Sowing Salt MTG Card

Urza's Destiny (UDS)
1999-06-07 - Number 97

Sowing Salt - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)

Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
2005-02-04 - Number 118

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery

Key Takeaways

Targets nonbasic lands, exiling them along with all identical cards from an opponent’s deck.
Achieves indirect resource acceleration by setting an opponent’s mana base back.
Best used in a meta where land-dependent strategies are dominant.

Text of card

Remove target nonbasic land from the game. Search its controller's graveyard, hand, and library for all copies of that card and remove them from the game. That player then shuffles his or her library.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sowing Salt provides a strategic edge by enabling the removal of nonbasic land from the game and also exiling all other copies from the opponent’s deck. This significant disruption can often translate to card advantage as it potentially strips the opponent of future land drops or key utility lands they rely on for their strategy.

Resource Acceleration: While Sowing Salt doesn’t directly accelerate your resources, its ability to decelerate your opponent by removing crucial lands can indirectly enhance your position on the board. This setback for the opponent can allow you time to deploy your threats and advance your game plan without immediate pressure.

Instant Speed: Sowing Salt operates at sorcery speed, providing a deliberate and calculated method to disrupt your opponent’s mana base. Its targeted application ensures that, when timed correctly, it can severely impact your opponent’s strategy, especially if they heavily rely on specific nonbasic lands within their deck configuration.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Sowing Salt has no discard condition, players may still find themselves in a position where every card in hand is critical, making the effectiveness of this card variable based on the current situation.

Specific Mana Cost: Sowing Salt’s requirement for both red and colorless mana means that it fits primarily into red-focused decks or those with a reliable mana base that can easily accommodate a BR cost.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, it’s vital to calculate the opportunity cost of playing Sowing Salt. Players must consider other potentially more impactful spells they could cast at this stage of the game, including creatures, direct damage, or card draw options.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Sowing Salt fits into a range of sideboards for decks aiming to disrupt land-based strategies. By removing not just any land but a potential mana powerhouse from the game entirely, it can seriously impede your opponent’s plans.

Combo Potential: When paired with land-searching effects, this card can be a precise tool to strip key components from decks that rely on specific nonbasic lands to execute their strategy, crippling combos before they get off the ground.

Meta-Relevance: Sowing Salt shines in environments where land-centric decks such as Tron or Valakut strategies are prevalent, allowing players to dismantle their opponents’ key resources and gain an advantage in the match-up.

How to beat Sowing Salt

Sowing Salt offers a unique disruption strategy in the Magic: The Gathering arena, targeting the very lands from which players draw power. Unlike conventional land destruction cards, Sowing Salt exiles a nonbasic land and every copy of it from the opponent’s deck, hand, and graveyard, eliminating the risk of them returning to the game. To effectively counter Sowing Salt, players must diversify their land base and avoid heavy reliance on any single nonbasic land within their deck construction.

Integrating basic lands or lands with hexproof can safeguard against this devastating exile effect. An alternative approach is to employ counterspells or discard strategies to preemptively remove Sowing Salt from your opponent’s hand before it can be cast. Being proactive with cards like Duress or Negate can keep the threat off the board. As a last resort, turning to instant-speed land animation effects can momentarily turn key nonbasic lands into creatures, thus sidestepping Sowing Salt’s specific targeting criteria.

Adapting your play style and deck design to anticipate and nullify spell effects like Sowing Salt can define the difference between victory and defeat. Strategic deckbuilding and in-game tactics are vital defenses against this potent land-removal card.

Cards like Sowing Salt

Sowing Salt enters the arena of land disruption in MTG with a specific target in mind. It echoes the purpose of cards like Crumble to Dust and Rain of Tears, as these also focus on removing lands from the game. Yet, Sowing Salt differentiates itself by not just destroying a land outright but by exiling it along with all other copies of that land from the opponent’s deck and hand.

While Crumble to Dust offers a similar exile effect, it is newer and costs one less red mana, allowing players to use it earlier in the game. However, Sowing Salt’s ability to search for all copies of the targeted land including those in hand gives it an edge in thoroughness. On another front, Rain of Tears simply destroys a land without the exiling benefit, positioning Sowing Salt as a more potent option in matches where preventing recurring strategies is crucial.

In weighing land disruption options within MTG, Sowing Salt presents a valuable tactic for players looking to hamstring decks reliant on specific lands. Its comprehensive effect can decisively tilt a game by denying opponents access to an essential resource, making it a formidable card in the right scenario.

Cards similar to Sowing Salt by color, type and mana cost

Draconic Intervention - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sowing Salt MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Destiny and Betrayers of Kamigawa, 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 Sowing Salt and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Sowing Salt Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1999-06-07 and 2005-02-04. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1999-06-07	Urza's Destiny	UDS		97	1997	Normal	Black	Todd Lockwood
2	2005-02-04	Betrayers of Kamigawa	BOK		118	2003	Normal	Black	Hideaki Takamura

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sowing Salt has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	Does not exile other cards of the same name that are on the battlefield. Just from the graveyard, hand, and library.
2005-02-01	The copies must be found if they are in publicly viewable zones. Finding copies while searching private zones is optional.