Wormfang Manta MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 7 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Nightmare Fish Beast |
| Abilities | Flying |
| Released | 2002-05-27 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Judgment |
| Set code | JUD |
| Power | 6 |
| Toughness | 1 |
| Number | 58 |
| Frame | 1997 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Heather Hudson |
Text of card
Flying When Wormfang Manta comes into play, you skip your next turn. When Wormfang Manta leaves play, you take an extra turn after this one.
Cards like Wormfang Manta
The enigmatic Wormfang Manta is a unique creature from Magic: The Gathering’s vast repertoire, sharing similarities with other cards that can manipulate time and turns within a game. It finds common ground with the likes of Time Warp, which allows the player to take an additional turn; however, the Manta requires a more substantial mana investment and triggers the exile of a permanent you own. It’s a steep price that comes with ambivalence in strategic value.
Contrasting Wormfang Manta with Medomai the Ageless—another card granting extra turns—exemplifies this further. While Medomai restricts additional turns to combat damage against opponents, it does not come with the downside of exiling one of your own permanents. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn also provides an extra turn upon casting, but it’s accompanied by a series of more devastating effects, firmly establishing it in a higher echelon of turn-based creatures.
Evaluating these cards, Wormfang Manta holds a specialized position within Magic: The Gathering. Despite its imposing casting cost and consequential exile effect, the potential for crafting an additional turn makes it a card worth considering in decks that are designed to capitalize on and mitigate such trade-offs.
Cards similar to Wormfang Manta by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: When Wormfang Manta enters the battlefield, the unique benefit it grants is an extra turn, effectively giving you additional draw steps and play opportunities. This advantage can propel you forward in the game by accessing more resources and options than your opponent.
Resource Acceleration: With the additional turn gained from the Wormfang Manta, you’re setting yourself up for accelerated gameplay. This extra turn can be critical in furthering your board state, untapping your lands, and enabling you to cast more spells quicker than your opponents can respond.
Instant Speed: Although Wormfang Manta itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it interacts positively with cards that do. Casting it immediately after an end step or during the last possible moment before your turn can catch your opponents off guard, effectively dovetailed with instants and flash spells to optimize your control over the game pace.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing Wormfang Manta demands an immediate sacrifice as it enters the battlefield. You’re required to exile another permanent you control, which can be a substantial cost, especially if your board presence is sparse.
Specific Mana Cost: The mana cost of Wormfang Manta is heavily skewed towards blue, needing a total of seven mana with six of those needing to be blue. This makes it challenging to fit into multicolor decks and can be a hurdle in decks not specifically tailored to generate large amounts of blue mana.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: At seven mana, Wormfang Manta sits at a higher range on the mana curve. When assessing the landscape of available creatures and effects at similar cost levels, you might find that other options provide more impact or versatility on the game without the need for such a demanding mana requirement.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Wormfang Manta offers a unique effect that allows players to take an extra turn immediately after this one, bypassing the need for traditional extra turn spells. This ability can slide into both aggressive and control decks seeking to capitalize on that extra bit of time to clinch victory.
Combo Potential: With its time-bending capability, Wormfang Manta can be a linchpin in combos designed to accumulate multiple turns or exploit enter-the-battlefield effects. It’s also a valuable asset in blue-based decks that focus on manipulating turns for strategic advantage.
Meta-Relevance: As the game evolves, the ability to take extra turns can always find its place in the meta. Specifically, in metas heavy with combo or control decks, Wormfang Manta might give players the edge needed to outpace the competition and dictate the game’s tempo to their favor.
How to beat
Wormfang Manta is a unique creature card in Magic: The Gathering that presents a challenge due to its ability to grant an extra turn upon entering the battlefield. It’s an effect reminiscent of Time Warp, albeit with a significant creature attached. Despite its upside, Wormfang Manta carries the drawback of making its controller skip their next turn after the extra one, which savvy players can exploit.
Strategies to counter Wormfang Manta generally involve preemptive measures like counterspells, targeting blue’s inherent strength in controlling the game’s flow. By keeping mana open for spells like Counterspell or Mana Leak, players can stop the Manta from hitting the field altogether, negating both its benefit and downside. Removal spells like Path to Exile can also effectively deal with the creature after it lands, allowing you to leverage the skip turn clause to your advantage without conceding an extra turn to your opponent.
Given the right approach, Wormfang Manta can be more of a detriment to its controller than a benefit. By exploiting its unique effect with timely removal or disruption, players can turn the tide of the game in their favor and ensure this potentially game-altering creature becomes a miscalculated risk for the opponent.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Wormfang Manta MTG card by a specific set like Judgment, 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 Wormfang Manta 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
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Wormfang Manta has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |