The Fourth Sphere MTG Card
2009-09-04 - Number 11
2018-12-25 - Number 25
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Plane — Phyrexia |
Text of card
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a nonblack creature. Whenever you roll chaos, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
Cards like The Fourth Sphere
The Fourth Sphere holds its own in the realm of black removal spells in Magic: The Gathering. Its mechanics resonate with those of Doom Blade, a classic spell with the ability to destroy a nonblack creature at a cost-effective two mana. Doom Blade, in contrast to The Fourth Sphere, cannot handle black creatures, giving The Fourth Sphere a broader reach.
Likewise, Walk the Plank is another spell with similar functionality, dispatching non-Merfolk creatures without targeting restrictions. However, Walk the Plank is limited by its sorcery speed, whereas The Fourth Sphere offers more flexible timing being an instant. This adjustability makes it advantageous during opponents’ turns or in response to sudden threats.
Evaluating the spectrum of removal options, The Fourth Sphere demonstrates versatility with its minimal constraints on what it can target. Alongside its instant-speed nature, this spell provides strategists with a reliable tool to maintain control over the battlefield. The intricate balance of cost, speed, and scope of targetability places The Fourth Sphere in a favorable position within black removal spells.
Cards similar to The Fourth Sphere by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The Fourth Sphere is designed to offer players the upper hand through strategic card draw. With the ability to potentially cycle through your deck faster, you can outpace opponents by maintaining a fuller hand of options and responses to their plays.
Resource Acceleration: The influx of resources that The Fourth Sphere provides can be a pivotal shift in gameplay. By boosting your mana supply, this card allows for a quicker deployment of powerful spells and creatures, enabling you to dominate the battlefield more effectively.
Instant Speed: The true strength of this card lies in its versatility, thanks to its instant speed. This feature allows you the flexibility to respond to the ever-changing state of play on the fly, perfectly timing your moves to disrupt opponents or to synergize with your strategy as the situation demands.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The Fourth Sphere card requires you to discard a card, a considerable sacrifice that could deplete your hand and reduce your strategic options.
Specific Mana Cost: With its specific mana requirement, this card’s integration is limited predominantly to decks that can reliably generate the appropriate colors, potentially limiting its versatility across various deck types.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: When you weigh the card’s abilities against its relatively steep mana cost, it may not always represent the most mana-efficient choice, especially when compared to other options within the same mana range that may offer a higher immediate impact on the game state.
Reasons to Include The Fourth Sphere in Your Collection
Versatility: The Fourth Sphere adapts effortlessly to various deck archetypes. It shines in control decks that require specific answers or aggressive strategies looking for an edge in resilience.
Combo Potential: When paired with cards that thrive on graveyard interactions or sacrifice mechanics, The Fourth Sphere can become a linchpin for powerful combos, setting up game-winning plays.
Meta-Relevance: Considering the dynamic nature of MTG, The Fourth Sphere maintains relevance by countering popular trends and disrupting opponent strategies, ensuring its place in any competitive environment.
How to beat
The Fourth Sphere is a card that can cause quite a stir on the battlefield with its unique abilities. To effectively counter this card requires a clear strategy and a deep understanding of your own deck’s mechanics. One common approach is to employ instant-speed removal spells. Such spells can interrupt the opponent’s play, negating the advantages that The Fourth Sphere might confer. Think along the lines of Path to Exile or Rapid Hybridization, tools that can take the card out of the equation before its effects can fully unfold.
Another strategy involves the use of counterspells. By countering The Fourth Sphere before it even hits the table, you avoid dealing with its troublesome abilities. This preemptive play style fits control decks that aim to keep the board state manageable. If The Fourth Sphere does manage to land on the board, having a diverse array of threats becomes important. By presenting multiple problems for your opponent, you can stretch their resources thin, making it harder for them to leverage The Fourth Sphere’s full potential.
The Fourth Sphere thrives in a game where it can disrupt and outvalue your plans, but with the right counters and a strategic approach to managing threats, you can keep your game on track and emerge victorious, offsetting the card’s impact.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase The Fourth Sphere 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 Fourth Sphere 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 Fourth Sphere Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2009-09-04 and 2018-12-25. Illustrated by Dave Kendall.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009-09-04 | Planechase Planes | OHOP | 11 | 2003 | Planar | Black | Dave Kendall | |
| 2 | 2018-12-25 | Planechase Anthology Planes | OPCA | 25 | 2015 | Planar | Black | Dave Kendall |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering The Fourth Sphere 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 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. |