Pointed Discussion

I never actually met anyone who didn't like Krosan Tusker. It's a 6/5 beatstick that, should you not need one or are not able to summon it, is also both a land and some other card instead. Consider how horrendously overcosted other landcycling creatures wound up being. Sanctum Plowbeast? Six mana of two different colors for a 3/6 Defender that can only grab 2 of 5 basic land types and doesn't draw any extra cards? Please..

The only thing that ever bothered me about this card was the art, because I used to think it was just a giant boar head stuck onto a comically undersized body with almost nonexistent legs. It only recently occurred to me that those legs are both of its front legs, and the beast has taken an abrupt left turn after charging directly at the 'camera'.

@Mirus_Prime: Cannot unsee... I thought that too and liked this guy less for it.

He is, still, really good. Are there even any actual spells that find a land AND cantrip at instant speed?

This guy carries quite a bit of value, but he has been reprinted SO many damn times that I'm starting to resent him. He's not that good.

@Clockworkswordfish: Explore

@lorendorky

While explore is a good card, explore is not instant speed, nor does let you fetch a land from your deck. It only helps you play more land if you have it in your hand or draw it with its draw.

Pretty close to a green Divination except you can also play a 6/5

My buddy has been playing beasts since Onslaught came out. It is now 2011 and I decided to tell him to try this card out today. He didn't think it was very good. I bought it for him and stuck it in his old Onlsaught deck anyway. He will learn that this card is good.

@Mirus_Prime
Look closer at the bottom center. You can see it's rear legs. But yeah, at a glance it looks just the way you described it.

@lorendorky
Explore doesn't allow you to search for the land like Clockswordfish asked. Also, this has only been reprinted three times since it was first printed nine years ago. And none of the reprintings were in a main set.

Wow, I would not be ashamed of cycling this at EOT, untap Zombify.

Instant-speed, uncounterable 2-for-1 for 3 mana. There's not even hardly any 3-mana instants that put 2 cards into your hand. Esper Charm is one of very few. Plus it has the flexibility that, if you so choose, and if you happen to have a lot of lands in play, you can just play it as a 6/5 instead. and it fixes your colored mana? It's such a good card in the abstract. It just doesn't fit into the scheme of constructed, i.e. developing a game plan, applying pressure, etc.

Haha, Eved it sounds like we have the same friend! My friend was finally convinced to run full Tusker in his Onslaught-era deck; now to just get him to run Æther Charge...

For everyone commenting on the art... if you cover up its legs on the other side (the faded leg on the very bottom of the picture) and squint... it looks a lot like a goldfish with a messed up face and big fangs.

Great card though.

It makes me sad to think that this isn't in standard. But, Krosan Tusker is one of the most elegantly designed cards in magic. It has basically one ability, but that ability is a keyword and an extra 4 lines of text, for a newer player this is difficult to understand, for a player who's dabbled a little? They've seen enough green land searching to see those extra 4 lines like a keyword.

I've gathered up a weird fight/beast deck and this guy is next to Woolly Thoctar for being so useful, despite being so simple. In my deck alone he provides:

> Annoying pesky blue players who like to spam cancel, it's an ability, not a spell.
> Mana fixing (I run a single plains and mountain just so this guy can find 'em).
> Consistent hand size for bloodrush spam.
> A creature for Domri Rade to find
> As a beast it works with their support cards, my personal favourite being Contested Cliffs, y'know, if Krosan Tusker wasn't just more fun to cycle all the time.
> Crap you killed my Moldgraf monstrosity... Hey remember when I was drawing all those cards earlier?
> You think I shouldn't cycle when I've got 10 mana already? I have no need of fools who can imagine enough land.

Yet Another Awesome Use: In Self Mill decks with things like Sewer Nemesis, Lord of Extinction, Boneyard Wurm, Wreath of Geists and Svogthos, this reads: '2G: Search for a basic land card and put it into your hand, draw a card, and give all your creatures +1/+1'.

It's ability gets the lands you need and draws you the gas you need to get to the mid-game. The thing about draw spells is that sometimes you do it early just so you get the lands you need and sometimes you don't hit lands. With this you are guaranteed to get at least 1 land out of the deal which is really nice. Late game you're just like, all right, 7 mana 6/5, let's do it. Sac it to Greater Good, or trade up with a titan, you're going to find a use for him.

Land cycling is one of the most underrated abilities the game has ever seen and this is even better. The versatility makes it one of my favorite creatures of all time...shame about the art, I always just pictured the thing bouncing around with a dumb smile on its face like a kangaroo on drugs.

Another way to look at it is like this:
2G
Instant

This spell cannot be countered.
Search your library for a basic land card and put it into your hand.
Draw a card.

Which is already incredible without the 6/5 beat stick that it becomes when you would no longer need to cast such a spell!

But yeah, its a weird bouncing smiling thing.