Morbid Bloom MTG Card


Morbid Bloom - Alara Reborn
Mana cost
Converted mana cost6
RarityUncommon
TypeSorcery
Released2009-04-30
Set symbol
Set nameAlara Reborn
Set codeARB
Number94
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byTrevor Claxton

Key Takeaways

  1. Morbid Bloom excels in card advantage by transforming opponent’s creatures into Saproling tokens.
  2. Its instant speed allows for flexible, tactical plays, enhancing reactionary potential during games.
  3. Despite its strategic prowess, a high mana cost and specific color requirements limit its accessibility.

Text of card

Remove target creature card in a graveyard from the game, then put X 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens into play, where X is the removed card's toughness.

"From the damned I make my garden." —Jorshu of Clan Nel Toth


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Morbid Bloom is a powerful tool for maintaining card advantage. When resolved, this spell not only removes a key creature from your opponent’s board but also putrefies it into new troops for your army. This transformation ensures you stay ahead in the resource count and keeps the pressure on your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: The resource acceleration embedded in Morbid Bloom goes beyond mere mana. By exiling an opponent’s creature and creating that number of Saproling tokens, you’re effectively generating a wealth of new assets. Each Saproling can be considered an additional resource, effectively growing your board presence and potential for future maneuvers.

Instant Speed: The instant speed of Morbid Bloom offers tactical supremacy during gameplay. This timing allows you to respond to threats urgently or at the end of your opponent’s turn, keeping your mana open for counterspells or other reactionary measures. The flexibility granted by instant speed plays a key role in the efficient deployment of this potentially game-shifting spell.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Morbid Bloom necessitates sacrificing a creature as part of its casting cost. This can deplete your board presence, making it a risky play when you’re trying to maintain field control.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s mana cost is rigid, demanding both black and green mana. This can pose a challenge for players running multicolor decks without a reliable mana base to ensure these two colors are available when needed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that totals six mana, Morbid Bloom competes with many other impactful cards in the same mana range. Players might find other cards offering immediate board impact or card advantage more appealing choices for their deck strategies.


Reasons to Include Morbid Bloom in Your Collection

Versatility: Morbid Bloom is not just a removal option; it’s a strategic play that turns your opponent’s threats into your advantages. This card can slide into a variety of decks, particularly those that capitalize on graveyard manipulation or creature death triggers.

Combo Potential: With Morbid Bloom, players can create synergies with cards that flourish upon creature deaths or when new tokens are generated. It can be a key piece in intricate combos that aim to control the board while establishing a commanding presence.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where creature-heavy decks are prominent, Morbid Bloom shines by providing a significant shift in board state. Its capacity to remove problematic creatures and simultaneously create tokens can swing games in your favor, cementing its relevancy in such metas.


How to beat Morbid Bloom

Morbid Bloom is a unique card in MTG, able to extract value from creatures in graveyards by creating a number of Saproling tokens. This ability not only utilizes resources that are often considered spent but also presents a board presence that can quickly escalate. Players facing Morbid Bloom should aim to minimize graveyard accumulation, considering graveyard hate cards like Relic of Progenitus or Rest in Peace which can neutralize Morbid Bloom’s effectiveness by exiling cards from graveyards before they turn into an army of tokens.

Strategic play means keeping creature count low on the field, discouraging the use of Morbid Bloom, or forcing an opponent to use it suboptimally. Efficient removal spells like Path to Exile or board sweeps such as Wrath of God can prevent graveyards from becoming overrun with potential Morbid Bloom targets. Players may also opt for instant-speed removal, like Swords to Plowshares, granting them the flexibility to respond to Morbid Bloom activations and minimize the impact.

Navigating the battlefield against Morbid Bloom requires foresight and smart control of the graveyard. By adopting a proactive stance, players can maintain a dominant position and ward off the burgeoning threat posed by the efficient use of this multifaceted card.


Cards like Morbid Bloom

Morbid Bloom is an intriguing component in the spectrum of creature-based strategies in Magic: The Gathering. It finds a parallel in cards like Fungal Sprouting, which leverages the number of creatures you control to create Saproling tokens. Morbid Bloom, however, takes this a step further by interacting with creatures in the graveyard, turning death into a resource by generating a number of Saproling tokens equal to the exiled creature’s power.

Expanding on this theme, we come across the spell Necrogenesis. It shares the graveyard interaction with Morbid Bloom, allowing players to remove creatures from graveyards to create Saproling tokens. Although it can be repeated multiple times at a cheaper activation cost, it doesn’t harness the single burst potential of Morbid Bloom’s power-based token generation. Then, there’s Deathreap Ritual, another notable similarity, offering continuous draw benefits as creatures die, yet without producing an immediate board presence like Morbid Bloom.

After weighing the characteristics and utility each card offers in creature-centric decks, Morbid Bloom asserts its unique footprint, excelling in environments rich with large creatures, and proving to be a powerhouse by transforming mortality into an army of tokens.

Fungal Sprouting - MTG Card versions
Necrogenesis - MTG Card versions
Deathreap Ritual - MTG Card versions
Fungal Sprouting - Magic 2013 (M13)
Necrogenesis - Shards of Alara (ALA)
Deathreap Ritual - Conspiracy (CNS)

Cards similar to Morbid Bloom by color, type and mana cost

Revival Experiment - MTG Card versions
Rites of Reaping - MTG Card versions
Destined // Lead - MTG Card versions
Vraska's Stoneglare - MTG Card versions
Casualties of War - MTG Card versions
Mycoid Resurrection - MTG Card versions
Revival Experiment - Commander 2021 (C21)
Rites of Reaping - Return to Ravnica (RTR)
Destined // Lead - Amonkhet Remastered (AKR)
Vraska's Stoneglare - Guilds of Ravnica (GRN)
Casualties of War - Fallout (PIP)
Mycoid Resurrection - Alchemy: Ixalan (YLCI)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Morbid Bloom MTG card by a specific set like Alara Reborn, 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 Morbid Bloom and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Morbid Bloom has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2009-05-01 If a creature card has “*” in its toughness, the ability that defines “*” works in all zones. The value of X is equal to the toughness of the targeted creature card as it last existed in the graveyard.
2009-05-01 If the targeted card is removed from the graveyard before Morbid Bloom resolves, the spell doesn’t resolve. You won’t get any Saproling tokens.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks