If I couldn't find a way to deal 4 extra damage to an opponent at the expense of wrecking their combo I'd quit magic. Totally underrated. Flexible destruction for a single mana? 4.5/5
KUSHmonster
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
i shunned this card at first too, but i have been playing with one of my green decks and just realized that i have a lot of artifacts and enchantments in it also so if i really came down to it I would def destroy one of my permanents to stay alive.
BrutalJim
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Yeah, giving an opponent 4 life might not always be worth it just for it to cost less, but I still like it.
Misago
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(5 votes)
(Card Rating: 4.0) The ability to instantly destroy an enchantment or artifact for the cost of only one green mana is exceedingly powerful. This means that you can probably still cast a 2 or 3 mana creature and this spell without having to waste a turn utilizing 2 mana to cast Naturalize. Also, this card's low mana cost is extremely effecient to stop a Smokestack/Tangle Wire lock. With the ability to destroy one of your own artifacts or enchantments in order to gain life, the versatility of this card broadens. This card is often very potent to hinder your opponent's strategy. (Posted By: Misago)
Treima
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(4 votes)
As someone else has already said, giving opponents four life in exchange for one less CMC is a trade-off that may or may not pay off. Ultimately, I prefer Naturalize.
surewhynot
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Does work well as a cheaper Naturalize when used with Kavu Predator.
Tommy9898
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Turn one: Destroy your borderpost. Feels good.
ddde
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(5 votes)
I have a 1 pt. green deck (all the cards are 1 converted mana cost and green) which this should do nicely in. Barring something weird like that, I agree that I would almost always prefer a naturalize.
mdakw576
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Great for combo decks that don't care if your opponent gained 4 life because you end up dealing way more than 20+ damage when you combo off.
Rushdown
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(15 votes)
This works beautifully for any Infect decks, because they don't care at all if you are at 4 life or 4,000. All they care about is reaching the big 10 poison counters. :)
Blackworm_Bloodworm
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet but, it's practically a better Crumble.
Edit: Crap, how could I miss the blatant "or Enchantment"? Disregard what I just said... Instead, think about how Oxidize is better than crumble.
zk3
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
In vintage, you can hit your own Mana Crypt to put yourself just out of reach of that would-have-been-lethal Tendrils. Then attack with Elvish Spirit Guide for the win 9 turns later. You can also use it to fuel necropotence for 4 more cards to draw at the price of an off-color mox
Possibly good enough for standard, as life gain is usually irrelevant.
EDIT: actually, this card seems kind of lulzy in eternal formats. Whether or not to run this or crumble seems to be dependant upon one's metagame.
Enchantment_Removal
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(6 votes)
Kryptnyt and I must have some spiritual connection or something.
This is my removal of choice. I'm not saying that it is better than Naturalize. I just like it a lot. I still need one more copy...
P.S. If your opponent's life gain causes you to lose, then you have quite the story to tell.
okaydel
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Who cares about giving the opponent life when I have control of the board and an infect deck, especially in PDC.
FrostedFlask
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(8 votes)
the benefits for having it at one mana vastly outweigh giving them 4 life, and besides in rare occasions, you can blow up something you control to get 4 life out of it to stay alive an extra turn. 5* for giving green a disenchant that's nearly on par with swords to plowshares in utility.
N1N7A
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
it comboes with wellsprings
Mode
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Great 1cc sideboard card as an alternative to Naturalize.
It synergizes with Hatching Plans. So if i run a U/G Enchantment/Hatching Plans deck or something, consider using it there :P
Bursama
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
This is nuts in EDH.
If you run combo, 4 life is nothing. If you run lockdown, 4 life is nothing. If your winning condition is 21 commander dmg, 4 life is nothing. And if you kill opponent by attacking, 4 more is nothing compared to 40 life.
Salient
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(3 votes)
This used to be my favorite artifact/enchantment disruption, before New Phyrexia's Mental Misstep was introduced. I'll be curious to see whether Legacy and Vintage use of this card will be annihilated by Misstep. Plenty of people used to pack a few Claims in the sideboard and even one or two in their main deck (especially against Vintage Stax decks with a full load of resistors like Sphere of Resistance and Lodestone Golem). Misstep probably won't change that, since resistors increase Misstep's cost too, and Stax doesn't really have the space to spare. Misstep is probably more of a concern in Legacy.
It's weird how a 1cc artifact/enchantment destroyer is worth four points of life gain, but a 1cc creature destroyer isn't worth life gain equal to its toughness (hardly anyone plays Swords to Plowshares anymore). I wonder how often a 1cc spell with a "destroy target artifact or enchantment, its controller may search his or her library for a basic land and put it into play tapped" effect would see tournament play...
kiseki
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
"hardly anyone plays Swords to Plowshares anymore" Really? When did people stop using the number one best point creature removal card? Oh wait, that never happened.
