Smog Elemental MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Elemental
Abilities	Flying
Released	2013-02-01
Set symbol
Set name	Gatecrash
Set code	GTC
Power	3
Toughness	3
Number	79
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Yeong-Hao Han

Key Takeaways

Smog Elemental effectively weakens opponents’ creatures, promoting survivability and indirect card advantage.
The ongoing ability to depress enemy power saves mana, allowing strategic allocation for impactful plays.
Despite high mana costs, its utility in specific metas and decks can justify inclusion in your collection.

Text of card

Flying Creatures with flying your opponents control get -1/-1.

"The skies used to be my refuge, a place of peace away from the chaos below. Now, with every flight, death seems to follow me like a shadow." —Writings of Cica, Skyjek scout

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Smog Elemental may not directly let you draw cards, yet its unique ability to reduce the power of opposing creatures can functionally equate to card advantage. By weakening your opponent’s board presence, it ensures your creatures could survive longer, indirectly leading to more card draw over time and maintaining board control.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly contributing to resource acceleration, having Smog Elemental on the field can help preserve your mana resources. Its effect of diminishing enemy creatures’ power could result in less need for using removal spells, thus allowing you to allocate mana more effectively towards playing more impactful cards.

Instant Speed: While Smog Elemental itself is cast at sorcery speed, its static ability affects the game at all times once it’s on the battlefield. This continuous effect places constant pressure on your opponent, potentially forcing them to commit more resources at an inopportune time or hold back their creatures, much like the consideration that comes with playing at instant speed.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Smog Elemental doesn’t require you to discard cards, players should be aware of other cards with synergies that might demand card discards for activation, reducing hand advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Smog Elemental’s casting cost demands three black mana, which can be restrictive for multicolored deck strategies and may require deck adjustments or mana-fixing resources to play optimally.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost totaling six mana, Smog Elemental’s impact on the board might not justify the investment, especially compared to other six-mana creatures or spells with potentially game-changing abilities.

Reasons to Include Smog Elemental in Your Collection

Versatility: While Smog Elemental is a niche card, it can be a solid addition in decks that focus on flyers or those that aim to handicap opponents’ creatures, such as in flying tribal decks or strategies that stifle your opponent’s board development.

Combo Potential: This card can be paired with effects that grant your creatures flying, thereby not only providing your army with evasion but also diminishing the power of opposing creatures on the ground. It can enhance a battlefield presence with its global attack debuff to non-flyers.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta with decks heavily reliant on ground forces, Smog Elemental can serve as a strategic sideboard choice, potentially swinging games by negating the effectiveness of an opponent’s creatures without flying.

How to beat

Smog Elemental is an intriguing flyer in the world of Magic: The Gathering, forcing opponents to navigate around its passive ability, which gives their flying creatures -1/-1. To effectively combat this six-mana shadow-cloaked flyer, strategies often involve removal spells, as direct damage can bypass its debuff to your flying squadron. Cards like Murder or Doom Blade, which cleanly dispatch creatures irrespective of their abilities, can be a surefire way to clear your skies of the Smog Elemental threat.

Another effective method includes enchantment-based solutions, such as Pacifism or Journey to Nowhere. These spells render Smog Elemental harmless without requiring you to expend additional resources battling through potential countermeasures. Additionally, utilizing creatures with reach or those that can block flyers, like Spider or Sentinel species, can provide you with a defensive front that nullifies the need for an aerial assault and keeps Smog Elemental at bay.

Ultimately, it’s about adopting a tactical approach that matches your deck’s strengths, whether that’s dispatching, disabling, or circumventing this noxious creature. Through understanding your deck’s mechanics and the range of answers at your disposal, you can ensure that Smog Elemental’s presence won’t cloud your path to victory.

Cards like Smog Elemental

Smog Elemental is a unique creature in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. It resonates with the likes of creatures such as Pestilent Spirit in terms of providing a combat advantage. Both grant certain deterrence to opponent creatures—in Smog Elemental’s case by giving opposing flying creatures -1/-1, whereas Pestilent Spirit intimidates by giving instant and sorcery spells deathtouch. Smog Elemental can significantly impact the battlefield, especially against decks with multiple flying creatures.

Another comparison can be drawn with Thundercloud Shaman, a card with a similar impact against small creatures. While Smog Elemental’s effect is continuous, affecting only flyers, Thundercloud Shaman’s ability is a one-time effect during its entrance to the field, dealing damage to all small creatures regardless of flying. This reach extends beyond aerial threats but lacks the persisting degrading effect of the Smog Elemental.

Assessing their functionalities, Smog Elemental has a distinctive role in a player’s arsenal, curbing the aerial assault of an adversary with every untap. Its continuous ability to weaken opponent flyers makes it a distinctive strategic addition and sets it apart from cards with similar mass control effects.

Cards similar to Smog Elemental by color, type and mana cost

Chittering Harvester - MTG Card versions

Crossway Troublemakers - MTG Card versions

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Smog Elemental MTG card by a specific set like Gatecrash, 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 Smog Elemental and other MTG cards: