Heretic's Punishment MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Enchantment |
| Abilities | Mill |
| Released | 2011-09-30 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Innistrad |
| Set code | ISD |
| Number | 147 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Vincent Proce |
Key Takeaways
- Heretic’s Punishment transforms top-deck cards into a direct damage mechanism, enhancing strategic play.
- Instant speed activation allows for flexible and unpredictable game responses, keeping opponents on edge.
- Requires card pitching to activate, which may lead to a disadvantage in resource-tight games.
Text of card
: Choose target creature or player, then put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard. Heretic's Punishment deals damage to that creature or player equal to the highest converted mana cost among those cards.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Heretic’s Punishment offers a unique method of impacting the game outside of traditional card draw, utilizing cards from the top of your library to potentially deal significant damage to creatures or players. This mechanic can turn dead draws into powerful effects, translating to a form of card advantage through utilization of resources.
Resource Acceleration: This card encourages building your deck with higher mana value spells, which can be used for its ability, leading to an epic payoff. It serves as a form of resource acceleration, allowing you to effectively convert unused high mana spells into direct damage.
Instant Speed: The ability to activate Heretic’s Punishment at instant speed provides strategic flexibility. You can end your turn without committing to a particular course of action, keeping your opponents guessing and ready to unleash damage in response to their plays or during their end phase.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Heretic’s Punishment requires the player to pitch a card from their hand to activate its ability. This condition can leave players at a resource disadvantage, particularly in prolonged games where each card holds significant strategic value.
Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a precisely colored mana investment (3 red mana), rendering it a challenging fit in multicolored decks that may not consistently produce the required mana types, thereby reducing its versatility across various deck builds.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The overhead of five mana to cast Heretic’s Punishment can be prohibitive, especially considering the competitive landscape of MTG where cards with lower casting costs can serve similar or more impactful roles in a deck’s strategy without heavily taxing the player’s mana pool.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Heretic’s Punishment offers a unique flexibility in deck construction, fitting comfortably in both casual and more focused spell-slinger builds. Its ability to deal damage based on the top card of your library brings a thrilling level of unpredictability to gameplay.
Combo Potential: This card excels when combined with ways to manipulate the top of the library, ensuring higher damage output. Integrating deck scrying or rearranging tools to pair with Heretic’s Punishment could lead to devastating turns for your opponents.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where creatures and planeswalkers dominate, Heretic’s Punishment becomes a valuable tool for controlling the board and applying pressure. Its ability to target any creature, player, or planeswalker ensures you have a flexible response to various threats.
How to beat
Heretic’s Punishment is a unique enchantment card that brings a fiery strategy to the table in Magic: The Gathering. As players build their decks, defeating this potent card can be a challenge, but it is not insurmountable. The key to overcoming Heretic’s Punishment lies in a proactive approach that disrupts its mechanic.
One effective method is by employing countermeasures that target enchantments. Enchantment removal cards like Disenchant or Naturalize are foundational tools in dismantling the threats posed by cards such as Heretic’s Punishment. Additionally, incorporating instant-speed removal can give players the advantage of timing, allowing them to wait for the right moment to act and avoid potential ability activations.
Another tactic is to utilize counterspells when Heretic’s Punishment is cast, preventing it from hitting the battlefield in the first place. Control decks often hold the upper hand against such high-cost cards because they can manage threats pre-emptively. By focusing on a strong defense and maintaining card advantage, players can outlast the damage potential and eventually neutralize the enchantment’s impact.
Cards like Heretic's Punishment
Heretic’s Punishment stands out in MTG as a unique mana-sink ability card. It’s often paralleled with cards that manipulate the top of the library to deal damage such as Erratic Explosion or Explosive Revelation. These cards reveal the top cards of your library, and deal damage based on the converted mana cost to an opponent or creature. While similar, Heretic’s Punishment offers the flexibility to hit any target and repeatedly activates the ability as long as you have mana, which makes it valuable in the later stages of the game when resources are plentiful.
Comparing it to a more recent card like Fiery Emancipation, which also amplifies the damage dealt to an opponent or permanent, it’s evident that Heretic’s Punishment can potentially provide a more consistent damage output turn after turn. Fiery Emancipation requires an established board presence to triple the damage, whereas Heretic’s Punishment only requires the untapped mana and can be a game-changer even from an empty board state.
When looking at damage dealing potential and late-game impact, Heretic’s Punishment has a distinctive place in MTG. Its versatility in targeting and the element of surprise with the unpredictability of the revealed cards make it a potentially potent choice for players looking to incorporate a dynamic mana-sink tool in their decks.
Cards similar to Heretic's Punishment by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Heretic's Punishment MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad, 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 Heretic's Punishment 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 MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Heretic's Punishment has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Heretic's Punishment card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2011-09-22 | If all three cards have a converted mana cost of 0, no damage will be dealt. |
| 2011-09-22 | If the targeted permanent or player is an illegal target by the time the ability resolves, the entire ability won’t resolve. No cards will be put into your graveyard, and no damage will be dealt. |
| 2011-09-22 | If you have two or fewer cards in your library when the ability resolves, all of them will be put into your graveyard. Heretic’s Punishment will still deal damage equal to the highest converted mana cost among those cards. |
| 2011-09-22 | The converted mana cost of a double-faced card in your graveyard is the converted mana cost of the front face. |
