For years, planeswalkers have been the mascots of Magic. Whenever a product needs a face or a story needs a hero, these multiversal wanderers have been there with bells on. Following the Desparkening at the end of the Phyrexian Invasion arc, that dynamic has shifted significantly. Magic’s everymen are now stepping up to the plate, and new mascots have the chance to shine. One of Wizards’ not-so-subtle attempts at this is Loot, the bizarre little Beast Noble from Thunder Junction’s vault. Returning in Foundations in a new form, Loot, Exuberant Explorer isn’t just a wonderfully marketable creature; it’s also a damn fine MTG card.
Loot, Exuberant Explorer MTG
- Mana Value: 2G
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/4
- Card Text: You may play an additional land on each of your turns. 4GG, Tap: Look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal a creature card with mana value less than or equal to the number of lands you control from among them and put it onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order.
Much of the discussion about Loot’s original Thunder Junction appearance concerned its visual design. The card itself wasn’t much to write home about after all, even in Commander. I’m happy to report that Loot, Exuberant Explorer fares a lot better in this regard. While it’s not a sure thing, I could really see players trying him out once Foundations drops.
For starters, that ‘you may play an additional land each turn’ ability is pretty strong. There are a few cards with this text in Standard right now, but they all cost more than three mana. Loot outpaces all of them, letting you get your ramp engine online early when it matters most. Three mana is particularly important in future Standard too, thanks to Llanowar Elves.
Loot’s second ability is also a huge deal. Most ramp cards suffer in the late game, once you’ve already built up the mana that you need. Loot gets around this issue by being both a ramp piece and a mana sink later on. Six mana is a lot, but digging six cards deep feels pretty good. By the time this ability is online you’ll likely have enough lands to get a five or six drop with it, too. There are certainly worse things to spend your mana on, especially at instant speed.
To top it all off, Loot’s statline is excellent. Four toughness keeps it out of Lightning Strike range, and lets him serve as a passable blocker while you build up your lands early. He still dies to the likes of Cut Down and Go For the Throat, but he’s resilient enough that he’ll likely get to do his thing in most games.
Making A Land Grab
Where does Loot, Exuberant Explorer fit into the current MTG ecosystem? I think he has a number of homes. Standard actually has quite a few Landfall cards at the moment, like Iridescent Vinelasher and Nissa, Resurgent Animist. Getting to drop two lands a turn gets you double the value from these cards, and makes Nissa’s second trigger trivial to resolve.
Of course, such a deck needs a steady supply of lands. You can achieve this through a combination of Walk-In Closet and self-mill like Aftermath Analyst. Honestly, with support cards like Bristly Bill and Mossborn Hydra in the format, a dedicated Landfall deck isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. In fact, a combo deck involving lands has been in and out of the format.
As for existing decks, Loot could well be a solid addition to Golgari Midrange and Domain Ramp. Both decks can appreciate a good early blocker, and both have cards that are excellent when cheated out with Loot’s second ability. Hitting an Atraxa off of this isn’t too difficult, and if you can pull that off the game’s probably over.
Standard aside, Loot is an absolute slam dunk in Commander. As a Mono-Green Commander he’s not the most exciting option, but he can serve as a Landfall engine in the command zone if you need one. In the 99, however, he looks incredible. His abilities are generic enough that you can slot Loot into pretty much any deck playing green and have good results.
Getting those excess lands out of your hand early and then digging for huge bombs late, Loot has relevance in every stage of a Commander game. He’s also innocuous-looking enough that he likely won’t catch removal until it’s too late. Like Six from Modern Horizons 3, I see Loot becoming a new staple in most green Commander decks going forward.
