Garbage Fire MTG Card

Garbage Fire - Conspiracy: Take the Crown

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Released	2016-08-26
Set symbol
Set name	Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Set code	CN2
Number	52
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Steve Prescott

Key Takeaways

Garbage Fire offers scalable damage and instant speed, enhancing your tactical flexibility during a game.
Although powerful in draft, it demands card discard and specific mana, challenging its deck versatility.
Its unique draft-dependent mechanism makes it a noteworthy and meta-relevant card in limited formats.

Text of card

Reveal Garbage Fire as you draft it and note how many cards you've drafted this draft round, including Garbage Fire. Garbage Fire deals damage to target creature equal to the highest number you noted for cards named Garbage Fire.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Garbage Fire card provides a scalable damage effect based on its draft position, offering the potential for a significant one-for-one trade or even better. Successfully eliminating a key creature from your opponent’s board while keeping your own creatures intact can quickly tilt the game in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: While Garbage Fire itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, the removal of an opponent’s creature can slow them down, indirectly boosting your tempo. Especially in limited formats such as draft or sealed games, tempo can be as valuable as raw mana acceleration.

Instant Speed: Garbage Fire’s instant speed is a huge advantage as it allows for flexible play. You can pass the turn with mana available and choose the right moment to strike, catching your opponent off-guard or disrupting their combat strategy. This requires your opponent to play more cautiously, as they must consider the potential for instant-speed removal at all times.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: A key drawback of this card is its upfront demand for discarding a card, potentially crippling hand advantage at crucial game moments.

Specific Mana Cost: The need for a specialized mana combination makes the card less versatile across a broad range of deck types, hindering its integration into multi-colored decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Sporting a mana cost that’s steep compared to its benefits, players might find alternative cards that deliver a bigger impact for less investment on the battlefield.

Reasons to Include Garbage Fire in Your Collection

Versatility: Though seemingly unconventional, Garbage Fire adds a unique twist to any collection with its ability to interact with draft mechanics and fluctuating damage potential. This card can act as a tailored removal based on its draft position, making it a flexible pick when accounted for properly.

Combo Potential: In the right context, this card’s variability can synergize with mechanics that manipulate or benefit from the number of cards in hand or the types of cards drafted around it, potentially creating unexpected and potent combinations during draft play.

Meta-Relevance: While it may not appear as a staple card in competitive play, Garbage Fire’s effectiveness can rise in a limited format where draft picks and surprise value can overturn the tide of a match, demonstrating its situational meta relevance in draft-centric games.

How to Beat Garbage Fire

Garbage Fire is an interesting inclusion to the arsenal of removal spells in Magic: The Gathering, offering a draft-dependent damage output. To effectively counter it, consider the timing of its reveal. Since its damage is based on its pick order in the draft, you can diminish its impact by closely observing which pick your opponent declares. Strategically, increasing the toughness of your creatures beyond common draft pick numbers ensures they survive a Garbage Fire hit.

Maintaining a diverse suite of creatures also trips up Garbage Fire’s effectiveness. Incorporate a range of low to high toughness creatures, so an opponent cannot easily remove your key creatures. Additionally, instant-speed creature buffs disrupt Garbage Fire’s calculations, with spells such as Blossoming Defense protecting your assets while offering an unexpected power boost. In decks that don’t rely heavily on creatures, the relevance of Garbage Fire dwindles, as control or combo-oriented strategies won’t present many targets for it.

All in all, understanding Garbage Fire’s dependency on the draft process and adapting your gameplay to mitigate its damage is essential. By doing so, you can weaken its potential and maintain a robust presence on the battlefield.

Cards like Garbage Fire

Garbage Fire brings a unique mechanic to the table as an intriguing Magic: The Gathering removal spell. Its variability in damage output makes it akin to cards like Flames of the Firebrand. Flames of the Firebrand also allows players to split damage across multiple targets, providing flexibility in gameplay. Where Garbage Fire diverges is in its draft-based damage-setting feature, where the cost of the damage is determined during the draft itself, adding an element of strategy and foresight.

Another related spell, Fireball, shares Garbage Fire’s variable damage potential. Fireball’s strength lies in its scalability, capable of dealing massive damage to several targets at once, or targeting a single threat. Unlike Garbage Fire, however, Fireball’s cost is determined when it’s played, not during the draft.

Overall, Garbage Fire presents an interesting comparison and dynamic to the MTG universe, having a draft-centric design that can lead to a high payoff if strategized correctly. It stands out among removal spells with its unique draft-time damage assignment, offering a flavorful twist on predictable damage spells.

Flames of the Firebrand - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Garbage Fire MTG card by a specific set like Conspiracy: Take the Crown, 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 Garbage Fire and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Garbage Fire has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2016-08-23	For example, if you draft Garbage Fire as the third card in a draft round and then another one as the twelfth card in a draft round, each Garbage Fire will deal 12 damage. Yikes.
2016-08-23	If you somehow cast, copy, or gain control of Garbage Fire but you didn’t draft one, the highest noted number is considered to be 0, so Garbage Fire won’t deal any damage.