Pick Your Poison MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityRare
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Advantages of Pick Your Poison include hand disruption and instant speed reaction for tactical superiority.
  2. Drawbacks involve a high casting cost and specific mana requirements, which may limit deck compatibility.
  3. Despite cons, its versatility and meta relevance make it a valuable addition to your MTG collection.

Text of card

Choose any number of modes that total exactly 4. You may choose the same mode more than once. 1 Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. 2 Create a 1/1 black Snake creature token with deathtouch. 4 All creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: In the intricate dance of spellcasting and strategy, Pick Your Poison shines by offering a flexible approach to disrupting your opponent’s hand. By allowing you to peek into an opponent’s strategy and selectively strip them of options, this card bolsters your hand’s effectiveness while potentially leaving your opponent at a deficit.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly impacting mana resources, