Training Grounds MTG Card


Training Grounds enhances creature-based strategies by reducing activation costs, granting a stronger gameplay position. Speed of effect activation allows for immediate response, maintaining control throughout the game. Limited to blue or multi-color decks, it can narrow deck building options, requiring specific mana.
Card setsReleased in 7 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment

Text of card

Activated abilities of creatures you control cost up to less to activate. This effect can't reduce the amount of mana an ability costs to activate to less than one mana.

Under the master's eye, skills are honed sharper and spells cut deeper.


Cards like Training Grounds

With an intriguingly strategic play style, Training Grounds brings a new dimension to the cost-reducing spells in Magic: The Gathering. A parallel can be drawn with Heartstone, another card that mitigates resource usage. While Heartstone navigates all players’ abilities, Training Grounds is limited to your creatures alone. This constraint forms its unique appeal, it grants you control while excluding your opponents’ interference.

Moving alongside a related path, we encounter Biomancer’s Familiar. This card shares the common trait of cost-reducing, but distinguishes itself with its dual function – making your adapt abilities cost less and allowing creatures with +1/+1 counters to adapt as though they have none. A distinct trade-off, nonetheless!

Then we have Zirda, the Dawnwaker, an engaging challenger to Training Grounds. Zirda also minimizes abilities cost yet exclusive to permanents you control, granting it a competitive edge. However, the need for Zirda to be in play for its ability to function is a crucial point to consider in your game strategy.

In conclusion, when analysing the mechanics and weighing the merits of these cost-cutting spells, Training Grounds holds a significant position within Magic: The Gathering with its precise control and cost manipulation abilities.

Heartstone - MTG Card versions
Biomancer's Familiar - MTG Card versions
Zirda, the Dawnwaker - MTG Card versions
Heartstone - MTG Card versions
Biomancer's Familiar - MTG Card versions
Zirda, the Dawnwaker - MTG Card versions

Decks using this card

MTG decks using Training Grounds. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.

#NameFormatArchetypeEvent
UU PioneerPioneer Challenge 64 2024-04-13
UBUB PioneerPioneer Challenge 64 2024-04-06
Mono-Blue CauldronMono-Blue Cauldron StandardIzzet Cauldron ComboPro Tour Thunder Junction
WUWU PioneerPioneer Challenge 64 2024-04-21
Mono-Blue ArtifactsMono-Blue Artifacts StandardMono-Blue ArtifactsTraditional Standard Ranked Decklists: April 1, 2024
Azorius ControlAzorius Control Legacy1 LPL OPEN - SEASON V - Liga Paulista Legacy

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Training Grounds MTG serves as both an enabler and a reward for creature-based strategies, effectively allowing you more viable cards in hand and consequently commanding a stronger footing during gameplay.

Resource Acceleration: In decks with creatures carrying useful activated abilities, Training Grounds accelerates the game significantly by reducing costs. This not only ramps up the potency of your creatures but also leaves you with ample resources for other spell plays.

Instant Speed: Although it’s not an instant, the effect of Training Grounds operates at the pace of one. Once on the battlefield, its cost-reduction ability is active immediately and remains for as long as it stays undisturbed. This fast-acting feature allows you to swiftly respond to developments in the opposing camp, maintaining control of the game.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Training Grounds does not directly have this attribute; however, since it is used for reducing the activation costs of creatures, those creatures may have discard requirements. This can prove disadvantageous if your hand is running low on resources, making the beneficial effect of Training Grounds feel less impactful.

Specific Mana Cost: Training Grounds requires a blue mana. This color specificity could potentially limit its usage to only blue or multi-color decks, thereby narrowing down the deck building options for the players.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Though Training Grounds only costs two mana (one generic and one blue), it’s an investment for an effect that does not directly impact the game board. There are other two-cost cards in MTG that could potentially offer instant creature or spell advantages, potentially making Training Grounds a less efficient option in certain scenarios.


Reasons to Include Training Grounds in Your Collection

Versatility: Training Grounds is a blue enchantment card that is quite adaptive and fits into numerous deck architectures. If your deck is majorly comprised of creatures with hefty activated ability costs, this card is a game changer.

Combo Potential: This card presents extraordinary combo potential, particularly in decks featuring creatures with powerful activated abilities. By reducing mana costs of these abilities, it can easily trigger game-winning combos.

Meta-Relevance: Training Grounds reigns supreme in current metagames that heavily depend on activated abilities. With this card in play, you effectively run your strategies cheaper and faster, keeping you ahead in the competition.


