Pandora's Box MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Artifact |
| Released | 1997-04-01 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Astral Cards |
| Set code | PAST |
| Number | 11 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | normal |
| Border | black |
| Illustred by | Amy Weber |
Key Takeaways
- Pandora’s Box provides card advantage by selectively uncovering vital deck resources during gameplay.
- Despite its versatility, the artifact requires a significant mana investment and player hand discard.
- It offers opportunities for strategic depth and combo potential, but demands careful deck integration.
Text of card
, : Choose a random summon card from all players' decks. For each player, flip a coin. If the flip ends up heads, put a token creature into play and treat it as though an exact copy of the chosen summon card were just played.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: When it comes to magic and the gathering of precious resources in your deck, a card like Pandora’s Box offers a unique form of card advantage. With its ability to dig through your library for specific card types, each activation puts you closer to the tools you need for victory without depleting your hand resources.
Resource Acceleration: There’s nothing quite as satisfying as tipping the scales in your favor, and with Pandora’s Box, you’re doing just that by manipulating your resources efficiently. Whether you’re searching for that crucial land to complete your mana base or you’re fishing for artifacts to construct an unstoppable board state, this card helps accelerate your game plan.
Instant Speed: Flexibility in magic is as coveted as the most powerful spells. Acting at instant speed allows savvy players to wait for the perfect moment to unravel Pandora’s secrets, circumventing potential counterspells or disruptive strategies. This offers a strategic edge, granting you the power to adapt to an ever-changing battlefield.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Utilizing Pandora’s Box comes with a unique caveat; each activation demands a player to discard their hand, which can be a severe setback particularly in strategies that rely on a variety of options to navigate through a match.
Specific Mana Cost: The stringent mana requirement of Pandora’s Box can be a hurdle, as it stipulates two colorless and two black mana. This makes it less flexible and more challenging to incorporate outside of mono-black or heavy black-focused decks, potentially hindering its playability across the diverse field of MTG decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Weighed against other artifacts within the vast pool of MTG cards, Pandora’s Box’s initial investment, combined with its ongoing activation fee, skews towards the more expensive end of the spectrum. There are alternative cards that offer more immediate or cost-efficient benefits, reducing the allure of turning to Pandora’s Box for long-term tactical gain.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Pandora’s Box can be seamlessly integrated into a variety of deck types, bringing a unique dynamic to gameplay. Its utility in shuffling and resetting parts of the game state is valued across multiple formats.
Combo Potential: This card can be the linchpin in sophisticated combos, especially in decks crafted around artifact synergies and surprise element strategies. The potential to reshuffle player’s hands and libraries opens up various tactical avenues.
Meta-Relevance: Considering current trends, Pandora’s Box could become a strategic sideboard card against decks that rely heavily on hand sculpting and graveyard mechanics, making it a clever tech choice in competitive play.
How to beat
Pandora’s Box is one of those Magic: The Gathering artifacts that bring a sense of uncertainty and anticipation to the game. With the ability to manipulate luck and influence the board state, it’s a card that can turn tables if not addressed properly. To effectively counter Pandora’s Box, you’ll need to focus on artifact removal or strategies that limit your opponent’s use of such cards.
Consider incorporating cards like Naturalize or Disenchant in your deck, which allow you to directly destroy targeted artifacts, eliminating the threat of Pandora’s Box promptly. Alternatively, cards like Stony Silence can prevent your opponents from even using their artifacts’ abilities, rendering Pandora’s Box useless.
Monitoring your opponent’s mana pool is also crucial, as activating Pandora’s Box requires a significant mana investment. Counterspells like Negate or artifact-specific counters like Annul can be reserved to prevent Pandora’s Box’s activation. In summary, beating Pandora’s Box revolves around preparedness, a solid suite of removal, and the tactical timing of counterspells to ensure this unpredictable artifact doesn’t upend your path to victory.
Cards like Pandora's Box
Pandora’s Box is a unique artifact in the world of Magic: The Gathering, reminiscent of other artifacts that provide a variety of effects after meeting certain conditions. Cards like Pyxis of Pandemonium share a resemblance in unpredictably altering the game state. While Pyxis exiles cards face down and then turns the game on its head by turning them face up, Pandora’s Box provides a controlled yet still surprising outcome as you pay and decide when to activate its ability to flood the battlefield with creatures based on the number of creatures already in play.
Another similar card is Timesifter, which like Pandora’s Box, can warp the tempo of a game. With each player’s fate tied to the converted mana cost of the top card of their libraries, it introduces a random element much like Pandora’s Box’s creature reveal. However, it affects the turn order instead of creature board presence.
Weighing the capabilities of such artifacts, Pandora’s Box stands out in its potential to impact the board significantly, setting a stage for a game filled with complex interactions and strategic depth that enthusiasts of Magic: The Gathering’s artifacts can appreciate.
Cards similar to Pandora's Box by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Pandora's Box MTG card by a specific set like Astral Cards, 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 Pandora's Box 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
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