Sundering Fork MTG Card


Sundering Fork - Unstable
RarityUncommon
TypeArtifact — Contraption
Released2017-12-08
Set symbol
Set nameUnstable
Set codeUST
Number204
Frame2015
Layoutnormal
Borderborderless
Illustred byFranz Vohwinkel
Un-set :-)This card is part of an Un-set

Key Takeaways

  1. Destroys artifacts at instant speed, offering strategic advantage and flexibility.
  2. Comparatively high cost may limit play in fast-paced decks.
  3. Its utility and combo potential make it worthwhile for collection inclusion.

Text of card

Whenever you crank Sundering Fork, destroy target artifact.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sundering Fork is designed to dismantle an opponent’s intricate play by allowing you to destroy any artifact, potentially disrupting their strategy and indirectly contributing to maintaining your card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: Although Sundering Fork itself does not directly provide resource acceleration, efficiently removing a key artifact can slow down your opponent’s momentum, effectively giving you a relative acceleration in resource utilization.

Instant Speed: The power of Sundering Fork is enhanced by its instant speed, allowing for flexible play. You can decide the perfect window to interfere with your opponent’s artifacts during their turn without sacrificing the tempo of your own play.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sundering Fork requires you to discard a card as part of its activation. This can be a significant drawback when your hand is already depleted or if you’re forced to throw away a crucial piece of your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: Wielding a specific mana requirement, Sundering Fork mandates a precise combination of mana types to cast. This restriction can be cumbersome for decks that operate with a broader color palette, potentially leading to a hiccup in mana curve optimization.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its higher mana demands, Sundering Fork can be less appealing in a fast-paced game where efficiency is key. There are alternative cards with lower mana costs that can disrupt opponents’ strategies, potentially giving you more tempo for less investment.


Reasons to Include Sundering Fork in Your Collection

Versatility: Sundering Fork is not just another artifact removal card; it shines in its ability to target any permanent with an enchantment. This flexibility allows it to be a valuable asset in a variety of deck builds that may need to deal with a wide array of threats on the battlefield.

Combo Potential: With the rise of artifact and enchantment synergies, Sundering Fork could become a linchpin in combos that dismantle opponents’ strategies while advancing your own. It effectively helps disrupt opponent setups while potentially opening avenues for your combos to unfold.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where enchantment-heavy decks or important artifacts are prevalent, Sundering Fork offers a direct answer. Its role as an efficient response tool makes it particularly relevant and can provide a strategic edge in both casual and competitive playstyles.


How to beat

Sundering Fork, while a unique artifact-destroying card in MTG, can be outmaneuvered with smart gameplay. The card has the potential to fragment your crucial equipment or nullify your enchantment’s impact, making it a non-negligible threat. To counteract this, focusing on a diversified strategy rather than relying heavily on particular artifacts or enchantments is key. Keeping up an array of threats pressures the opponent to make tough decisions on what to destroy.

Another tactic is to employ cards with indestructible abilities or those that can regenerate, as they tend to bypass Sundering Fork’s destroy effect. Shields of Velis Vel, for instance, can momentarily bestow indestructibility to your permanents, skirting the destruction effect entirely. This way, Sundering Fork’s impact is greatly minimized, allowing you to maintain board presence and continue towards your victory uninterrupted.

Ultimately, forethought and adaptability are your greatest tools. Having counterspells ready can nullify Sundering Fork before it ever takes effect, while playing reactively can mitigate its impact once on the board. Moving forward with this mindset ensures that Sundering Fork, while potentially disruptive, won’t dictate the pace of the game.


Cards like Sundering Fork

In the diverse universe of artifact destruction spells within MTG, Sundering Fork offers an intriguing twist. Comparable to the well-known Shatter, which straightforwardly destroys a target artifact, Sundering Fork seems similar at first glance. However, it distinguishes itself with its replication effect, capable of obliterating not one but two artifacts simultaneously. A comparison is naturally drawn to Smash to Smithereens, which also deals with artifacts but favors an aggressive playstyle by dealing damage to the opponent as well.

Considering the balance of cost and effect, Demolish also enters the conversation. It allows the destruction of either an artifact or a land, presenting a dual functionality that Sundering Fork does not. Despite its higher cost, the flexibility may justify its slot in a deck. On the other hand, By Force scales with the game, whereby its variable mana cost can pave the way for a sweeping removal of multiple artifacts, surpassing Sundering Fork’s consistent but limited double-target removal.

Thus, within the scope of artifact control options in MTG, Sundering Fork finds a unique position offering reliable two-for-one value, which can be especially potent in games where artifacts play a pivotal role in an opponent’s strategy.

Shatter - MTG Card versions
Smash to Smithereens - MTG Card versions
Demolish - MTG Card versions
By Force - MTG Card versions
Shatter - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Smash to Smithereens - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Demolish - Odyssey (ODY)
By Force - Amonkhet (AKH)

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sundering Fork MTG card by a specific set like Unstable, 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 Sundering Fork and other MTG cards:

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Rules and information

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

DateText
2018-01-19 Any Contraption that’s on the battlefield and wasn’t assembled immediately heads to the scrapyard. However, if it’s a not an actual Contraption card (like Copy Artifact isn’t), it goes to your graveyard as normal. Non-Contraption cards can’t be in the scrapyard.
2018-01-19 At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control any Contraptions, move the CRANK! counter to the next sprocket. You may then crank any number of Contraptions on that sprocket, causing their abilities to trigger. Cranking a Contraption is always optional.
2018-01-19 Contraptions are artifacts. Anything that interacts with artifacts will interact with Contraptions.
2018-01-19 Contraptions aren’t put into your main deck. They go into a separate deck called the Contraption deck.
2018-01-19 If a Contraption would leave the battlefield and go to any zone other than exile, it instead goes to the scrapyard, the Contraption deck’s version of the graveyard. Things that affect the graveyard do not affect the scrapyard. You can exile Contraptions just fine.
2018-01-19 If you crank multiple Contraptions, their abilities can be put onto the stack in any order. The ability put onto the stack will resolve first.
2018-01-19 If you or a permanent you control are instructed to assemble a Contraption, reveal the top card of your Contraption deck. Put it onto the battlefield on one of the three sprockets.
2018-01-19 If you or a permanent you control assembles a Contraption and your Contraption deck is empty, nothing happens. You don’t lose the game.
2018-01-19 In Constructed formats, a Contraption deck must have at least fifteen different Contraption cards and no more than one of each.
2018-01-19 In Limited formats, a Contraption deck may include any number of Contraption cards in your card pool. You don’t have to include every Contraption card you draft or open in sealed deck. In those formats, your Contraption deck may include duplicates.
2018-01-19 In silver-bordered games using Contraptions, you have three sprockets, illustrated on the back of Contraption cards. At the start of the game, put a CRANK! counter on sprocket 3.
2018-01-19 While Contraptions you control are on the battlefield, the Contraption deck is not, even if you are using it to signify the three sprockets.

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