by Elton Gahr

Created on: November 02, 2009

Some of the most powerful cards in magic the gathering are the token generators, cards which are able to put out creatures each turn and while bitter blossom has gained some notoriety, mostly because it is of the colors which are most popular it is not the only card with the ability to put out a flying creature each turn.

Hoofprints of the Stag is a rare tribal elemental enchantment from the Lorwyn expansion set of magic the gathering. It costs one white and one colorless to put into play. It reads "Whenever you draw a card, you may put a hoofprint counter on Hoofprints of the Stag.

One white and two colorless, Remove four hoofprint counters from Hoofprints of the Stag: Put a 4/4 white Elemental creature token with flying onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only during your turn.

It is generally safe to assume that you will not be drawing less than one card a turn so there is no reason that once this card is out you will not be able to put out at least one 4/4 flying creature a turn and while it does cost three mana to use, and can only be used on your turn, these are both minor factors as you begin to overwhelm your opponent with flying elemental creatures.

There is of course a natural desire for all magic the gathering players to draw extra cards even without cards that reward them for it, and while white is not generally known as a color for drawing cards there are a few. More valuable though may be combining this with a color such as blue with more card drawing ability. This could even lead to a deck with very few creatures relying on this and a considerable amount of defense to do much of the damage, and with a good amount of drawing power it might be quite impressive.

In limited this is even more valuable. Flying is always useful, and the ability to remove enchantments is often far too weak. This along with the limited amount of creature removal makes this a valuable first pick in most drafts and a card that makes it worth playing some white even if you were not planning to.

Being the same cost to put into play as bitterblossom and putting out creatures that are at least as valuable on their face it is hard to understand why this card has not got more attention. The three mana is of course considerably more than one life for a cost but the creatures are more valuable.

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