Hai, I'd like a free Loxodon Warhammer on my creature any time I want, please.
...Oh, I can only have +2/+0, and no lifelink? Well, that's fine. But if I get that marginally similar and perfectly acceptable effect, I want a dramatic increase involving it costing only ONE mana and coming back to my hand everytime it dies.
Rancor? Yea, that sounds good. No, no, make it green mana, keepit in the trample family so no one else can use it. Yea, yea, that looks good.
Ridiculous beyond belief, but oh-so-incredibly wonderful. This card will never go out of fashion as long as this game exists, and we'll love every minute it's not on the opponent's side of the field. :3
ubii
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
combine with venomous vines to lol
MagicalSeventh
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(17 votes)
A person once told me that you can put a Rancor on anything and it will immediately be better. He followed by saying that his cereal tasted better when he put a Rancor on it.
001010011100101110
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(8 votes)
Notice how only this card, some of the Moxes, the basic lands, and two of the original dual lands have perfect ratings...
VirtueVsVice
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Amazing card, but the idea of rancor (not the card but the actual word) is much more {R}, or maybe even {B}, flavor than {G}.
dberry02
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Smexy. 5.5/5
GottaRunGottaRunNow
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
Well well well, this is a great little card. Shame about the mana cost it would have to be though.... Wait, one mana?!?!?
channelblaze
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card. Simply good, plus combos well with enchantresses, plus DOES NOT HAVE CARD DISADVANTAGE. That's the best part about it. It's an aura, without the card disadvantage. Yay =)
stratoscythe
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
THE ENCHANT CREATURE.
tantallum99
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
one of the best, most powerful and useful green cards ever. everything you could ever want: one mana, power boost, trample AND reusable. brings a tear to my eye
Weary_PSI
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is just absurd. For all that it does, it should cost GG at the very least. There's really no Green deck that doesn't need four of these. I've seen a first-turn Llanowar Elves get two of these and go nitro on turn two. It's brutal.
ClockworkSwordfish
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
This is rated extremely high, and with good reason. It is hard to overstate just how aggressive a deck running these can be. 5/5.
ItsSlaughteringTime
★☆☆☆☆ (1.9/5.0)(5 votes)
i just got a boner.
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(10 votes)
Single highest rated card on the gatherer, currently, and with 69 votes... a true testament.
non1337
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(4 votes)
Still, I don't think this card is too broken, instant removal of the creature will counter it when this is on the stack and as a result it goes to the graveyard from the stack. It can't reach the battlefield without a target, folks.
Although, if you have something that allows you sacrifice enchantments or permanents it can get extremely ugly.
krumtheslow
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
If your opponent is a jedi smash rancor and remove it from the game.
DacenOctavio
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(17 votes)
It's green because it REDUCES your opponent's life total, REUSES trample over and over, and teaches every magic player about how to RECYLE. Lol.
chesster415
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't have one of these. But an regular opponent of mine does, I hate it when I see this thing on the battlefield. The flavor text is a perfect summing up of my attitude toward this card. Way too cheep for it's effect, powerful and broken. Combo's well with things that say (effect) whenever this creature deals (combat) damage to an opponent.
I want to get some of these.
NARFNra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
There's a reason this is the highest rated card on gatherer right now.
(It beats out Black Ritual 4.990 > 4.933)
It's ridiculously powerful at such a low cost.
Take Giant Growth. Now take away the defense boost and make it +2/+0, but give it trample. You'd have a usable card. Now make it an Aura, and recur. Yup, definitely worth its rating.
Internet_decks_lame
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Probably the greatest aura ever made, vastly amplifies any deck aiming for the jugular...
5/5
--Nate--
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
5/5
Wow, so this is pretty much the highest rated card ever, huh?
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Imagine if they took away the trample. It would still be playable.
Kryplixx
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My favorite card of all time.
Gaffy00
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Rated 4.992! (As of this minute)
So Close! It should be a little less in my opinion but because I want a card to reach 5, I had to rate it perfect.
We always thought Black Lotus would be rated 5 before anything else, didn't we? (Yes, Ancestral Recall is also amazing. But I think 4.9 fits it good.)
Anubisisking
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
See this, Rise of the Eldrazi design team? THIS is how you make an aura that limits card disadvantage...
Seriously, this is the perfect non-creature card. I have never heard anyone cry "broken" over this, yet it is so powerful, and thats the thing, its rediculously powerful, but not broken....
bijart_dauth
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This card is currently the highest rated card in the game. wow.
My favorite non-creature spell. Right above Counterspell.
Phantom_of_the_FNM
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Wizards: Please reprint this. It would hurt Control, but give Jace a nice challenge, allow Vengevines to compete with Titans, and would just be really fun to have again overall.
jtwhat87
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So. So. So good.
Zacklar
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
this thing imbues ALL what is
scorpiolegend
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Ironic how the highest rated card in the game has the most infamous card type.
