Rapid Decay MTG Card

Urza's Destiny (UDS)
1999-06-07 - Number 67

Rapid Decay - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)

World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
1999-08-04 - Number js67sb

World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
1999-08-04 - Number js67

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Instant
Abilities	Cycling

Key Takeaways

Efficient graveyard disruption, instantly usable, can impede opponent strategies and manage resources.
Discarding and specific mana costs limit versatility; other removal cards may offer better efficiency.
Valuable in graveyard-focused metagames, with potential for disrupting opponent combos and recurring threats.

Text of card

Cycling Remove from the game up to three target cards in a single graveyard.

The grave robbers arrived the day after the burial. They were a day too late.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Rapid Decay provides an efficient way to remove your opponent’s creatures from the game. This not only disrupts their strategy but can also leave them at a card disadvantage if they’ve invested resources into the targeted creature.

Resource Acceleration: Since Rapid Decay can target up to three creature cards in a single graveyard, it has the potential to significantly accelerate your strategy in formats like Commander, where cards that interact with the graveyard are abundant.

Instant Speed: The ability to use Rapid Decay at instant speed enhances your tactical flexibility. You can wait until the most opportune moment during your opponent’s turn to disrupt their plays, catch them off-guard, and efficiently manage your own resources in the meantime.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the limitations of Rapid Decay is the requirement to discard a card, which can deplete your hand, making it less favorable when your card advantage is already waning.

Specific Mana Cost: The specific mana cost can be restrictive, requiring both black mana and colorless. This can potentially limit the card’s integration in a multi-color deck where mana flexibility is key.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost that might be deemed high for its effect, there are alternatives in the MTG universe offering more cost-efficient removal or graveyard disruption, potentially leaving Rapid Decay less desirable in a competitive setup.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Rapid Decay offers a flexible solution for dealing with graveyard-based strategies. Its ability to remove target card from a graveyard makes it a versatile sideboard card that can be slotted into various decks to manage relentless grave oriented tactics.

Combo Potential: This card is particularly potent in decks focused on disrupting opponents’ strategies. By eliminating key pieces from an opponent’s graveyard, you can thwart combo decks and diminish the effectiveness of recurring threats.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta-game where graveyard recursion or decks leveraging flashback and other similar mechanics are prevalent, Rapid Decay’s utility increases significantly. It ensures that your deck remains competitive against such strategies, thus cementing its relevance in the current metagame.

How to beat

Rapid Decay is a card that can disrupt many strategies by quickly dealing with a number of small creatures. Its ability to decrease toughness can be devastating, stripping away your lineup of critical defenders or attackers. When facing Rapid Decay, the key strategy lies in diversity and resilience. Cards with undying or persist abilities can recover from its effect, bouncing back onto the battlefield even after being hit by the Decay’s power.

Investing in creatures with hexproof or shroud is another solid plan to counter this threat, as they’re protected from being targeted. Larger creatures also stand tall against Rapid Decay, as their higher toughness absorbs the impact much better than smaller ones. Additionally, instant-speed buffs or equipment that increases toughness can save your creatures in a pinch, demonstrating the importance of flexibility and quick thinking on the battlefield.

In summary, defeating Rapid Decay calls for a mix of tactical foresight, creature durability, and selecting cards that can either evade or endure its effects. Adapt your gameplay, and you’ll negate the advantages that this card might hold against you.

Cards like Rapid Decay

Within the realm of graveyard manipulation in Magic: The Gathering, Rapid Decay emerges with a niche effect, eliminating three target cards in a graveyard. In its class, it finds company with cards like Surgical Extraction, offering precision removal of any number of copies of a card in a player’s graveyard and hand. While Rapid Decay can’t touch the hand and lacks the nonland specification that Surgical Extraction has, it compensates by hitting multiple distinct cards at once.

Further exploration reveals Nihil Spellbomb which, like Rapid Decay, caters to graveyard disruption. Nihil Spellbomb has the capability to exile an entire graveyard, far outreaching the targeted approach of Rapid Decay. Nevertheless, Rapid Decay does not come with the dependency on a secondary action to gain a card, as Spellbomb does upon its sacrifice. Lastly, Tormod’s Crypt is another household name for graveyard hate, capable of purging all cards in a graveyard at zero cost. Although it shares the mass removal aspect with Spellbomb, Rapid Decay offers targeted control, which can be crucial in managing specific threats.

Ultimately, while each card has its tailored environment and strategic use in the complex dynamics of Magic: The Gathering, Rapid Decay holds its own with its unique demand for spot removal across multiple graveyard targets.

Cards similar to Rapid Decay by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Rapid Decay MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Destiny and World Championship Decks 1999, 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 Rapid Decay and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Rapid Decay Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1999-06-07 and 1999-08-04. Illustrated by Chippy.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1999-06-07	Urza's Destiny	UDS	67	1997	Normal	Black	Chippy
2	1999-08-04	World Championship Decks 1999	WC99	js67sb	1997	Normal	Gold	Chippy
3	1999-08-04	World Championship Decks 1999	WC99	js67	1997	Normal	Gold	Chippy

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Rapid Decay 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 Rapid Decay 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 pick the cards during announcement. If any are not there on resolution, any others that are there are still affected.
2008-10-01	Cycling is an activated ability. Effects that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle or Rings of Brighthearth) will interact with cycling. Effects that interact with spells (such as Remove Soul or Faerie Tauntings) will not.