Marsh Gas MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityCommon
TypeInstant

Key Takeaways

  1. Marsh Gas offers tactical control by weakening opponent creatures, facilitating board advantage.
  2. Instant speed casting allows strategic plays, disrupting opponents’ combat tactics effectively.
  3. Despite its benefits, Marsh Gas has drawbacks, including mana cost and deck constraints.

Text of card

All creatures get -2/-0 until end of turn.

"Comes right outta th' ground. If ya can smell it, it's too late." —Keevy Bogsbury


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Marsh Gas may at first glance not seem like a typical card advantage tool, but by weakening your opponent’s creatures, it can help maintain board control. This can lead to more favorable trades and enable you to keep your own creatures on the board while disrupting the opponent’s plans.

Resource Acceleration: Although Marsh Gas isn’t a direct resource acceleration card, by delaying the opponent, it can effectively buy you time to reach your critical mana thresholds and deploy heavier spells ahead of schedule, implicitly accelerating your game plan.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Marsh Gas at instant speed gives you a significant tactical advantage. You can wait to see how your opponent plays their turn before deciding the most opportune moment to weaken their creatures, allowing for more strategic plays and potentially ruining your opponent’s combat calculations.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Marsh Gas requires that you have open mana, which means you may need to forgo casting another spell. This may not always be optimal, especially when you’re trying to develop your board or maintain tempo.

Specific Mana Cost: Marsh Gas demands black mana to be cast. This can be restrictive as it can only fit comfortably within black decks or those with a sufficient mana base to accommodate black spells, potentially limiting its versatility in multicolored decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its capability to give all creatures -2/-0 until end of turn might seem useful, Marsh Gas can be costly for the effect it provides. There are alternative cards that can offer more impactful board control or creature debuffs at a lower mana cost.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Marsh Gas is capable of fitting into a variety of deck archetypes that prioritize control and disrupting opponent’s strategies.

Combo Potential: This card can work well in strategies centered on debilitating opponents’ creatures, potentially clearing the way for decisive moves or complementing a larger control scheme.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta-game where the board is frequently crowded with creatures, Marsh Gas can serve as a cost-effective method to temporarily weaken opposing forces, giving you a tactical edge.


How to Beat Marsh Gas

Marsh Gas is an intriguing card that can change the flow of combat in Magic: The Gathering. This black instant can give all creatures -2/-0 until end of turn. This subtle shift can mean the difference between surviving a pivotal turn or succumbing to an overwhelming attack. Strategically timing plays and countermeasures will be essential when facing this spell.

To overcome the effects of Marsh Gas, you might consider strategies such as keeping mana open for instant-speed buff spells to negate or lessen its impact. Cards like Giant Growth can off-set the temporary debuff. Alternatively, deploying creatures with higher toughness can ensure their survival against such effects. If you can predict your opponent holding this card, playing less aggressively may lead to them wasting the card at an inopportune moment, giving you a clear advantage.

It’s also worth noting the importance of card advantage. Since Marsh Gas targets all creatures, opponents could be affecting their own board as well, which may allow for favorable trades on your side. In examining your approach to mitigating spells like Marsh Gas, a direct answer might not always be necessary — sometimes a strategic playstyle adjustment is all it takes to emerge victorious.


Cards like Marsh Gas

Exploring the depth of quick disruption cards in Magic: The Gathering, Marsh Gas stands out with its unique trait of hitting all creatures on the board with a temporary -2/-0. A comparative spell is Darkness, which also serves to stifle an opponent’s creatures by preventing all combat damage that would be dealt that turn. While both fill the role of hindering enemy forces, Marsh Gas’s nonselective power reduction potentially affects the dynamics of the entire board.

Another similar card is Holy Day, a notorious combat trick that also prevents damage like Darkness, but is aligned with the white magic spectrum. This card functions well in a very different strategic context compared to the black-aligned Marsh Gas. Additionally, one can’t overlook something like Fog, which mirrors Holy Day’s functionality in green. While Marsh Gas might not entirely negate combat like its counterparts, its early game impact by weakening creatures across the board can be crucial for gaining control.

In essence, understanding each card’s unique contribution to the game is key. Marsh Gas, unlike outright damage prevention spells, offers a rare universal power debuff, a strategic option that can be decisive in the early to mid-game skirmishes of Magic: The Gathering.

Darkness - MTG Card versions
Holy Day - MTG Card versions
Fog - MTG Card versions
Darkness - Legends (LEG)
Holy Day - Legends (LEG)
Fog - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)

Cards similar to Marsh Gas by color, type and mana cost

Howl from Beyond - MTG Card versions
Dark Ritual - MTG Card versions
Sacrifice - MTG Card versions
Darkness - MTG Card versions
Gravebind - MTG Card versions
Misinformation - MTG Card versions
Vampiric Tutor - MTG Card versions
Dredge - MTG Card versions
Coffin Purge - MTG Card versions
Defile - MTG Card versions
March of Wretched Sorrow - MTG Card versions
Fatal Push - MTG Card versions
Foulmire Knight // Profane Insight - MTG Card versions
Fade from Memory - MTG Card versions
Duh - MTG Card versions
Aesthetic Consultation - MTG Card versions
Stop That - MTG Card versions
Disembowel - MTG Card versions
Surgical Extraction - MTG Card versions
Shadowfeed - MTG Card versions
Howl from Beyond - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Dark Ritual - Warhammer 40,000 Commander (40K)
Sacrifice - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Darkness - Warhammer 40,000 Commander (40K)
Gravebind - Ice Age (ICE)
Misinformation - Alliances (ALL)
Vampiric Tutor - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Dredge - Invasion (INV)
Coffin Purge - Odyssey (ODY)
Defile - Modern Horizons 1 Timeshifts (H1R)
March of Wretched Sorrow - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)
Fatal Push - Kaladesh Remastered (KLR)
Foulmire Knight // Profane Insight - The List (PLST)
Fade from Memory - Onslaught (ONS)
Duh - Unhinged (UNH)
Aesthetic Consultation - Unhinged (UNH)
Stop That - Unhinged (UNH)
Disembowel - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Surgical Extraction - Double Masters 2022 (2X2)
Shadowfeed - Shards of Alara (ALA)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Marsh Gas MTG card by a specific set like The Dark and Fourth Edition, 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 Marsh Gas and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Marsh Gas Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 1994-08-01 and 1995-08-01. Illustrated by Douglas Shuler.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11994-08-01The DarkDRK 481993normalblackDouglas Shuler
21995-04-01Fourth Edition4ED 1461993normalwhiteDouglas Shuler
31995-04-01Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border4BB 1461993normalblackDouglas Shuler
41995-08-01RenaissanceREN 591993normalblackDouglas Shuler

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Marsh Gas has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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