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Draft card spotlight-Verdant Catacombs
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Courtesy of Gatherer.wizards.com
This weeks Draft Card spotlight is Verdant Catacombs. A Non-Basic land with a tap sacrifice ability that allows the player to search their library for a basic Forest or Swamp. This land enters the battlefield untapped and available for use immediately.
In the Booster Draft format, multi colored decks are the norm. That being said; a land that can produce more ways to retrieve land, mill libraries, and/or drop two lands in a single turn is more than valuable--it is downright awesome.
Verdant Catacombs does have a slight suicidal cost to it though. In addition to sacrificing Verdant Catacombs, the player must pay 1 life for this ability. This is a small price to pay when you think of the possibilities it can open up.
Scenario 1: The obvious
Player ones hand consists of 1~Verdant Catacombs, 3~green creature cards, and 1~Disfigure. They have no Swamps in play.
Their opponent has played an Armament Master with an Adventuring Gear and a Kor Duelist already on the battlefield. All of his lands are tapped.
This gives player one a single turn to answer their opponents threat before they equip the Armament Master with Adventuring Gear and the Kor Duelist turns into a 3/3 nasty with double strike potential.
Player one plays his Verdant Catacombs and activates the ability. After paying a life, retrieving a Swamp and putting it into play; player one can cast his Disfigure on the Armament Master. This removes a creature and saves the smaller Kor Duelist from growing fatter.
Scenario two: The Landfall combo
It has been an epic battle to say the least. Player one and player two are both down to three life and sweating like the air conditioner had never been invented.
Player one has Baloth Woodcrasher on the battlefield. Their opponent has recently started putting on the pressure with a flying nasty and the outcome looks bleak.
Player two has Pillarfield Ox, Makindi Shieldmate with 2 counters, and a tapped Shepherd of the Lost on the battlefield. This is a definite next turn kill for player two. Or is it?
Player one draws Verdant Catacombs into an empty hand. After some quick math player one gets a smile on their face.
Player one places Verdant Catacombs onto the battlefield. This triggers the Landfall ability of the Baloth Woodcrasher bringing its power and toughness to 8/8. Quickly activating the Verdant Catacombs ability, they pay the activation cost which brings their life total to 2. A quick search of their library brings a swamp into play untapped. Once again this triggers the Baloth Woodcrashers Landfall ability bringing its power and toughness to 12/12 with trample.
After the attack player two ponders quietly in defeat.
This combination has infinite possibilities. Each and every one could be a game turner.
It's not often that drafting a land card would be beneficial to a Booster Deck. However in this case--it turned out to be a game winner.
See you in the Draft.
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