Nature's Claim is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Its controller gains 4 life.
Complete guide
Nature's Claim is a staple Green instant known for its extreme efficiency and minor drawback. For just a single Green mana, you can remove some of the most dangerous permanents on the battlefield while giving your opponent a small life buffer.
What It Does
Nature's Claim targets a single artifact or enchantment and attempts to destroy it. As part of the resolution, the player who controlled that permanent gains 4 life. This makes it an excellent answer to powerful combo pieces or restrictive enchantments where the opponent's life total is less relevant than their board state.
Resolving the Spell
When you cast Nature's Claim, you choose a legal target. Upon resolution, the game checks if the target is still legal. If it is, the spell attempts to destroy it. Even if the permanent isn't actually destroyed (for example, if it has indestructible), the controller still gains the 4 life. However, if the target has left the battlefield or gained hexproof before resolution, the entire spell fails and no life is gained.
Common Mistakes
A frequent misunderstanding involves the life gain. Players often think that if the artifact isn't destroyed, the life isn't gained. This is only true if the target becomes illegal. If the target is legal but indestructible, the 4 life is still granted. Additionally, you cannot target a creature unless it is also an artifact or an enchantment.
When to Play It
Because it is an instant, Nature's Claim is best used at the end of an opponent's turn or in response to a specific activation. Since the mana cost is so low, it allows you to hold up interaction while still developing your own board state during your main phase.
Interaction examples
Heroic InterventionIf you cast Nature's Claim on an opponent's artifact and they respond with Heroic Intervention, their permanents gain hexproof and indestructible. Because the target now has hexproof, it is an illegal target. Nature's Claim will fail to resolve, and the opponent will NOT gain 4 life. If the target already had indestructible but not hexproof, Nature's Claim would resolve, the artifact would stay on the battlefield, and the opponent WOULD gain 4 life.
Worldly TutorIf your opponent uses Worldly Tutor to put a powerful creature on top of their library and they have an artifact like Sensei's Divining Top to draw it, you can cast Nature's Claim on the artifact. By destroying the artifact, you prevent them from accessing that creature immediately, though they still gain 4 life from the Claim resolving.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Nature's Claim
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If the target artifact or enchantment is an illegal target by the time Nature's Claim tries to resolve, the spell doesn't resolve. No player gains 4 life. If the target is legal but not destroyed (most likely because it has indestructible), its controller does gain 4 life.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Nature's Claim
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.