All 12 Mountaincyclers in Magic Ranked

Cragsmasher Yeti | Illustration by Brent Hollowell

Hello Planeswalkers!

One of the biggest draws of MTG is the staggering amount of keywords, interactions, and combinations. The near-infinite number of decks and games is just amazing. There are grand strategies, infinite combos, and then… simple mechanics such as mountaincyclng.

This article isn't about the biggest and best cards in MTG, but that doesn’t mean they have no value. Mountaincycling provides resources and can be used for certain strategies involving mountains. So how can mountaincycling help you? Let’s find out and check out all the montaincycling cards themselves!

What Is Mountaincycling in MTG?

Furnace Host Charger | Illustration by Andreas Zafiratos

Mountaincycling is a keyword ability that lets you pay a cost and discard the card with mountaincycling to search your library for a land (basic or nonbasic!) with the mountain subtype and put it into your hand. Like other cycling effects, this form of landcycling can only be activated from your hand, but can be put on the stack at any time the ability cost can be paid. It’s printed on large red creatures, so they can be used as a resource instead of a burden on your curve.

Basic landcyclers aren’t included, even though they can find a Mountain. Cycling, where you discard a card to draw a card, is a much older keyword, introduced back in the Tempest set. Mountaincyclng is what we call “typecycling”, meaning you don’t draw a card but search for one. This was introduced in the Scourge set, and gives us the oldest mountaincycling example of Chartooth Cougar. Cycling and typecycling are quite popular and have been included in many sets released since their debut.

#12. Furnace Host Charger

Furnace Host Charger is a 5/5 creature with haste for 6-mana. It’s not aggressive or cost-effective enough as a creature, so it’s only useful for the land fetch.

#11. Hill Gigas

Read Furnace Host Charger, and you’ll basically get Hill Gigas as well. Trample gets it one spot ahead because a big trample haste creature can push the last 2-3 damage needed to win.

#10. Zog, Triceraton Castaway

Zog, Triceraton Castaway gets more utility with an ETB trigger. Five mana isn’t unbearable for a large creature that removes a blocker. I actually found some wonderful value in TMT Limited with Zog and The Neutrinos.

#9. Bedhead Beastie

Bigger creatures with menace can carry value, such as Bedhead Beastie. A much better card in Limited, though only by a bit.

#8. Mongoose Lizard

Like Bedhead Beastie, Mongoose Lizard is a big creature with menace, but it also brings an ok ETB trigger. As with many cards on this list, you’ll probably ditch this card for the mountain, but it also never hurts to have some effects that can trigger spectacle, or pair with a card like Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might.

#7. Chartooth Cougar

Chartooth Cougar was the first mountaincycling card in MTG, and it provides great upside on an open board. The 4/4 stats aren’t even close to justifying the cost, but by the time you can afford to cast this card, you should already be able to give it a huge power pump.

#6. Cragsmasher Yeti

Cragsmasher Yeti has one of the best enters ability on this list. If you wait to cast this card instead of cycling it, you can significantly buff one of your better creatures. Sure, a 4/2 for 6 mana isn’t great, but a big Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is.

#5. Igneous Pouncer

Igneous Pouncer is a Rakdos card () with the upside of mountaincycling and swampcycling. Fetching different lands helps mana fix in ways the other mountaincycling cards can’t. It’s not as good as a Fabled Passage, but I’m here for the options.

#4. Valley Rannet

Valley Rannet is similar to Igneous Pouncer by giving you different landcycling options. Valley Rannet can fit into a Gruul deck much easier than Igenous Pouncer into a Rakdos one.

#3. Seismic Monstrosaur

The final three cards can actually provide enough value to maybe fit into Constructed decks. Seismic Monstrosaur is a big-bodied dinosaur with trample. If you choose not to landcycle it, the value is to turn your extra lands into card draw. This also works well with land recursion from a card like Kirri, Talented Sprout.

#2. Oliphaunt

I almost put Oliphaunt as the #1 card, simply because the mountaincycling cost is half of all the others! Ok, so from 2 to 1 isn’t that big of a drop, but it still fixes your mana quicker. If you choose not to cycle this card, you can ride it into battle with a nice attack trigger.

#1. Ruin Grinder

Ruin Grinder is the only rare card here, and it isn’t a surprise that it takes the top spot. A 7/4 with menace is a decent option for applying pressure on an opponent, and if your opponents destroy this card, the fun can begin. In theory, and with the right build, if you and an opponent each draw an entire new hand, you could outpace them. This works well with red spellslingers and storm-style decks.

Mountaincycling Payoffs

The original design ethos behind mountaincycling is to ditch an expensive card in your hand to get a mountain and fix your curve. But MTG mechanics are never just so simple. So what else can these cards benefit from?

Any cycling card enables cycling payoffs like Archfiend of Ifnir, Zenith Flare, and Curator of Mysteries.

There are also specific discard triggers like Captain Howler, Sea Scourge and Cool but Rude. If you want to go all in, cycling/discard commanders like Gavi, Nest Warden and Brallin, Skyshark Rider are great choices.

There are usually better options, but typecycling fills your graveyard for graveyard strategies. Cards like Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Coram, the Undertaker, and Barbarian Ring can always use more cards in the graveyard. There are probably better options, but you could always reanimate these large red creatures after discarding them.

Wrap Up

Seismic Monstrosaur | Illustration by John Tedrick

Thank you for taking the time to read about a not-so-sexy keyword of MTG. If you’re a nerd like me, then you want to learn about every aspect of the game to find even the slightest advantages. From Limited to Constructed, every card could have some value or be a part of your jank build.

I’d be very interested to hear anything you may have about mountaincycling. Leave a comment below or join the multitudes of other conversations on the official Discord server.

Stay safe, and may your top draw always be lucky!