The Dark Barony MTG Card
2009-09-04 - Number 6
2018-12-25 - Number 19
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Plane — Ulgrotha |
Text of card
Whenever a nonblack card is put into a player's graveyard from anywhere, that player loses 1 life. Whenever you roll chaos, each opponent discards a card.
Cards like The Dark Barony
Exploring the nuances of Magic: The Gathering’s myriad of cards, The Dark Barony stands as a unique entity. Delving into similar cards, we encounter Nemesis of Mortals. Although both cards thrive in graveyard-centric decks, The Dark Barony grants additional flexibility by contributing to domain strategies. Its ability to manipulate land types in graveyards sets it apart and aligns it with the mechanic of domain, which relies on the variety of basic land types in play.
Comparatively, Cemetery Reaper presents another parallel as it also benefits from the presence of creatures in the graveyard. However, it lacks the domain synergy that The Dark Barony offers. Mortivore is yet another creature that gets stronger as graveyards fill up. While Mortivore’s strength grows with each card, The Dark Barony prefers a varied landscape, flourishing with a diversity of lands rather than sheer numbers. Thus, The Dark Barony slots into a more specialized role, cementing its place in Magic: The Gathering as a formidably adaptable card in decks designed to leverage the richness of the battlefield’s terrain.
Such distinctions ensure The Dark Barony is recognized for its strategic depth, offering a gateway for players to experiment with cross-synergies in both domain-centric and graveyard-utilizing decks within Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to The Dark Barony by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The Dark Barony offers significant card advantage by enabling a player to return a creature card from their graveyard to their hand. This recycling of valuable assets ensures a steady flow of threats that can be played multiple turns.
Resource Acceleration: By potentially doubling the mana spent on The Dark Barony through its monocolor “swamp bonus,” players can accelerate their resource development. This affords the possibility to play higher cost cards ahead of curve, giving a crucial tempo boost.
Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting The Dark Barony at instant speed provides players with strategic advantages. It can be used at the end of an opponent’s turn, preserving mana for counterplays during the course of the round, or it can be deployed to surprise an opponent during combat by instantly bringing back a blocker or an attacker from the graveyard.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One noticeable drawback of The Dark Barony card is its discard condition. Players must often toss another valuable card from their hand into the graveyard to harness its full potential. This can be detrimental to your hand economy, especially when playing a tight game where every card counts.
Specific Mana Cost: The Dark Barony demands a precise mana arrangement to play. Its cost is not only specific but also leans heavily on one color, potentially making it less versatile in a multi-colored deck where mana resources are spread across a broader spectrum of colors.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Considering its overall impact on the game, The Dark Barony’s mana expense might be seen as relatively steep. When evaluating the benefits it provides against other available cards, players might find that there are more cost-effective creatures or spells that could fit better into a strategy focusing on efficiency and tempo.
Reasons to Include The Dark Barony in Your Collection
Versatility: The Dark Barony offers flexibility in deck construction, acting as a strategic land in graveyard-centric builds or transforming to supply a potent creature when the conditions are right.
Combo Potential: Leveraging its dual nature, this card can enhance graveyard strategies or provide an unexpected blocker or attacker, making it a smart tactical inclusion for synergistic decks.
Meta-Relevance: With its ability to adapt to varying game states, The Dark Barony maintains relevance by fitting well within meta environments that value transformative permanents and tactical land usage.
How to Beat The Dark Barony
The Dark Barony in MTG presents a challenge to contend with, offering a unique ability that can disrupt your play strategy. Understanding its mechanics is key to developing a winning strategy against it. This card thrives in environments where creatures are plentiful, providing the controller with a benefit upon the death of non-token creatures.
To effectively counter The Dark Barony, it helps to limit creature-based strategies. Instead, lean on spells that don’t require creatures or use removals that exile instead of sending creatures to the graveyard. Also consider employing graveyard hate cards that can interrupt the benefits your opponent might gain from creatures dying. Cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void that exile cards when they hit the graveyard can mitigate the advantage The Dark Barony offers to your adversary.
Overall, playing around The Dark Barony entails a delicate balance of creature management and strategic graveyard control. Successful navigation of its effects can neutralize its influence, paving the way for your victory on the battlefield. Each match-up requires careful consideration, but with the right tactics, The Dark Barony becomes less daunting.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase The Dark Barony MTG card by a specific set like Planechase Planes and Planechase Anthology Planes, 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 The Dark Barony and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
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Printings
The The Dark Barony Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2009-09-04 and 2018-12-25. Illustrated by Pete Venters.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009-09-04 | Planechase Planes | OHOP | 6 | 2003 | Planar | Black | Pete Venters | |
| 2 | 2018-12-25 | Planechase Anthology Planes | OPCA | 19 | 2015 | Planar | Black | Pete Venters |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering The Dark Barony card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2009-10-01 | A face-up plane card that’s turned face down becomes a new object with no relation to its previous existence. In particular, it loses all counters it may have had. |
| 2009-10-01 | A plane card is treated as if its text box included “When you roll {PW}, put this card on the bottom of its owner’s planar deck face down, then move the top card of your planar deck off that planar deck and turn it face up.” This is called the “planeswalking ability.” |
| 2009-10-01 | If an ability of a plane refers to “you,” it’s referring to whoever the plane’s controller is at the time, not to the player that started the game with that plane card in their deck. Many abilities of plane cards affect all players, while many others affect only the planar controller, so read each ability carefully. |
| 2009-10-01 | The Dark Barony’s first ability doesn’t behave like a leaves-the-battlefield triggered ability, since the card put into a graveyard may come from anywhere. If a card is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, its color is checked in the graveyard, not as it last existed on the battlefield. |
| 2009-10-01 | The controller of a face-up plane card is the player designated as the “planar controller.” Normally, the planar controller is whoever the active player is. However, if the current planar controller would leave the game, instead the next player in turn order that wouldn’t leave the game becomes the planar controller, then the old planar controller leaves the game. The new planar controller retains that designation until they leave the game or a different player becomes the active player, whichever comes first. |