Spinning Darkness MTG Card

Offers card advantage by allowing alternative casting without a mana cost, optimizing resource use. Permits tactical plays with its instant speed, making it formidable against creature threats. Ideal for decks that utilize graveyard mechanics, adding depth and combo possibilities.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Released	1997-06-09
Set symbol
Set name	Weatherlight
Set code	WTH
Number	81
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	John Coulthart

Text of card

You may remove the top three black cards in your graveyard from the game instead of paying Spinning Darkness's casting cost. Spinning Darkness deals 3 damage to target nonblack creature. Gain 3 life.

Cards like Spinning Darkness

Spinning Darkness is a unique instant that offers both life gain and creature destruction in Magic: The Gathering. It shares similarities with cards like Snuff Out, another zero-cost removal if you meet specific requirements. However, unlike Snuff Out, Spinning Darkness provides additional survivability by giving you three life points, a boon in tight matchups.

When considering cards with similar effects, we encounter Tendrils of Corruption. This card also combines destruction and life gain scaled to the number of swamps controlled. While Tendrils of Corruption doesn’t boast a hefty alternative cost reduction, it’s potent in mono-black decks that can maximize the life gain potential.

Evaluating these options, Spinning Darkness attracts players who value flexibility and the surprise factor of an instant with no upfront mana cost. The life gain element makes it an intriguing tool against aggressive strategies, creating a cushion for the player while managing the board state.

Tendrils of Corruption - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Spinning Darkness by color, type and mana cost

Eyes of the Beholder - MTG Card versions

Topaz Dragon // Entropic Cloud - MTG Card versions

Merciless Repurposing - MTG Card versions

Decks using this card

MTG decks using Spinning Darkness. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.

Name	Format	Archetype	Event
Jund Gardens	Pauper	Golgari Gardens	Pauper Challenge 64 2024-04-28
Golgari Gardens	Pauper	Golgari Gardens	Pauper Challenge 64 2024-04-28
BG	Pauper		Pauper Challenge 64 2024-04-28
BRG	Pauper		Pauper Challenge 32 2024-04-28
Golgari Garden	Pauper	Golgari Gardens	AWESOME PAUPER

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Spinning Darkness offers a unique advantage by allowing players to remove cards from their hand, hence reducing the actual cost of casting. This contributes to maintaining a superior position through efficient resource usage.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing mana, Spinning Darkness gives players an indirect form of resource acceleration by costing zero mana under the right conditions. This enables them to deploy their hands while still holding up defenses.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Spinning Darkness at instant speed provides a tactical edge. It allows players to navigate around the enemy’s moves, react to threats instantly, and potentially remove problematic creatures during the opponent’s turn without spending mana from their pool.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Spinning Darkness demands the player to discard three black cards from their hand to play it for free. This can lead to a significant depletion of hand resources, making it a potentially risky move, especially when the player’s card advantage is low.

Specific Mana Cost: While this card can be cast for free under certain conditions, its actual mana cost includes three black mana symbols. This restrictive cost can limit the card’s inclusion to mono-black or heavily black-focused decks, reducing its flexibility in multi-color deck strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The alternative cost of six mana for Spinning Darkness could be considered steep for its effect. Although the ability to destroy a creature is valuable, other removal spells in the game might offer similar or greater utility at a lower cost, potentially making them more preferable choices in deckbuilding.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Spinning Darkness stands out due to its capacity to be utilized as both a removal and a surprise defensive maneuver without taxing your mana pool. This can be particularly advantageous in decks aiming to manage the board while advancing their strategic plot.

Combo Potential: Its unique casting cost involving the exile of black cards from your graveyard opens up synergy with graveyard-centric strategies and can be a cogwheel in decks that manipulate graveyard resources for incremental value.

Meta-Relevance: With creature-heavy decks often dominating play, having Spinning Darkness in your arsenal ensures you have an efficient response. Its ability to deal with mid-sized threats at no mana cost can be a game-changer, keeping you in line with the pace of the current competitive scene.

How to beat

Spinning Darkness is a unique and often underappreciated card in Magic: The Gathering, presenting a nuanced challenge for players. This black instant spell allows you to deal with creatures by providing three points of damage while simultaneously offering you a notable gain of 3 life. Its alternative cost mechanism empowers you to play the spell for free by exiling three black cards from your hand instead of paying its mana cost, making it a sneaky surprise against opposing creatures.

To effectively counter Spinning Darkness, it’s crucial to be strategic about the creatures you play. Opting for creatures that can either withstand a hit of three damage or offer you value even in the event of their destruction is wise. Moreover, since Spinning Darkness is dependent on a player having enough black cards in hand, applying hand disruption techniques can severely limit its usability. Cards like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek can dismantle your opponent’s hand, stripping them of the resources needed to activate Spinning Darkness without its mana cost.

Therefore, while navigating the subtleties that come with every card interaction in Magic: The Gathering, understanding and preemptively preparing for the mechanics behind Spinning Darkness can swing matches in your favor, ensuring that this powerful spell doesn’t catch you off guard.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Spinning Darkness MTG card by a specific set like Weatherlight, 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 Spinning Darkness and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Spinning Darkness has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2008-04-01	If an effect or rule puts two or more cards into the same graveyard at the same time, the owner of those cards may arrange them in any order.
2008-04-01	Players may not rearrange the cards in their graveyards. This is a little-known rule because new cards that care about graveyard order haven’t been printed in years.
2008-04-01	Say you’re the owner of both a permanent and an Aura that’s attached to it. If both the permanent and the Aura are destroyed at the same time (by Akroma’s Vengeance, for example), you decide the order they’re put into your graveyard. If just the enchanted permanent is destroyed, it’s put into your graveyard first. Then, after state-based actions are checked, the Aura (which is no longer attached to anything) is put into your graveyard on top of it.
2008-04-01	The last thing that happens to a resolving instant or sorcery spell is that it’s put into its owner’s graveyard. —Example: You cast Wrath of God. All creatures on the battlefield are destroyed. You arrange all the cards put into your graveyard this way in any order you want. The other players in the game do the same to the cards that are put into their graveyards. Then you put Wrath of God into your graveyard, on top of the other cards.
2008-04-01	The “top” card of your graveyard is the card that was put there most recently.