Smallpox MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Smallpox leads to each player losing a card, a creature, and a land. This can translate to card advantage for the player who builds their deck to mitigate these losses, turning the tide in their favor.

Resource Acceleration: Though not a direct accelerator, Smallpox can act as a resource balancer. By forcing each player to sacrifice a land, those who recover from land loss quicker gain a significant advantage in resource progression.

Instant Speed: While Smallpox is a sorcery, its strength lies in the ability to disrupt opponents at a crucial early juncture, potentially at a time when instant-speed reactions are not yet available or limited.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Smallpox card mandates that both you and your opponent discard a card, potentially disrupting your game plan especially in situations where your hand is crucial for forthcoming strategies.

Specific Mana Cost: Smallpox requires one swamp and one generic mana, restricting its usage to decks that can reliably generate black mana in the early turns of the game.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While costing only two mana, Smallpox’s symmetrical effect also affects the casting player, requiring careful timing to ensure it doesn’t backfire by hindering your own board state more than your opponent’s.

Reasons to Include Smallpox in Your Collection

Versatility: Smallpox is a card that can find a place in various deck types, widening the strategies you can deploy. It forces each player to sacrifice a creature, discard a card, lose 1 life, and sacrifice a land, impacting multiple facets of gameplay.

Combo Potential: The symmetric effect of Smallpox can be manipulated to your advantage in decks built around sacrifice and graveyard synergies. Combining Smallpox with cards that benefit from discard or creature death can turn its balanced effect into a targeted disruption.

Meta-Relevance: In games where the board state quickly escalates or decks rely heavily on perfect mana curves, Smallpox can drastically shift the momentum in your favor. It disrupts early game plans and can set back opponents significantly if played at the right moment.

How to beat

Smallpox is a potent card that can be difficult to navigate in MTG. Its strength lies in the equal sacrifice it demands from each player, impacting life totals, creatures, and land resources. To effectively counter this card, it’s essential to maintain card advantage and play conservatively, holding back critical resources until after Smallpox has been played. Cards with resilience or abilities that activate upon entering the graveyard, such as undying or persist creatures, can provide some protection against its effects.

Another tactic is leveraging graveyard retrieval cards that allow you to recover from the loss of a valuable creature or land. Furthermore, playing lands that don’t mind being sacrificed, like those with landfall abilities or those that can be returned from the graveyard, helps mitigate Smallpox’s impact on your mana base. Adopting a strategy to minimize Smallpox’s disruption can keep you ahead in the game. Ultimately, timely and strategic play, along with a deck resilient to forced sacrifice, are your best tools in turning the tide against Smallpox.

BurnMana Recommendations

Smallpox has a unique place in MTG, serving as a powerful disruption tool that can significantly alter the course of a game. Deck builders who skillfully incorporate this spell find that it can tilt resource balance in their favor. If you’re intrigued by its potential to disrupt, balance, and challenge both you and your opponents, further exploration of this card’s strategic depth is warranted. With careful integration into your decks, Smallpox can become a formidable weapon in your arsenal. For players eager to master the intricacies of this complex spell and optimize their gameplay, our platform offers in-depth guides and insights. Elevate your strategy—discover how to utilize Smallpox to full effect and outmaneuver your opponents with finesse.