as a mana source.

"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand." —Afari, *Tales*

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Squandered Resources provides a unique advantage by converting lands you control into immediate card utility. Although not directly drawing cards, it enables other card interactions and combos by freeing up your mana base for urgent use.

Resource Acceleration: This card shines in its ability to accelerate your resources, giving instant access to mana by sacrificing lands. This can be particularly impactful when you’re striving to execute high-cost spells or activate abilities early in the game, pushing you ahead of your opponent’s curve.

Instant Speed: The capacity to act at instant speed with Squandered Resources means flexibility in your gameplay. You can respond to your opponent’s moves by sacrificing lands for necessary mana at critical moments, opening up a plethora of reactive strategies and surprises during the match.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In order to activate its ability, Squandered Resources requires players to sacrifice a land. This can lead to a detrimental loss of board presence, particularly if not leveraging land recursion techniques or strategies.

Specific Mana Cost: Squandered Resources has a conversion mana cost that includes both black and green mana. This can pose a restriction since it demands a deck tailored around these colors, potentially excluding it from more versatile or mono-colored strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Sitting at a total cost of three mana, including one black and one green, there may be alternative cards that provide similar or more cost-efficient benefits without the downside of losing valuable land resources.

Reasons to Include Squandered Resources in Your Collection

Versatility: Squandered Resources is a flexible card that can be integrated into various deck archetypes. It allows you to sacrifice lands for immediate mana gain, which can be pivotal in tight situations or enable powerful plays.

Combo Potential: This card is notorious for its ability to combo with land recursion effects or cards like The Gitrog Monster, facilitating devastating plays that can rapidly close out games.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where resource management can make or break a match, Squandered Resources remains relevant. It can accelerate your game plan ahead of the curve and is particularly effective in metas where speed and efficiency are key.

How to beat

Squandered Resources presents a unique challenge in the world of Magic: The Gathering. This enchantment allows players to flexibly sacrifice lands for a quick burst of mana, enhancing their ability to execute powerful spells and combos within a single turn. To outmaneuver this card, the key lies in strict control measures. Counterspells can prevent it from hitting the field, but if it’s already there, land destruction can become counterproductive, inadvertently fueling your opponent’s strategy.

Instead, focus on enchantment removal cards such as Disenchant or Naturalize for immediate dismantling. Better yet, with cards like Rest in Peace, you can prevent the sacrificed lands from even reaching the graveyard, thereby stifling any potential graveyard synergies. Similarly, cards that limit the number of spells that can be played each turn, such as Rule of Law or Eidolon of Rhetoric, can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the rampant mana generated by Squandered Resources, keeping your opponent’s explosive turns in check.

In essence, to best a card like Squandered Resources, it is imperative to disrupt the patterns and capitalize on the temporary instability caused by land sacrifice. Effective removal and strategic play restraint are your tools to ensure the resources indeed remain squandered.

BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering MTG involves an intimate understanding of the cards you wield. Squandered Resources is a dynamic tool that can shift the tide of a match when used skillfully. If you’re looking to enhance your strategy or curious about incorporating this card into your deck, there’s plenty to consider. From optimizing land play to crafting unexpected combos, the potential is vast. We encourage players to dive deeper into the strategic nuances of Squandered Resources. Join us to further dissect its mechanics, discover new synergies, and unleash its full potential in your quest for victory on the battlefield.

Cards like Squandered Resources

Squandered Resources is a unique card in MTG, offering players a distinctive way to leverage lands for an immediate advantage. When we look at its counterparts, such as Rain of Filth, we find a similar ability to sacrifice lands for a burst of mana. However, Rain of Filth is limited to a single turn and black mana. Conversely, Squandered Resources allows for a variety of mana generation over multiple turns, reflecting its broader utility in diverse strategies.

Exploring the theme of resource conversion, Zuran Orb also stands out, granting life instead of mana for each land sacrificed. This is a potentially life-saving maneuver in a pinch, though it doesn’t provide the same direct fuel for casting spells. Moving on, we encounter Natural Balance. While not a direct comparison, this card interacts with lands dramatically by equalizing the number of lands all players control. It demonstrates a different angle on manipulating land assets in the game for strategic gain.

To sum up, Squandered Resources presents a versatile and potent tool, allowing players to convert their land resources into a diverse array of mana. As such, it occupies a special place in MTG, compared to similar cards that focus on more singular benefits or different types of resource management.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Squandered Resources MTG card by a specific set like Visions, 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 Squandered Resources and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Squandered Resources 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 Squandered Resources card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.