How to beat

Training Grounds is an enchanting addition to the field of cost-reducing cards in Magic: The Gathering. A member in the illustrious company of Heartstone and Biomancer’s Familiar, this Blue mana costing card diminishes the activation costs for the abilities of creatures you control. Flitting through the ranks of pricey-to-activate creatures like Progenitus and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Training Grounds manipulates the game with swiftness.

A good response to counter its effects is Pithing Needle. This one-mana artifact disables the activated abilities of the designated card. Similarly, Phyrexian Revoker is versatile with its potential to target artifact, creature, or land cards. It delivers the same stifling effect as the Pithing Needle. Cards that force the opponent to sacrifice enchantments, like Back to Nature or Cleansing Meditation, can also be effective.

In summary, Training Grounds shines in its ability to ensure cheaper activated costs, greasing the way for previously costly creatures. Yet, it is not invincible and can be held at bay through strategic play with specific cards in Magic: The Gathering, leading to an engaging and unpredictable game.


BurnMana Recommendations

As MTG players deeply understand, cards like Training Grounds are pivotal in morphing an average deck into a formidable force within the game. Providing a significant edge, especially for creature-centric strategies, this blue enchantment reduces costs and speeds up your gameplay, allowing for quick adaptation to the changing tides of battle. Should you harness its potential, remarkable combos and meta-dominance could be within reach. For those keen to unlock the full prowess of their creature abilities, affording them easy access to hard-hitting combos, consider integrating Training Grounds into your collection. Curious about creating a deck that can channel the power of this enchantment? Dive deeper with us, unravel the intricacies, and discover strategies to dominate the MTG arena.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Training Grounds MTG card by a specific set like Rise of the Eldrazi and The List, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Training Grounds and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Training Grounds Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2010-04-23 and 2023-05-12. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12010-04-23Rise of the EldraziROE 912003NormalBlackJames Ryman
22020-09-26The ListPLST ROE-912003NormalBlackJames Ryman
32023-05-12March of the Machine: The AftermathMAT 92015NormalBlackA. M. Sartor
42023-05-12March of the Machine: The AftermathMAT 1552015NormalBlackA. M. Sartor
52023-05-12March of the Machine: The AftermathMAT 1932015NormalBlackJohn Severin Brassell
62023-05-12March of the Machine: The AftermathMAT 592015NormalBlackJohn Severin Brassell
72023-05-12March of the Machine: The AftermathMAT 1092015NormalBlackA. M. Sartor

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Training Grounds has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
AlchemyLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PredhLegal
BrawlLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Training Grounds card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2010-06-15 Training Grounds won't affect a cost that isn't the cost to activate a creature's activated ability. For example, it won't affect Flameblast Dragon's cost, since that's a cost paid when a triggered ability resolves, and it won't affect a kicker cost, since that's an additional cost to cast a spell. Activated ability costs appear before a colon (:) in a card's rules text, or, in the case of some keywords, before a colon in reminder text.
2023-05-12 If an activated ability of a creature you control costs no generic mana to activate (for example, if it costs , it costs , or it costs only nonmana actions such as or "Sacrifice a creature"), Training Grounds simply won't affect it. In particular, it won't increase the cost to include a mana payment of .
2023-05-12 Training Grounds affects only creatures you control on the battlefield. The costs of activated abilities that work in other zones (such as cycling or unearth) won't be reduced.
2023-05-12 Training Grounds can reduce the amount you pay for a creature's activated ability cost that includes . For example, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief has an activated ability that costs . If you control Training Grounds and you activate the ability with X equal to 5, you'll have to pay only . This is true even if the ability states that must be paid with a certain color of mana, as Crimson Hellkite's ability does.
2023-05-12 Training Grounds can reduce the part of an activation cost represented by generic mana symbols down to nothing, as long as it still costs at least one mana. For example, if an activation cost is , you'd have to pay only . If an activation cost is , though, you'd still have to pay .
2023-05-12 Training Grounds takes the total cost to activate a creature's activated ability into account, not just the cost printed on it. For example, Urabrask has an activated ability that costs , and Suppression Field says "Activated abilities cost more to activate unless they're mana abilities." Since activating Urabrask's activated ability would now cost , Training Grounds reduces that cost back to .
2023-05-12 Training Grounds won't affect the part of an activation cost represented by colored mana symbols or snow mana symbols. It also won't affect nonmana parts of an activation cost, if there are any.