While no longer as prevalent as it once was, Burnished Hart remains a staple ramp card in MTG’s Commander format. For decks with no access to green, this synthetic stag provides a simple means of sliding multiple lands into play simultaneously. The upcoming The Hobbit set contains a new colorless ramp creature, and while it doesn’t power creep the Hart entirely, it offers a remarkably similar effect at a significantly cheaper rate. Let’s talk about Troop of Ponies.
Let’s compare the two cards. For three mana, Burnished Hart is a 2/2 elk. For another three mana, it can be sacrificed to put two tapped basic lands into play from your deck. Troop of Ponies, meanwhile, is a two mana 2/1 horse (Well, technically it’s several horses, but that fact doesn’t affect its type line). For two mana, you can tap and sacrifice the ponies to put one basic land into play from your deck tapped and another into your hand. The only other difference between the two cards is that the Hart is an artifact, which can be positive (as it synergises with any artifact payoffs that you’re running), but can also be negative (as it makes it vulnerable to artifact removal from opponents).
With all of that laid out, how can we determine which of the two is the best MTG card? Well, considering that the ponies both cost one mana less, and their effect is one mana cheaper, they’re certainly off to a good start. Having said that, they do have one less point of toughness, although chances are you won’t be using either of these creatures to fight unless you absolutely have to. The need to tap the ponies in order to activate their effect is also meaningful, as it means that you need to wait at least one full turn rotation before you can ramp with them, while the Hart is ready to go right away.
It may initially seem like the fact that the ponies put one of the lands that they fetch into your hand, and one onto the battlefield, is worse than Burnished Hart, which puts both lands straight into play, but this isn’t always the case. If you’ve not yet hit your land drop for a turn, the land fetched by the ponies can be played straight away, meaning it’ll enter play untapped and immediately usable. Unlike the lands fetched by Burnished Hart, which always enter play tapped.
While Troop of Ponies isn’t strictly better than Burnished Hart, the cost reduction both to play it and use its effect is significant enough in my mind that I’ll be tagging it in for the Hart in my personal decks.
What’s your take? Are you in the Troop of Ponies club? Or do you think that it’ll take more than this to totally eclipse Burnished Hart? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
