Festering March MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Suspend
Released	2007-05-04
Set symbol
Set name	Future Sight
Set code	FUT
Number	65
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Brandon Kitkouski

Key Takeaways

Provides potent card advantage by potentially clearing multiple opponent creatures at instant speed.
Demands careful hand management due to the discard requirement, challenging strategic resource planning.
Boasts versatility and combo potential, reinforcing various deck themes and strategies.

Text of card

Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn. Remove Festering March from the game with three time counters on it. Suspend 3— (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay and remove it from the game with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, play it without paying its mana cost.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Festering March offers a unique edge by potentially removing multiple threats from the board. When targeting creatures your opponents control, this can translate into a significant swing in card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: While Festering March itself doesn’t directly provide resource acceleration, the elimination of opposing creatures can lead to indirect acceleration by removing potential blockers and clearing the way for your attacks, thus preserving your own resources.

Instant Speed: The instant speed of Festering March is a game-changer, giving you the flexibility to disrupt your opponent’s strategy during their turn. This unpredictability can force your opponent to play more cautiously, knowing you could have a response at any moment.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Festering March could put you in a tight spot by making you discard a card, potentially depleting your hand when you could least afford it.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s mana cost requires a specific combination of colors, which may not easily fit into all deck types, possibly limiting its versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When compared to other cards with similar effects, the mana cost for Festering March is on the higher side, which could slow down your game plan in fast-paced matches.

Reasons to Include Festering March in Your Collection

Versatility: Festering March is a card that can adapt to a variety of deck themes. Whether you’re playing a deck that focuses on -1/-1 counters, life-loss, or direct creature control, this card can enhance your gameplay by offering seamless integration into these strategies.

Combo Potential: With its ability to dish out multiple -1/-1 counters across the board, Festering March can be a powerhouse when combined with cards that capitalize on decreasing creature stats. It’s an asset in decks looking to exploit those synergies for a decisive advantage.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that’s creature-heavy or where board presence is key, Festering March becomes an important tool. It can shift the tide of the game by weakening or outright destroying an opponent’s creatures, which could be crucial in maintaining dominance on the battlefield.

How to Overcome Festering March

Festering March is an interesting card in the realm of MTG, with its ability to spread -1/-1 counters across your opponent’s creatures. This can quickly turn the tide of the board state in your favor. But don’t let this card intimidate you. One strategy to deal with Festering March is focusing on indestructible creatures. Since they can’t be destroyed by effects that deal damage or place -1/-1 counters, they endure Festering March’s impact effortlessly.

Enhancing your creatures’ toughness is another effective tactic. By boosting their resilience, you can protect them from being overwhelmed by the -1/-1 counters of Festering March. Additionally, using hexproof or shroud can shield your creatures, making them untargetable by such abilities. Finally, consider countermagic to prevent Festering March from ever taking effect. Countering it upon casting can ensure it never becomes a threat on the board. Remember, understanding your opponent’s strategies and anticipating their plays can often provide the insight needed to outmaneuver them.

In conclusion, while Festering March may initially seem daunting, by employing strategies such as leveraging indestructible, toughness, and hexproof, as well as employing countermagic, you can effectively nullify its advantage. Mastering these tactics will help you maintain dominance on the battlefield.

Cards like Festering March

Festering March is an intriguing option for those seeking versatile creature control in Magic the Gathering. It’s often compared to other removal spells such as Toxic Deluge. The main distinction lies in Festering March’s ability to spread its effect across multiple turns, thanks to its rebound feature. This allows players to utilize the effect twice, providing a potentially more prolonged impact on the game. However, Toxic Deluge has the advantage of being immediate, offering a one-time removal that can clear the board decisively with its customizable nature.

Another card worth mentioning in this context is Black Sun’s Zenith, which shares the thematic approach of distributing -1/-1 counters, thus offering a scalable solution to handle creatures of various sizes. Unlike Festering March, Black Sun’s Zenith has the flexibility of affecting all creatures on the board and is then reshuffled into its owner’s library rather than setting up for a second use the following turn.

Overall, Festering March contributes to the array of creature control options available to MTG players, offering a unique strategic play by combining removal with the delayed gratification of rebound, making it a card to consider in decks where timing and repeatable effects are vital.

Cards similar to Festering March by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Festering March MTG card by a specific set like Future Sight, 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 Festering March and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Festering March has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2021-06-18	As the second triggered ability resolves, you must cast the card if able. You must do so even if it requires targets and the only legal targets are ones that you really don’t want to target. Timing permissions based on the card’s type are ignored.
2021-06-18	Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up.
2021-06-18	Exiling a card with suspend isn’t casting that card. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.
2021-06-18	If an effect refers to a “suspended card,” that means a card that (1) has suspend, (2) is in exile, and (3) has one or more time counters on it.
2021-06-18	If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18	If the first triggered ability of suspend (the one that removes time counters) is countered, no time counter is removed. The ability will trigger again at the beginning of the card’s owner’s next upkeep.
2021-06-18	If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can’t be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If the spell requires any targets, those targets are chosen when the spell is finally cast, not when it’s exiled.
2021-06-18	If you can’t cast the card, perhaps because there are no legal targets available, it remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” such as with suspend, you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those if you want to cast the card.
2021-06-18	Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it’s on the stack).
2021-06-18	The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn’t paid.
2021-06-18	When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn’t matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it.
2021-06-18	You are never forced to activate mana abilities to pay costs, so if there is a mandatory additional mana cost (such as from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben), you can decline to activate mana abilities to pay for it and hence fail to cast the suspended card, leaving it in exile.
2021-06-18	You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage’s ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time.