The_Stray
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
@ scorpiolegend
That's not an accident. The reason it is rated so high is because it turns the suck that is most Auras into such win. It is everything Auras should be but aren't.
twistingtime
★☆☆☆☆ (1.7/5.0)(7 votes)
Broken beyond belief. It is amazing how people gush over the card seem to love its brokenness. To them, broken mean a great card that should be reprinted. Gah. No wonder people stop play MtG when the Wizards design team cannot properly figure out a casting cost properly. This should be 1GG: G for trample, G for +2/0, and 1 for recycling. And it should probably hurt a little to recycle, like pay a life or G to bring it back to your hand. I really loath free recycling, especially at such a low cost. Powerful effects used to cost something, not Wizards just throws them around for free. Lame.
Kitty_the_Kat
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is not broken by any means, sure its good. But its bonuses are all very small (outside of the reocurrence) so I could totally see why this was set at 1 green.
Its a decent effect with a competitive cost, but not broken. Broken would imply that it will end games, but given how vunerable creatures are as it is, and that this card offers no evasion or removal protection, makes this card fairly balanced as it is. If you think this is broken, you probably have never seen cards like Tooth and Nail, Greater Good, or Necropotence. Those are cards that deserve the title of "broken," not this. Even if you wanna get into Auras, Freed from the Real is far more broken than this because it only needs one other card (like Bloom Tender) to go infinite.
Also, if this card really bothers you, just run low cost exile (Oblivion Ring) or bounce (Into The Roil) the creature. These will deal with the enchanted creature and go around the reoccurence ability of Rancor. Or you could just destroy the creature in response to the Aura being played, it will never hit the board without a target and will instead fizzle.
ChumleyX
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Was RANCOR a misprint?
In fact, it might have been. In December of 2002, Wizards answered this question:
Q: "Rumor has it that Rancor was really a card that was supposed to cost and ended up as . Misprint or not? Or just a last-minute change?" -- Mark Anthony Cassar, Cospicua, Malta
A: From Bill Rose, head of Research & Development: "The short answer is: I don't know. No one will ever know.
"As I recall, Rancor originally was , and it didn't have the 'deathback' mechanic, meaning it wouldn't return to your hand. In an effort to make some tournament-quality creature enchantments, Rancor's cost was lowered to . Then the deathback mechanic was added. After that, the Magic developers disagree on what happened. There was a debate about Rancor's cost. The group who wanted Rancor costed at argued at it would be good, but not broken. The '' group believes they won and Rancor was published as the development team wanted. The '' group believes they won, but that the lead developer forgot to change the file sent to typesetting.
"Given the choice between and , I would cost Rancor at . But given a time machine, I would cost it at ."
Arachibutyrophobia
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
if green keeps getting all the hate that it's getting then they'll have to reprint this baby (maybe at rare, though? uncommon at the very least)
zenuedite
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Turn 1: G, Llanowar Elves
Opponent: Hm, mana ramp, eh?
Turn 2: G, 2 Rancor on Elves, swing for 5
You: Sorta.
SAllison87
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Of all the old-yet-affordable cards, this is one that has that devilishly twisted "old" brokenness. The kind of brokenness that makes you gag & groan when you see an opponent cast it.
Anon_Amarth
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Power boost, trample and it keeps coming back. For {G} you really can't ask for more. 5/5 no doubt.
kiseki
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Yay for hexproof creatures! And Aura Gnarlid! And deathtouch creatures! And all the rest of them too!
zalakke
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I like to destroy illusion decks with this:)
TherealphatMatt
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(5 votes)
I don't feel that Rancor is broken, because green is typically so underrated. This card laughs in the face of all those Doom Blades and Terrors and other creature removal and cries "FEEL THE WRATH OF MY FATTIES! FEEL IT!"
5/5
TheOgrz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I can't overstate how amazing this card is. My favorite use is in my green/white aggro enchantress deck. The only thing better than paying a green for +2+0, trample and recurring it is paying a green for +2+0, trample, recurring and drawing a card for playing it EACH TIME.
MechaKraken
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Kor Spiritdancer is a great recipient for this card. With all four Rancor's attached to her, she becomes a 16/2, that allows you to draw a card everytime you cast an aura spell. This isn't even counting any other auras, like Hyena Umbra. Add in Swiftfoot Boots, Giant Growth, and Umbra Mystic as part of a deck to make her even more powerful. Cards like Berserk and Mosstodon can help to give her trample too. The best part is that all of these are cheap to play, and in a green deck =0.
Put the standard G/W auto-includes of Oblivion Ring , Path to Exile , Timely Reinforcements, Overrun , and Primeval Titan for some mana ramp, and you've got yourself a deck.
Mike-C
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
This should be a rare. Yes it should. YES it should! Damnit. YES IT SHOULD!!
Lueseto
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great card, yet I don't think it LAUGHS in the face of Doom Blade as someone up there said... Remember many removals are instants and a good player will always wait until the end of your turn to cast them, meaning either you can't cast rancor, or responding to your rancor with removal, sending it directly to the graveyard and hence it won't return to your hand.
