Ruination Guide MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityUncommon
TypeCreature — Eldrazi Drone
Abilities Devoid,Ingest
Power 3
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. Ruination Guide improves board presence, offering a direct boost to colorless creature’s attack strength.
  2. It aligns seamlessly with colorless-centric or Eldrazi strategies, amplifying their innate power.
  3. While versatile, its specific mana cost considerations may influence deck construction strategies.

Text of card

Devoid (This card has no color.) Ingest (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles the top card of his or her library.) Other colorless creatures you control get +1/+0.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: By enhancing the potency of your entire board, Ruination Guide turns each of your creatures into a more significant threat, indirectly contributing to card advantage. With Ingenuity at your fingertips, every draw has the potential to be a game-changer—your deck doesn’t just grow in size, it swells in force.

Resource Acceleration: This card doesn’t directly ramp up your mana resources but by supporting your colorless creatures, it accelerates the clock against your opponents. The result is a faster path to victory, using the resources already on your board more efficiently.

Instant Speed: Though not an instant itself, Ruination Guide’s impact is immediate upon entering the battlefield, instantly empowering your creatures. Moreover, it synchronizes perfectly with your game plan, aligning with other instant-speed interactions to keep the pressure high and your opponents on their toes.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Implementing Ruination Guide into your deck could lead to strategic pitfalls. Particularly, this card doesn’t have a discard requirement, meaning you’re safe from the tough decision of sacrificing other vital cards from your hand. This trait maintains your card advantage and allows for more consistent play without the fear of depleting valuable resources.

Specific Mana Cost: Ruination Guide requires a specific blend of mana types for its casting cost – one color and two of any other. This dual commitment can be a challenge in multicolored decks and may not blend seamlessly with all mana bases. Deck builders need to weigh whether its inclusion will necessitate adjustments to their mana sources, possibly affecting the deck’s overall coherence and functionality.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing three mana may not seem excessive at first glance. However, in an environment where tempo is crucial, some players might find Ruination Guide’s cost a tad on the higher side. It’s important to consider if its ability to give other colorless creatures you control +1/+0 justifies this cost, especially when there are other cards that could potentially offer more impactful effects or better stats for the same, or less, mana investment.


Reasons to Include Ruination Guide in Your Collection

Versatility: Ruination Guide is a powerful inclusion in decks that harness colorless creatures or Eldrazi drone tokens. Its ability to grant a universal +1/+0 boost can turn a swarm of modest tokens into a formidable threat, making it a flexible addition to any aggressive or token-based strategy.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combo strategies, particularly with cards that generate colorless creatures. It can be the key to unlocking synergies that can exponentially increase the power on your board, serving as an engine in executing devastating plays.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where aggressive strategies prevail, Ruination Guide can be a game-changer. Its impact on the board state is immediate, outpacing slower control decks and providing that extra push for damage that can mean the difference between victory and defeat.


How to beat

Ruination Guide is a potent force in MTG, known for its ability to enhance colorless creatures with a significant power boost. Facing off against this card can be a challenge, but with the right strategy, overcoming its influence is feasible. One effective tactic involves removing it from the battlefield before its ability can be maximally utilized. Spot removal cards, such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile, can be highly effective to ensure that the Ruination Guide’s power-up effect is short-lived.

Additionally, playing around the Ruination Guide by focusing on building a board presence with creatures that can match or exceed the buffed power of your opponent’s colorless creatures is essential. Using board wipes such as Wrath of God can help reset the playing field and negate the advantage provided by the Ruination Guide. Players should also consider the timing of their spells and abilities to minimize the impact of the +1 power boost on their opponent’s creatures. In this way, strategically managing the pace of your gameplay can help reclaim control and guide you towards victory.


Cards like Ruination Guide

Ruination Guide boosts the battle prowess of Devoid creatures, enhancing their offensive capability in Magic: The Gathering. This characteristic draws parallels with other creature-buffing cards such as Chief of the Edge, which provides a combat advantage to Warrior creatures. Yet, Ruination Guide is distinct with its colorless creature focus and its potential synergy within Eldrazi-themed decks.

Another parallel could be found with Goblin Chieftain, a creature that not only strengthens other Goblins but also grants them haste. While the Chieftain is tailored to support a single creature type, Ruination Guide has a wider influence on all colorless creatures, albeit without the haste perk. The decision between these buffing cards would largely depend on deck composition and the desired strategy.

Adaptive Automaton is a notable mention when considering creature support cards; it’s versatile as its creature type is chosen when it enters the battlefield. In contrast, Ruination Guide’s impact is predetermined, catering to colorless creatures. This flexibility makes Adaptive Automaton a wildcard in tribal decks, a choice that could be more suitable for a diverse creature strategy.

Ultimately, the Ruination Guide’s niche buff to colorless creatures and potential for significant impact in Devoid-centric or Eldrazi-heavy decks make it a card worth considering for specific MTG strategies.

Chief of the Edge - MTG Card versions
Goblin Chieftain - MTG Card versions
Adaptive Automaton - MTG Card versions
Chief of the Edge - Khans of Tarkir (KTK)
Goblin Chieftain - Resale Promos (PRES)
Adaptive Automaton - Magic 2012 (M12)

Cards similar to Ruination Guide by color, type and mana cost

Wall of Water - MTG Card versions
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Wall of Water - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Prodigal Sorcerer - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
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Time Elemental - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Rootwater Shaman - Tempest (TMP)
Wind Drake - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Volrath's Shapeshifter - Stronghold (STH)
Stronghold Biologist - Nemesis (NEM)
Quicksilver Wall - Prophecy (PCY)
Wall of Air - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Phantom Warrior - Duels of the Planeswalkers (DPA)
Wormfang Drake - Judgment (JUD)
Animating Faerie // Bring to Life - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Ghost of Ramirez DePietro - Commander Legends (CMR)
Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Queen of Ice // Rage of Winter - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Svyelun of Sea and Sky - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Cephalid Pathmage - Legions (LGN)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ruination Guide MTG card by a specific set like Battle for Zendikar 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 Ruination Guide and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Ruination Guide Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2015-10-02 and 2015-10-02. Illustrated by Mathias Kollros.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12015-10-02Battle for ZendikarBFZ 642015normalblackMathias Kollros
22020-09-26The ListPLST BFZ-642015normalblackMathias Kollros

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ruination Guide has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderRestricted
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2015-08-25 A card with devoid is just colorless. It’s not colorless and the colors of mana in its mana cost.
2015-08-25 Cards with devoid use frames that are variations of the transparent frame traditionally used for Eldrazi. The top part of the card features some color over a background based on the texture of the hedrons that once imprisoned the Eldrazi. This coloration is intended to aid deckbuilding and game play.
2015-08-25 Devoid works in all zones, not just on the battlefield.
2015-08-25 If a card loses devoid, it will still be colorless. This is because effects that change an object’s color (like the one created by devoid) are considered before the object loses devoid.
2015-08-25 If the player has no cards in their library when the ingest ability resolves, nothing happens. That player won’t lose the game (until they have to draw a card from an empty library).
2015-08-25 Other cards and abilities can give a card with devoid color. If that happens, it’s just the new color, not that color and colorless.
2015-08-25 The card exiled by the ingest ability is exiled face up.

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