Planar Despair MTG Card

Planar Despair offers board control, tilting the scales by removing multiple creatures at once. Instant speed casting enables surprise plays, disrupting opponent strategies effectively. The card requires careful use due to its mana cost and card discard condition.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Domain
Released	2001-06-04
Set symbol
Set name	Apocalypse
Set code	APC
Number	50
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Mike Sass

Text of card

All creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn for each basic land type among lands you control.

All of Dominaria recoiled as Yawgmoth and his retainers arrived.

Cards like Planar Despair

Planar Despair stands out in MTG as a powerful board controlling card, reminiscent of the sweeping effects of Damnation or Languish. Like these notorious wipeouts, Planar Despair can clear the battlefield of creatures, dictating the game’s tempo. It differentiates itself by often having a potentially lower mana cost due to the affinity mechanic, where the cost is reduced by the number of types of permanents you control. Damnation offers a decisive and unconditional end to all creatures at a fixed cost, whereas Languish allows some smaller creatures to survive due to its -4/-4 limitation.

Further comparisons bring up Crux of Fate, which also provides a customizable creature-clearing option, targeting either dragons or non-dragons specifically. This selectiveness can be advantageous or limiting, depending on your strategy, as opposed to the indiscriminate nature of Planar Despair. Another card to examine is Toxic Deluge, which enables you to control the extent of destruction via life payment, giving you more flexibility at pivotal game moments.

Assessing the efficiency versus flexibility of these options, Planar Despair holds a valuable position within MTG’s board sweepers, offering an edge in decks rich with varied permanents aiding strategic battlefield resets.

Cards similar to Planar Despair by color, type and mana cost

Voices from the Void - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Planar Despair allows players to potentially clear the board of creatures, swinging the game state significantly. This could lead to a stark advantage as it may leave your opponent with little to no board presence, making it harder for them to recover.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly contributing to resource acceleration, Planar Despair can indirectly affect mana resources. By eliminating creatures that provide ramp or mana dorks, you can slow down your opponent’s resource acceleration, thus maintaining a level playing field or even tilting the mana balance in your favor.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Planar Despair at instant speed allows for strategic flexibility. You can pass the turn without committing mana to other spells and wait for the perfect moment to surprise your opponent, potentially disrupting their plans mid-combat or at the end of their turn for maximum impact.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Planar Despair requires you to discard a card, presenting a potential setback when your hand resources are already dwindling.

Specific Mana Cost: A steadfast requirement for black mana means that Planar Despair is restricted in its compatibility, primarily fitting into mono-black or black-centric multicolor decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Sporting a mana value that reflects its impactful board sweep, Planar Despair might come into play later than desired, especially when faster tempo plays are needed in a game’s early stages.

Reasons to Include Planar Despair in Your Collection

Versatility: Planar Despair is a card that can slip into diverse archetypes with ease. Its ability to clear the board provides an equalizing factor, especially in formats where creatures dominate the field.

Combo Potential: As a spell that impacts all creatures, Planar Despair can be pivotal in decks that look to capitalize on death-triggered abilities or wish to reset the board to gain advantage.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where creature-heavy decks are prevalent, Planar Despair can serve as a crucial tool, tilting games in your favor by disrupting opponents’ established boards.

How to beat Planar Despair

Planar Despair is a challenging card to navigate around in Magic: The Gathering due to its potential to swing the game by affecting all creatures on the battlefield. Its primary strength lies in its adaptability, able to scale with the number of colors committed to it. To effectively counter this card, one must consider a strategy less reliant on a wide board presence, possibly shifting the focus to fewer, but more resilient creatures.

Maintaining a diversity in the types of spells you have at your disposal is another way to mitigate Planar Despair’s impact. Utilizing instant-speed removal or indestructibility effects can preserve key creatures in the face of this sweeping despair. Lastly, keeping a high-pressure approach with a more aggressive play style forces the Planar Despair user to act defensively, thereby limiting their ability to dictate the pace of the game and ultimately allowing you to maintain the upper hand.

By making smart deck-building choices and tactical in-game decisions, you can create scenarios where Planar Despair loses its edge, keeping you in control of the match when facing opponents wielding this powerful spell.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Planar Despair MTG card by a specific set like Apocalypse, 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 Planar Despair and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Planar Despair has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2009-02-01	A number of nonbasic lands have basic land types. Domain abilities don’t count the number of lands you control — they count the number of basic land types among lands you control, even if that means checking the same land twice. For example, if you control a Tundra, an Overgrown Tomb, and a Madblind Mountain, you’ll have a Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest among the lands you control. Your domain abilities will be maxed out.
2009-02-01	How many lands you control of a particular basic land type is irrelevant to a domain ability, as long as that number is greater than zero. As far as domain is concerned, ten Forests is the same as one Forest.
2009-02-01	To determine the number of basic land types among lands you control, look at the lands you have on the battlefield and ask yourself whether the subtypes Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest appear within that group. The number of times you say yes (topping out at five) tells you how powerful your domain abilities will be.