Nature's Claim is an excellent card and the saved mana is extremely relevant on reactive cards. If you are running Naturalize, this is an upgrade in most but not all situations.
Works well with infect. Green deserves this, so I'm rating it a 4/5 for excellent card design.
DoragonShinzui
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I fail to see how gaining life is a "Furious Reprisal," Jace.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The other day someone gained 18 life from slapping on armadillo cloak on a creature and beating me down a bit. I wrathed, came back, and won.
Lesson for those reading? You can give out life if your deck is good. Just like you pay life for tempo on shock or pain lands, you give life for tempo (in this case, to stop tempo), to win. If an opponent gains 100 life, it doesn't matter if you can regain control of the board and beat them down.
1 vs. two mana is huge. I have a friend who runs Winter Orb next to Root maze in an elf/druid mana-spam deck. This is one of the only ways to get out of that kind of soft-lock fast enough to stay in the game and get back in control.
Again, what matters in this game are cards and board position. This is card neutral and *very* difficult to stop. Instant speed gets around Tangle Wire
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
4 life can bite you in the ass if you and your opponent are in a "base race" situation.
Good little card though, 4/5
Ferlord
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"Sorry for destroying your priceless heirloom. Here, have some gold."
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I play this in my UG infect deck. I'm also a bad person. :-(
gut.gemacht
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is top tier anyway, but when you consider an infect deck that doesn't care about life and runs at low mana, this is no brainer.
OlvynChuru
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Whether on not this is better than Naturalize really depends on whether you play competitive or casual. In competitive, this is better, but in casual, Naturalize is better (unless you are using Kavu Predator or infect).
What do you play when you need creature removal at the cheapest mana cost possible and you are playing white? Swords to Plowshares What do you play when you need artifact/enchantment removal at the cheapest mana cost possible and you are playing green? Nature's Claim
It is really that simple. The difference is that creature removal is helpful in any match-up except for certain combos. So maindeck artifact/enchantment removal is rarely seen unless its in the form of Qasali Pridemage or something similar.
Comments (37)
Edit: Crap, how could I miss the blatant "or Enchantment"? Disregard what I just said... Instead, think about how Oxidize is better than crumble.
You can also use it to fuel necropotence for 4 more cards to draw at the price of an off-color mox
Works well with Viridian Revel too.
Possibly good enough for standard, as life gain is usually irrelevant.
EDIT: actually, this card seems kind of lulzy in eternal formats.
Whether or not to run this or crumble seems to be dependant upon one's metagame.
This is my removal of choice. I'm not saying that it is better than Naturalize. I just like it a lot. I still need one more copy...
P.S. If your opponent's life gain causes you to lose, then you have quite the story to tell.
It synergizes with Hatching Plans.
So if i run a U/G Enchantment/Hatching Plans deck or something, consider using it there :P
If you run combo, 4 life is nothing.
If you run lockdown, 4 life is nothing.
If your winning condition is 21 commander dmg, 4 life is nothing.
And if you kill opponent by attacking, 4 more is nothing compared to 40 life.
It's weird how a 1cc artifact/enchantment destroyer is worth four points of life gain, but a 1cc creature destroyer isn't worth life gain equal to its toughness (hardly anyone plays Swords to Plowshares anymore). I wonder how often a 1cc spell with a "destroy target artifact or enchantment, its controller may search his or her library for a basic land and put it into play tapped" effect would see tournament play...
Really? When did people stop using the number one best point creature removal card? Oh wait, that never happened.
Nature's Claim is an excellent card and the saved mana is extremely relevant on reactive cards. If you are running Naturalize, this is an upgrade in most but not all situations.
Run it in every deck with Kavu Predator.
Lesson for those reading? You can give out life if your deck is good. Just like you pay life for tempo on shock or pain lands, you give life for tempo (in this case, to stop tempo), to win. If an opponent gains 100 life, it doesn't matter if you can regain control of the board and beat them down.
1 vs. two mana is huge. I have a friend who runs Winter Orb next to Root maze in an elf/druid mana-spam deck. This is one of the only ways to get out of that kind of soft-lock fast enough to stay in the game and get back in control.
Again, what matters in this game are cards and board position. This is card neutral and *very* difficult to stop. Instant speed gets around Tangle Wire
Good little card though, 4/5
What do you play when you need creature removal at the cheapest mana cost possible and you are playing white?
Swords to Plowshares
What do you play when you need artifact/enchantment removal at the cheapest mana cost possible and you are playing green?
Nature's Claim
It is really that simple. The difference is that creature removal is helpful in any match-up except for certain combos. So maindeck artifact/enchantment removal is rarely seen unless its in the form of Qasali Pridemage or something similar.