Ruinous Path MTG Card
2015-10-02 - Number 123
2015-10-02 - Number 123s
2015-10-02 - Number 123
2018-08-09 - Number 117
2002-06-24 - Number 58273
| Card sets | Released in 5 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Sorcery |
| Abilities | Awaken |
Text of card
Destroy target creature or planeswalker. Awaken 4— (If you cast this spell for , also put four +1/+1 counters on target land you control and it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with haste. It's still a land.)
Cards like Ruinous Path
Ruinous Path stands as a solid option for creature and planeswalker removal in Magic: The Gathering. When spotlighting parallels, Hero’s Downfall immediately springs to mind, a card revered for its ability to target creatures and planeswalkers at instant speed. While both obliterate a significant threat, Ruinous Path’s sorcery speed places it at a strategic disadvantage compared to the swift action of Hero’s Downfall. Nonetheless, Ruinous Path compensates with its Awaken ability, offering an additional avenue to turn lands into formidable creatures, a dynamic Hero’s Downfall lacks.
Delving further, we observe Never // Return having traits akin to Ruinous Path. They both remove key pieces from the battleground and possess secondary abilities—Ruinous Path with its capacity to animate lands and Never // Return with graveyard disruption. Despite their similarities, each spell’s situational usefulness diverges, making the selection heavily context-dependent. Cost-effectiveness is another factor; the split card’s flexibility can be a double-edged sword, making it intriguing yet potentially less efficient.
Ultimately, in the realm of multi-faceted removal spells, Ruinous Path carves its niche. Its duality as a removal spell and latent creature creator adds layers of complexity to deck building and strategic execution in MTG.
Cards similar to Ruinous Path by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Ruinous Path enhances your strategic arsenal by offering the ability to dispatch an opponent’s creature or planeswalker. This removal power can shift the tide of the game, granting you leverage and often leaving your opponent at a card deficit.
Resource Acceleration: While Ruinous Path itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources in the traditional sense, it efficiently uses available mana. Casting it can lead to a more favorable board state, paving the way for a swifter victory and resource dominance over your adversary.
Instant Speed: Ruinous Path operates at sorcery speed, providing a powerful, assured removal during your turn. This encourages a strategic mindset, planning ahead for the perfect moment to clear a path to victory without the risks that come with waiting to act on an opponent’s move.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Ruinous Path allows you to take down formidable threats, it doesn’t come without a cost. Devoid of an additional discard requirement, one might argue this spell demands a strategic hand management to optimize its utility, especially when faced with multiple threats at once.
Specific Mana Cost: Casting Ruinous Path requires a specific mana combination, which includes double black. This cost can be restrictive in multi-colored decks that might struggle with mana fixing or prefer a more flexible mana base to accommodate a wider variety of spells.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The three mana required to cast Ruinous Path, while not exorbitant, is still considered high for sorcery-speed removal. This may put players at a tempo disadvantage in faster-paced games where lower-cost removal spells could allow for a more efficient use of mana, enabling additional actions within a single turn.
Reasons to Include Ruinous Path in Your Collection
Versatility: Ruinous Path brings flexible removal to any black-heavy deck. As a sorcery, it can clear away not just creatures but planeswalkers too, making it a solid choice for different kinds of matchups.
Combo Potential: The awaken ability adds another dimension, turning your lands into potential creatures. This can synergize well with strategies that benefit from creature count or landfall abilities, bolstering your board presence significantly.
Meta-Relevance: In an environment rich with formidable planeswalkers and creatures, Ruinous Path ensures that you have a direct answer. This can help to level the playing field, especially in control or midrange decks that need to mitigate threats efficiently.
How to beat
Stepping into the realm of MTG strategy, Ruinous Path is a potent removal spell that players often include in their black decks for its ability to obliterate creatures or planeswalkers. A similarity can be drawn to the renowned Hero’s Downfall, which also serves the purpose of eliminating both creatures and planeswalkers at instant speed. Despite this, Ruinous Path’s sorcery speed places it in direct contrast to Hero’s Downfall, spotlighting the prominence of timing when it comes to gameplay impact.
A key tactic in overcoming Ruinous Path involves prioritizing the use of instants and flash-enabled creatures to sidestep its sorcery limitations. By playing creatures on your opponent’s turn, you minimize the window Ruinous Path has to affect your board state. Additionally, incorporating indestructible or hexproof creatures into your deck builds a resilient frontline that’s impervious to such targeted removal spells.
Ultimately, understanding your meta and deck construction is critical in countering Ruinous Path. By anticipating its presence and adjusting your plays accordingly, you can gain a significant advantage. This reinforces the strategic depth and complexity that makes Magic: The Gathering a continuously engaging and challenging game.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Ruinous Path MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Battle for Zendikar, 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 Ruinous Path and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
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- Card Market
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- MTG Mint Card
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Printings
The Ruinous Path Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2015-10-02 and 2018-08-09. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 58273 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Aaron Miller | ||
| 2 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar | BFZ | 123 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jaime Jones | |
| 3 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar Promos | PBFZ | 123s | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jaime Jones | |
| 4 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar Promos | PBFZ | 123 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Aaron Miller | |
| 5 | 2018-08-09 | Commander 2018 | C18 | 117 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jaime Jones |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Ruinous Path has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Ruinous Path card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2015-08-25 | Awaken doesn’t give the land you control a color. As most lands are colorless, in most cases the resulting land creature will also be colorless. |
| 2015-08-25 | If a spell with awaken has multiple targets (including the land you control), and some but not all of those targets become illegal by the time the spell tries to resolve, the spell won’t affect the illegal targets in any way. |
| 2015-08-25 | If the non-awaken part of the spell doesn’t require a target and you cast the spell for its awaken cost, then the spell won’t resolve if the target land you control becomes illegal before the spell resolves (such as due to being destroyed in response to the spell being cast). |
| 2015-08-25 | If the non-awaken part of the spell requires a target, you must choose a legal target. You can’t cast the spell if you can’t choose a legal target for each instance of the word “target” (though you only need a legal target for the awaken ability if you’re casting the spell for its awaken cost). |
| 2015-08-25 | The land will retain any other types, subtypes, or supertypes it previously had. It will also retain any mana abilities it had as a result of those subtypes. For example, a Forest that’s turned into a creature this way can still be tapped for . |
| 2015-08-25 | You can cast a spell with awaken for its mana cost and get only its first effect. If you cast a spell for its awaken cost, you’ll get both effects. |