Quag Sickness MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant

Key Takeaways

  1. Quag Sickness offers board control by scaling removal power through Swamp count, effective in black decks.
  2. It’s less versatile in multicolor decks, with specific mana cost and potential card disadvantage issues.
  3. For strategic MTG collections, Quag Sickness’ flexibility makes it a notable card for creature-heavy metas.

Text of card

Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets -1/-1 for each Swamp you control.

The dread gases didn't kill Farbid. But as he lay in the muck, miserable and helpless, watching ghouls and rats advance on him, he wished they had.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Quag Sickness has the potential to swing the board in your favor by dealing with a single troublesome creature. By potentially removing an opponent’s key creature, you’re essentially nullifying one of their cards and gaining indirect card advantage through board presence.

Resource Acceleration: While this enchantment doesn’t directly provide resource acceleration, it helps maintain your mana efficiency. You’re able to use your lands to disrupt your opponent’s plan, keeping you on pace or even putting you ahead in the race for board dominance.

Instant Speed: Although Quag Sickness is not an instant itself, it complements your instant-speed removal package. It allows you to control the board at sorcery speed, preserving your instants for more pressing threats that require immediate attention. This flexibility lets you allocate resources more effectively during gameplay.


Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: Quag Sickness demands black mana exclusively, making it less versatile in multi-colored decks and limiting in terms of mana base flexibility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Requiring three mana, with two being black, may be considered costly for the effect it provides, particularly when there are alternative removal spells available at lower costs.

Discard Requirement: While not involving a discard per se, Quag Sickness can indirectly lead to card disadvantage. This happens as the aura remains on the battlefield without effect if the enchanted creature is removed, essentially trading two cards (Quag Sickness and the creature it was enchanting) for one of your opponent’s actions.


Reasons to Include Quag Sickness Mtg Card in Your Collection

Versatility: Quag Sickness offers a flexible removal option for black-centric or multicolored decks. Its ability to scale with the number of Swamps you control makes it a valuable card for managing threats on the board in a variety of game situations.

Combo Potential: This enchantment pairs well with cards that benefit from continuous swamp count increments. It works harmoniously in a deck with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or with land animation effects to increase its potency over time.

Meta-Relevance: As creature-based strategies often dominate the game, Quag Sickness provides a relevant answer by dealing with large threats efficiently. In a meta where black control decks thrive, the card can be a low-cost yet effective solution to preserve your life total and maintain board control.


How to beat

Quag Sickness is a unique aura in MTG that can be a potent tool for draining the life force of your opponent’s creatures. Its effect, tethering a creature’s power and toughness to the number of Swamps you control, can rapidly incapacitate even the mightiest foes. To effectively counteract this card, consider strategies that limit the number of Swamps in play, or utilize enchantment removal cards to eliminate Quag Sickness before it cripples your board presence. Cards like Naturalize or Disenchant are prime examples that can efficiently dispose of problematic auras and preserve your creatures’ vitality. Moreover, playing around Quag Sickness means maintaining a diverse mana base to mitigate its impact. Having non-Swamp lands ensures that the power reduction it inflicts remains minimal at best.

It is also worth mentioning cards such as Bojuka Bog that can exile graveyards, removing any fuel for reanimation spells that might bring Quag Sickness back into play, providing a strategic edge. By staying vigilant and ready with these key tactics, overcoming the darkness of Quag Sickness becomes a less daunting task, allowing you to maintain control of the battlefield.


Cards like Quag Sickness

In the realm of Magic: The Gathering, Quag Sickness stands as a unique aura with the potency to weaken a creature according to the number of Swamps you control. A comparative card is Contaminated Bond. While Contaminated Bond is cheaper and attaches a damaging clause to the enchanted creature, it lacks the scaling power of Quag Sickness which can outright destroy creatures in a swamp-heavy deck.

Dead Weight also serves as a parallel, offering a static -2/-2 to the enchanted creature at a low cost. This can be efficient for early game creature control but doesn’t achieve the potential high impact or board presence Quag Sickness reaches in the mid to late game with an abundance of Swamps. Mire’s Grasp adds another dimension, toeing the line between these two cards with a consistent -3/-3 to undermine creatures, though still, it doesn’t offer the scalability of Quag Sickness.

Ultimately, when evaluating the various options, Quag Sickness can be a stalwart defense in black-centric decks, providing significant control over the battleground by utilizing the pervasive presence of Swamps.

Contaminated Bond - MTG Card versions
Dead Weight - MTG Card versions
Mire's Grasp - MTG Card versions
Contaminated Bond - Mirrodin (MRD)
Dead Weight - Innistrad (ISD)
Mire's Grasp - Theros Beyond Death (THB)

Cards similar to Quag Sickness by color, type and mana cost

Gloom - MTG Card versions
Season of the Witch - MTG Card versions
Tourach's Gate - MTG Card versions
Tourach's Chant - MTG Card versions
Withering Wisps - MTG Card versions
Necropotence - MTG Card versions
Funeral March - MTG Card versions
Casting of Bones - MTG Card versions
Blanket of Night - MTG Card versions
Hecatomb - MTG Card versions
Krovikan Fetish - MTG Card versions
Megrim - MTG Card versions
Recurring Nightmare - MTG Card versions
Contamination - MTG Card versions
Oppression - MTG Card versions
Lurking Evil - MTG Card versions
Maggot Therapy - MTG Card versions
Murderous Betrayal - MTG Card versions
Noxious Field - MTG Card versions
Tainted Well - MTG Card versions
Gloom - Masters Edition IV (ME4)
Season of the Witch - The Dark (DRK)
Tourach's Gate - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Tourach's Chant - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Withering Wisps - Masters Edition II (ME2)
Necropotence - Wilds of Eldraine: Enchanting Tales (WOT)
Funeral March - Homelands (HML)
Casting of Bones - Alliances (ALL)
Blanket of Night - Visions (VIS)
Hecatomb - Masters Edition (ME1)
Krovikan Fetish - Masters Edition II (ME2)
Megrim - Duels of the Planeswalkers (DPA)
Recurring Nightmare - Exodus (EXO)
Contamination - Urza's Saga (USG)
Oppression - Secret Lair Drop (SLD)
Lurking Evil - Urza's Saga (USG)
Maggot Therapy - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Murderous Betrayal - Nemesis (NEM)
Noxious Field - Prophecy (PCY)
Tainted Well - Invasion (INV)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Quag Sickness MTG card by a specific set like Magic 2011 and Magic 2014, 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 Quag Sickness and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Quag Sickness Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2010-07-16 and 2013-07-19. Illustrated by Martina Pilcerova.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12010-07-16Magic 2011M11 1112003normalblackMartina Pilcerova
22013-07-19Magic 2014M14 1102003normalblackMartina Pilcerova

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Quag Sickness has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2010-08-15 The ability cares about lands with the land type Swamp, not necessarily lands named Swamp.
2010-08-15 This ability counts the number of Swamps controlled by Quag Sickness’s controller, not the enchanted creature’s controller (in case they’re different players).
2010-08-15 This bonus is not fixed; it changes as the number of Swamps you control changes.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks