Exploding Borders MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Domain
Released	2009-02-06
Set symbol
Set name	Conflux
Set code	CON
Number	106
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai

Key Takeaways

It offers a dual benefit of mana ramping and opponent damage, which can swing the game in your favor.
The card’s four mana cost and restricted color requirement can complicate its inclusion in some decks.
Strategically, Exploding Borders fits into landfall and domain-centric strategies for maximizing its effectiveness.

Text of card

Domain Search your library for a basic land card, put that card into play tapped, then shuffle your library. Exploding Borders deals X damage to target player, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control.

Reuniting a world is not a gentle process.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Exploding Borders provides a cumulative card advantage by fetching a land directly to the battlefield. This not only thins the deck, making it more likely to draw into non-land cards but also puts you a step ahead by increasing your land count.

Resource Acceleration: This card is an effective way to ramp up mana resources. By securing an additional land, it potentially allows you to play high-cost spells sooner than usual, giving you an edge over opponents by accelerating resource development.

Instant Speed: Despite being a sorcery, Exploding Borders has the dynamic ability to deal damage upon land entry. This can be paired with instant speed land fetch mechanics to disrupt opponents during their turn, a versatile play that can catch opponents off-guard and maintain pressure.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To capitalize on the land-fetching capabilities of Exploding Borders, players must have a spare card to discard, which may not always be favorable, especially in tight situations where hand size is crucial.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost of Exploding Borders includes a demanding spread across three different colors of mana, making it challenging to seamlessly integrate into any deck without a carefully curated mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The efficiency of Exploding Borders is often brought into question given its four mana requirement which competes with numerous other impactful, game-shifting cards in the same cost bracket.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Exploding Borders is not just a card—it’s a strategic asset. This card can support a multitude of deck types and strategies with its ability to deal damage while simultaneously mana-fixing, a rare combination that can catch opponents off guard.

Combo Potential: This card isn’t just about dealing a punch; it’s about setting up the board for bigger plays. It synergizes with decks that manipulate land counts and can be a key component in triggering powerful landfall abilities.

Meta-Relevance: In a playing field that’s constantly adapting, having a card like Exploding Borders that can efficiently handle multiple roles is invaluable. Whether it’s taking advantage of a land-centric meta or needing that extra edge in the race for board control, this card could be a game-changer.

How to beat

Exploding Borders is a unique card within Magic: The Gathering’s pantheon of land-focused spells. It presents its own set of challenges, given its ability to ramp mana resources while dealing damage based on the number of basic land types among lands you control. This dual-purpose nature demands a tactical approach to overcome.

Strategies to outplay Exploding Borders typically revolve around denying the user their land diversity. Land destruction cards or ones that alter land types can effectively mitigate the damage potential of Exploding Borders. A more aggressive approach might include deploying early threats to pressure opponents who may rely on this card for a later game advantage. Additionally, cards offering damage prevention or life gain can help offset the incidental damage incurred from Exploding Borders’ effect.

Understanding and anticipating your opponent’s plays is key. By keeping an eye on the mana base they are developing and maintaining a brisk pace with your own strategy, you can defend against the impact of Exploding Borders. It requires not just the right cards but the foresight and timing to deploy them effectively against this potential threat.

Cards like Exploding Borders

Exploding Borders occupies a unique niche in the world of ramp and domain cards within Magic: The Gathering. It draws comparisons to cards like Fertilid, offering a ramping benefit through the acquisition of basic lands. However, Exploding Borders goes a step further by dealing damage to an opponent based on the number of basic land types you control. This allows for both a growth in mana base as well as an offensive angle.

Another card that echoes the utility of Exploding Borders is Collective Voyage. This card also focuses on ramping up by fetching lands, but it creates a shared benefit for all players. Conversely, Exploding Borders maintains an aggressive edge and only serves the one deploying it. There’s also Circuitous Route, a infamous card that fetches two gates or basic lands, yet it lacks the direct damage aspect that lets Exploding Borders shine in more aggressive strategies.

Ranging from land acquisition to battlefield impact, Exploding Borders indeed carves out its position amongst Magic: The Gathering cards. Its dual-purpose design allows players to stretch their mana while applying pressure, reflecting the card’s ingenuity in blending progression with aggression.

Cards similar to Exploding Borders by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Exploding Borders MTG card by a specific set like Conflux, 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 Exploding Borders and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Exploding Borders has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2009-02-01	A number of nonbasic lands have basic land types. Domain abilities don’t count the number of lands you control — they count the number of basic land types among lands you control, even if that means checking the same land twice. For example, if you control a Tundra, an Overgrown Tomb, and a Madblind Mountain, you’ll have a Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest among the lands you control. Your domain abilities will be maxed out.
2009-02-01	Exploding Borders has only one target: the player. If that player becomes an illegal target by the time Exploding Borders would resolve, the entire spell doesn’t resolve. You won’t get to search for a basic land card.
2009-02-01	Exploding Borders will still deal damage even if you don’t put a land card onto the battlefield.
2009-02-01	How many lands you control of a particular basic land type is irrelevant to a domain ability, as long as that number is greater than zero. As far as domain is concerned, ten Forests is the same as one Forest.
2009-02-01	To determine the number of basic land types among lands you control, look at the lands you have on the battlefield and ask yourself whether the subtypes Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest appear within that group. The number of times you say yes (topping out at five) tells you how powerful your domain abilities will be.
2009-02-01	You do what the spell says in order, so you’ll put a new basic land card onto the battlefield before you determine the value of X.