Endless Wurm MTG Card
1998-10-12 - Number 249
2020-09-26 - Number USG-249
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Wurm |
| Abilities | Trample |
| Power | 9 |
| Toughness | 9 |
Key Takeaways
- Endless Wurm enables card advantage through graveyard synergy and reanimation tactics.
- Instant speed interaction with sacrificial tokens enhances tactical flexibility in game.
- Its significant trample presence helps close games rapidly by ramping up threats.
Text of card
Trample During your upkeep, sacrifice an enchantment or sacrifice Endless Wurm.
Ages ago, a party of elves took cover to let one pass. They're still waiting.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Endless Wurm’s ability to force the discard of a card might seem like a disadvantage at first glance. However, when paired with graveyard synergy tactics or reanimation spells, it turns into a beneficial engine that can repeatedly bring back powerful creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield, thereby generating significant card advantage.
Resource Acceleration: Boasting a substantial presence with trample, Endless Wurm can quickly close out games, accelerating your path to victory. By requiring sacrifice fodder to maintain its presence, it synergizes well with decks that can produce a steady stream of creatures or tokens, effectively ramping up your board state’s threat level.
Instant Speed: While the Endless Wurm itself may not be an instant, the decks that utilize it often include spells that can be played at instant speed to create the sacrificial tokens required by the wurm. This allows for tactical flexibility, enabling players to respond to opponents’ actions and make optimal use of their mana each turn.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The Endless Wurm comes with a steep price, necessitating the discard of a card as part of its upkeep costs. This can be particularly taxing when you’re strategizing to maintain a full hand to respond to an opponent’s moves.
Specific Mana Cost: To summon Endless Wurm onto the battlefield, you’re looking at a mana cost that requires both green mana and generic mana. This hybrid cost means it fits best within mono-green or two-color decks, potentially limiting its versatility in multicolored deck builds.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a substantial amount of mana required to play Endless Wurm, its cost may detract from its playability, especially when compared to other creatures of similar or lower mana costs that offer equal or greater immediate impact on the game state.
Reasons to Include Endless Wurm in Your Collection
Versatility: Endless Wurm offers an adaptable addition to ramp and creature-focused decks. Its sizable presence on the battlefield makes it a valuable asset for those seeking a robust creature to anchor their lineup.
Combo Potential: With the ability to synergize with enchantment sacrifice mechanics, Endless Wurm can be a linchpin in strategies looking to exploit these interactions for powerful effects or board advantage.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where large creatures can heavily impact the board, Endless Wurm’s imposing stat line can hold its own. This can be particularly effective in games where it’s essential to outsize your opponents’ creatures.
How to beat
Endless Wurm provides a formidable presence on the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. This creature card brings substantial power and toughness to the table, which can make it seem overwhelming to contend with. However, every card has its Achilles heel, and Endless Wurm is no exception.
The key to overcoming the might of Endless Wurm lies in preventing it from leveraging its strength. Since it requires sacrificing an enchantment during your upkeep, strategically eliminating the available enchantments can neutralize the threat. Counterspells that deny enchantments from hitting the board, like Negate, can be useful tools in your arsenal. Creature removal spells, such as Path to Exile or Doom Blade, can also dispatch the Wurm before it can make a significant impact. It’s also essential to keep in mind that Endless Wurm’s trample ability can be mitigated with creatures that have deathtouch, turning what would be an indestructible force into a manageable obstacle.
Ultimately, staying one step ahead and controlling the field will be your best strategy against Endless Wurm. With proper planning and the right mix of spells, this colossal creature can be reduced from an endless threat to a temporary challenge in your path to victory.
Cards like Endless Wurm
The Endless Wurm from Magic: The Gathering is a unique creature in the realm of high-powered beaters. When searching for similar gargantuan forces in the game, the classic Verdant Force comes to mind. Both summon immense power onto the battlefield, with Verdant Force demanding attention each upkeep with its saproling-spawning ability. Yet, Endless Wurm has a devouring hunger, requiring the sacrifice of an enchantment each turn to sustain its presence.
Moving to the modern sets, Pelakka Wurm stands tall among its counterparts. It brings not only a substantial body but also gifts its controller with life and a card upon its departure from the field. This contrasts with the Endless Wurm, which offers raw strength without such perks. Another contemporary leviathan, the Worldspine Wurm, dwarfs many with its earthquake-inducing entrance and resilience, leaving behind wormlings even if it is conquered in battle, a feature Endless Wurm starkly lacks.
While these colossal wurms each have their own niches, Endless Wurm’s requirement of recurring enchantment sacrifices challenges players to weave a more intricate strategic web, spotlighting its distinctive gameplay dynamic amongst Magic: The Gathering’s array of titanic creatures.
Cards similar to Endless Wurm by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Endless Wurm MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Saga and The List, 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 Endless Wurm and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See Magic products
Printings
The Endless Wurm Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1998-10-12 and 1998-10-12. Illustrated by DiTerlizzi.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1998-10-12 | Urza's Saga | USG | 249 | 1997 | normal | black | DiTerlizzi | |
| 2 | The List | PLST | USG-249 | 1997 | normal | black | DiTerlizzi |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Endless Wurm has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Endless Wurm card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | You choose whether to sacrifice an enchantment or not on resolution. If not, then you sacrifice this card. You can choose to not sacrifice an enchantment if you no longer control this card on resolution. |
