Contagion Dispenser MTG Card

Contagion Dispenser enables card efficiency by proliferating without extra card investment. It demands specific mana and discarding, potentially hindering some strategies. Despite costs, it’s a versatile artifact with meta relevance and combo potential.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact
Abilities	Proliferate
Released	2023-02-28
Set symbol
Set name	Alchemy: Phyrexia
Set code	YONE
Number	19
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Bruce Brenneise

Text of card

When Contagion Dispenser enters the battlefield, proliferate. Whenever you proliferate during your turn, draft a card from Contagion Dispenser's spellbook. This ability triggers only once each turn.

Cards like Contagion Dispenser

Contagion Dispenser is a unique artifact in Magic: The Gathering that brings a level of board control to the table. Cards such as Contagion Engine share a resemblance with Contagion Dispenser, providing a way to place -1/-1 counters on creatures. However, Contagion Engine amplifies this by affecting all creatures your opponents control and doubling as a proliferator for all types of counters.

Despite having a different rarity and mana cost, Throne of Geth presents a similar proliferate ability. Rather than using an activation cost, it requires a sacrifice, offering a strategic choice between permanence and a powerful one-time effect. Core Prowler is another analog, primarily when it dies, it spreads the counters further, proliferating as a triggered ability, which contrasts with the manual activation of Contagion Dispenser.

Assessing the field of proliferate mechanics, Contagion Dispenser offers flexibility and repeated use, carving its own niche for players who value ongoing control over their opponent’s board state while synergizing well in decks built around counters.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Contagion Dispenser presents a clear avenue towards card efficiency, particularly through proliferating your permanent counters to strengthen your board state without investing extra cards.

Resource Acceleration: Its ability to manipulate charge counters can inadvertently lead to accelerated resource availability, especially when interacting with artifacts designed to untap with additional counters or provide incremental advantage.

Instant Speed: Although Contagion Dispenser operates at sorcery speed, its capacity to disrupt at critical junctures can mimic the game-changing impact of instant speed interactions, by setting up dominating board states your opponents must answer immediately or fall behind.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Contagion Dispenser requires a player to discard a card to activate its proliferate ability. This can put players at a significant disadvantage, especially when their hand is nearly empty or when every card in hand is crucial for maintaining their strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: This artifact’s activated abilities demand a specific color of mana (black), which could be restrictive for decks that aren’t heavily invested in black mana resources. It’s important to evaluate if your mana base can reliably support the activation cost.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a relatively steep cost to proliferate, players need to assess whether the Contagion Dispenser’s impact on the board justifies the investment. In a format where mana efficiency is crucial, there may be alternative cards that offer similar effects without such a significant mana cost, thus allowing for a more streamlined and effective deck performance.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Contagion Dispenser is an adaptable addition to a variety of decks, lending itself particularly well to decks that exploit proliferate mechanics or need an effective way to manage counters across the board.

Combo Potential: This card shines when combined with other pieces that manipulate counters, whether for bolstering your creatures, depleting an opponent’s forces, or accelerating loyalty counters on planeswalkers.

Meta-Relevance: In a metagame dense with creature strategies or superfriends decks, Contagion Dispenser’s ability to influence the field by adjusting counters can prove to be a tactical asset, providing you with an edge.

How to beat

Contagion Dispenser presents a unique challenge within the MTG play environment, giving its controller the ability to manipulate the number of counters on creatures across the battlefield. Understanding how to counteract its potentially game-altering effects is essential for maintaining an advantage. To effectively dismantle the threat posed by Contagion Dispenser, consider employing instant-speed removal spells, which can disrupt your opponent’s strategy by removing it before its ability can be activated.

Artifact hate cards, such as Naturalize or Abrade, are particularly useful here, as they can dispose of the Dispenser outright. Additionally, focusing on strategies that don’t rely heavily on counter-dependent creatures can lessen the impact of the Dispenser’s ability to alter the flow of the game. Prioritize maintaining open mana during critical points of the game when your opponent might aim to make pivotal plays with Contagion Dispenser. Swift action is often the key to keeping control and ensuring that Contagion Dispenser doesn’t become a persistent problem on the board.

It is also worth considering the broader context of your deck’s strategy when preparing to face a card like Contagion Dispenser. Incorporating versatile answers to various threats, including problematic artifacts, can enhance your resilience against the unexpected twists and turns that MTG is known for.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Contagion Dispenser MTG card by a specific set like Alchemy: Phyrexia, 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 Contagion Dispenser and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Contagion Dispenser has restrictions

Format	Legality
Gladiator	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Historic	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Timeless	Legal