Purple Worm MTG Card
2021-07-23 - Number 201
2021-07-23 - Number 332
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 7 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Worm |
| Abilities | Ward |
| Power | 8 |
| Toughness | 7 |
Key Takeaways
- “Pack tactics” and cost reduction features of Purple Worm offer significant card advantage and impede opponents.
- Mana efficiency through cost reduction keeps gameplay momentum and preserves resources for tactical depth.
- Versatile in creature-heavy strategies, Purple Worm thrives by exploiting graveyard dynamics and battlefield deaths.
Text of card
This spell costs less to cast if a creature died this turn. Ward (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays .)
Underground civilizations maintain magical barriers around their settlements to deter these monsters.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Purple Worm brings significant value to the table as it creates card advantage through its “pack tactics” and potential for cost reduction. If you attack with enough creatures to activate its feature, you not only get a heavily discounted powerhouse on the battlefield but also a threat that requires an immediate answer from your opponent, often forcing them to use more resources than they would like.
Resource Acceleration: In its own right, the card doesn’t directly accelerate resources, but its inherent mana cost reduction can be viewed as a form of acceleration. By potentially casting it for less, you keep valuable mana available for other spells in your turn, ensuring that your resources are allocated efficiently to maintain board presence and momentum.
Instant Speed: While Purple Worm operates at sorcery speed, its on-cast benefits from instant speed spells and flash creatures in your deck. Deploying such cards during the opponent’s turn immediately prior to a turn where Purple Worm can be cast, positions you to maximize its reduced casting cost while keeping mana open for responses up until that critical moment.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Some powerful cards in MTG require you to discard a card as part of their casting or ability costs. While this can be a pathway to activate various strategies, it can also deplete your hand, minimizing your options as the game progresses. It’s critical to assess the potential impact of discarding on your overall strategy before including such cards in your deck.
Specific Mana Cost: A card with a specific mana requirement can sometimes hinder your game plan, especially if you’re running a multi-colored deck. Cards requiring a particular mana type can lead to challenges in casting them on time or cause you to make suboptimal plays just to fit them in. This can have a direct impact on the fluidity of your gameplay and the consistency of executing your deck’s strategy.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: When building your deck, mana efficiency is key. A card with a higher mana cost, especially for an effect you can get for less in other cards, can slow you down. Weighing the cost against the potential benefit is crucial; a powerful effect can be tempered by the reality of whether you can actually afford to use it when you need to. Cards with high mana costs need to justify their place in your strategy by providing substantial and game-changing benefits.
Reasons to Include Purple Worm Mtg Card in Your Collection
Versatility: Purple Worm offers a flexible role in decks that can manipulate the graveyard, as it costs less to cast if a creature died this turn. This trait allows it to easily fit into various strategies, particularly those revolving around sacrifice or creature-heavy decks.
Combo Potential: With its ability to potentially enter the battlefield earlier in the game, the Purple Worm can work as a substantial piece in combos or synergistic plays, especially when paired with effects that trigger upon creatures dying.
Meta-Relevance: Given its solid stats and Ward ability to deter targeted removal, Purple Worm can be a valuable asset in a meta that favors resilience against spot removal. Its capacity to become an early-game threat can put considerable pressure on opponents in the right environment.
How to beat
The Purple Worm card introduces an imposing presence on the battlefield, able to wreak havoc with its trample ability and cost reduction mechanic whenever a creature dies. Understanding its strengths is key to thwarting this creature. It’s essential to keep your creature count high and avoid unnecessary sacrifices that could enable your opponent to cast Purple Worm at a discount. Removal spells that don’t cause death, such as exile effects or bounce spells to return it to the owner’s hand, offer a strategic advantage.
Tools like ‘Path to Exile’ or ‘Unsummon’ can manage the threat posed by Purple Worm, bypassing its reduced casting cost and avoiding the potential for recasting. It’s also beneficial to minimize combat which could result in your creatures dying, as this feeds into the worm’s cost reduction. Strategic control of the game tempo, coupled with targeted removal, mitigates the Purple Worm’s impact and can swing the match in your favor.
To sum up, the approach to facing down a Purple Worm is a mix of preventive battlefield management and judicious use of nonlethal removal spells. These tactics help maintain the battlefield equilibrium and keep the worm from burrowing through your defenses.
Cards like Purple Worm
The Purple Worm card brings a new level of excitement to ramp strategies and creature-based decks in MTG. In the world of hefty creatures, it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Craw Wurm, both 6-mana green creatures with substantial power. However, Purple Worm steps ahead with its ward ability, making it more resilient against targeted spells.
Comparable too is the Boneyard Wurm, which thrives in a deck built around graveyard mechanics. It can potentially surpass Purple Worm in power in the right circumstances but lacks the protective ward ability. Then there’s Thorn Mammoth, another similar behemoth that is both a game-changer and a creature remover, unlike Purple Worm, which relies mostly on its considerable strength and cost-reduction condition for spells and abilities your opponents control.
Taking these counterparts into account, Purple Worm may not have the board impact of Thorn Mammoth or the potential size of Boneyard Wurm, yet it offers consistency and protection in the creature lineup, contributing to its own niche within MTG creature strategies.
Cards similar to Purple Worm by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Purple Worm MTG card by a specific set like Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, 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 Purple Worm and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Purple Worm Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2021-07-23 and 2021-07-23. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-07-23 | Adventures in the Forgotten Realms | AFR | 201 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Olivier Bernard | |
| 2 | 2021-07-23 | Adventures in the Forgotten Realms | AFR | 332 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Russ Nicholson |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Purple Worm has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Purple Worm card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-07-23 | If a player casts a spell that targets multiple permanents their opponent controls with ward, each of those ward abilities will trigger. If that player doesn't pay for all of them, the spell will be countered. |
| 2021-07-23 | Purple Worm's first ability will never reduce its cost more than , no matter how many creatures died this turn. |