I personally don't like auras much because of that. Yet, rancor is rancor, it's all the great an aura can get, and it's clearly a 5/5.
badmalloc
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Green would be a chump without this card.
Shannnnoonn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Best ever enchant creature card... This on a wild mongrel is nasty!!!! Hell, this on anything is nasty!!!
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
****ing Rancor. Has a nice place in Exalted decks, since you're only attacking with one creature anyway this guarantees it'll end up big and stompy.
swords_to_exile
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Green card is green.
NoFatWizards
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
um...
this thing lived in Jabba's palace, no?
Tryffin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So broken I love it
firechao
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I shall play it a bit more before I can really say overrated, but remember all of you that if they remove the creature before your Rancor resolves, it doesn't come back to your hand. You get 2-for-1'd.
Same problem as all the other Auras.
NafsAsp
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Undercosted big time. Green's top card of all time. 5CG dream card. It's all very well saying you cn counter it, but only if you're playing counters, and turn 2 it rocks.
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Highest rated card on gatherer! Wow!
agentvirgo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wait, this is a common?
Jormgund
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
And no one seems to remeber Endless Wurm...
*sigh for days gone by*
JimmyNoobPlayer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It has a prominent place in Bill Gate's Pauper deck.
VladdyD
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Welcome back to standard old friend...
TheAmberSpyglass
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Makes me want to run green again. Nothing better than a win-win!
Comments (66)
...Oh, I can only have +2/+0, and no lifelink? Well, that's fine. But if I get that marginally similar and perfectly acceptable effect, I want a dramatic increase involving it costing only ONE mana and coming back to my hand everytime it dies.
Rancor? Yea, that sounds good. No, no, make it green mana, keepit in the trample family so no one else can use it. Yea, yea, that looks good.
Ridiculous beyond belief, but oh-so-incredibly wonderful. This card will never go out of fashion as long as this game exists, and we'll love every minute it's not on the opponent's side of the field. :3
This is just absurd. For all that it does, it should cost GG at the very least. There's really no Green deck that doesn't need four of these. I've seen a first-turn Llanowar Elves get two of these and go nitro on turn two. It's brutal.
a true testament.
Although, if you have something that allows you sacrifice enchantments or permanents it can get extremely ugly.
I want to get some of these.
(It beats out Black Ritual 4.990 > 4.933)
It's ridiculously powerful at such a low cost.
Take Giant Growth. Now take away the defense boost and make it +2/+0, but give it trample. You'd have a usable card. Now make it an Aura, and recur. Yup, definitely worth its rating.
5/5
Wow, so this is pretty much the highest rated card ever, huh?
So Close! It should be a little less in my opinion but because I want a card to reach 5, I had to rate it perfect.
We always thought Black Lotus would be rated 5 before anything else, didn't we?
(Yes, Ancestral Recall is also amazing. But I think 4.9 fits it good.)
Seriously, this is the perfect non-creature card. I have never heard anyone cry "broken" over this, yet it is so powerful, and thats the thing, its rediculously powerful, but not broken....
Tautology is tautology.
That's not an accident. The reason it is rated so high is because it turns the suck that is most Auras into such win. It is everything Auras should be but aren't.
Its a decent effect with a competitive cost, but not broken. Broken would imply that it will end games, but given how vunerable creatures are as it is, and that this card offers no evasion or removal protection, makes this card fairly balanced as it is. If you think this is broken, you probably have never seen cards like Tooth and Nail, Greater Good, or Necropotence. Those are cards that deserve the title of "broken," not this. Even if you wanna get into Auras, Freed from the Real is far more broken than this because it only needs one other card (like Bloom Tender) to go infinite.
Also, if this card really bothers you, just run low cost exile (Oblivion Ring) or bounce (Into The Roil) the creature. These will deal with the enchanted creature and go around the reoccurence ability of Rancor. Or you could just destroy the creature in response to the Aura being played, it will never hit the board without a target and will instead fizzle.
In fact, it might have been. In December of 2002, Wizards answered this question:
Q: "Rumor has it that Rancor was really a card that was supposed to cost
-- Mark Anthony Cassar, Cospicua, Malta
A: From Bill Rose, head of Research & Development:
"The short answer is: I don't know. No one will ever know.
"As I recall, Rancor originally was
"Given the choice between
Opponent: Hm, mana ramp, eh?
Turn 2: G, 2 Rancor on Elves, swing for 5
You: Sorta.
5/5
Put the standard G/W auto-includes of Oblivion Ring , Path to Exile , Timely Reinforcements, Overrun , and Primeval Titan for some mana ramp, and you've got yourself a deck.
Damnit. YES IT SHOULD!!
I personally don't like auras much because of that. Yet, rancor is rancor, it's all the great an aura can get, and it's clearly a 5/5.
this thing lived in Jabba's palace, no?
Same problem as all the other Auras.
*sigh for days gone by*