Mercadia's Downfall MTG Card

Mercadia's Downfall - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)

Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
1999-10-04 - Number 205

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number MMQ-205

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Instant

Key Takeaways

Mercadia’s Downfall can deliver increased damage in multiplayer games, leveraging opponents’ lands.
As an instant, it offers flexibility, allowing players to strike at an opportune combat phase moment.
Its casting requirements might limit versatility, competing with cards of similar mana investment.

Text of card

Attacking creatures get +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of nonbasic lands defending player controls.

With an explosion that shook the foundation of the city, the *Weatherlight* burst from the underground hangar.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mercadia’s Downfall offers a distinct advantage by potentially increasing the damage dealt based on the number of lands your opponents control. In multiplayer games, this can translate into a significant boost in damage, ensuring you’re getting more impact per card than your opponents.

Resource Acceleration: While Mercadia’s Downfall doesn’t directly contribute to resource acceleration, the potential damage spike can quickly turn the tides of a game, paving the way for a speedier victory. This can indirectly affect the game’s pace and reduce the need for more resources to close out the match.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of Mercadia’s Downfall being an instant cannot be overstated. It allows you to wait until just the right moment during the combat phase to unleash a game-changing amount of damage, catching an opponent off-guard when they’re tapped out or committed to an unfavorable block.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Mercadia’s Downfall demands a player to discard a card as part of its casting cost. This can be a tricky play, especially when your hand is already running low on options. Discarding might cause you to lose a crucial piece of your strategy, leaving you vulnerable in the game.

Specific Mana Cost: The card’s casting cost requires a combination of red and other colors of mana. This targets its playability mainly towards multicolored decks and can be a stumbling block for mono-colored strategies or when you’re facing a mana base that’s not perfectly aligned with its requirements.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: To leverage the benefits of Mercadia’s Downfall, players need to allocate a fair chunk of mana. Given its cost, it competes with other pivotal cards that might deliver greater impact or versatility for a similar, if not lower, investment. This can make it a less attractive option when optimizing the efficiency of your deck.

Reasons to Include Mercadia’s Downfall in Your Collection

Versatility: Mercadia’s Downfall offers a unique angle of attack, fitting well into strategies that aim to circumvent traditional defenses. It can be a game-changer in games where opponents have many nonbasic lands, often found in multi-colored decks.

Combo Potential: This card excels in decks that can create a large number of attackers, potentially dealing lethal damage in a single combat phase. It can be paired with various token generators to surprise opponents with an overwhelming force.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where decks tend to rely on a rich base of nonbasic lands, Mercadia’s Downfall becomes a potent sideboard option. It pivots the battlefield to favor aggressive tactics and capitalizes on the resource-heavy setups of many popular deck archetypes.

How to beat

Mercadia’s Downfall is a unique card that offers a decisive advantage in games of MTG, especially when facing opponents with resource-heavy board states. Its ability to turn the number of lands an opponent controls into a potential liability can lead to unexpected and dramatic swings in power. To effectively counter this card, a balanced strategy is key.

Managing the number of lands you control can be a viable tactic to mitigate the impact of Mercadia’s Downfall. Cards that allow lands to be bounced back to your hand or replaced with non-land permanents can be useful. Moreover, employing instant-speed removal spells or damage prevention effects right before the combat damage step can disrupt the strategy built around this card.

Deck building with a low land count or operating with lands that offer flexible utilities, such as transforming or becoming creatures, can also reduce the risk posed by Mercadia’s Downfall. In essence, staying adaptable and maintaining an awareness of your land count can give you the upper hand, ensuring Mercadia’s Downfall doesn’t end up dictating the fate of your game.

Cards like Mercadia's Downfall

Mercadia’s Downfall stands out in decks revolving around aggressive strategy and multiplayer dynamics in Magic: The Gathering. Reminiscent of cards such as Overrun, Mercadia’s Downfall provides a potentially significant boost in power to your creatures. Unlike Overrun, which gives creatures a static power and toughness increase and trample, Mercadia’s Downfall’s power boost fluctuates, depending on the number of nonbasic lands your opponents control. This makes it a surprise factor in games, particularly effective in the late game where nonbasic lands are plentiful.

Comparatively, we have Mass Mutiny which focuses on a different aspect of control by taking your opponent’s creatures for a turn. While it does not directly pump your forces like Mercadia’s Downfall, it subtly weakens your opponents’ defenses and could turn the tide in your favor. Similarly, Insurrection is a game-ending spell that can often win you the game by swinging your opponents’ creatures in your favor, much like the turning the tables with a well-timed Mercadia’s Downfall.

Taking everything into account, Mercadia’s Downfall holds a specialized niche for those looking to leverage the battlefield in their favor swiftly, targeting the land base of the opposition, a unique angle not commonly found in other similar MTG cards.

Cards similar to Mercadia's Downfall by color, type and mana cost

Merchant of the Vale // Haggle - MTG Card versions

Path of Anger's Flame - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mercadia's Downfall MTG card by a specific set like Mercadian Masques and The List, 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 Mercadia's Downfall and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Mercadia's Downfall Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1999-10-04 and 1999-10-04. Illustrated by Pete Venters.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1999-10-04	Mercadian Masques	MMQ		205	1997	Normal	Black	Pete Venters
2	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST		MMQ-205	1997	Normal	Black	Pete Venters

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Mercadia's Downfall has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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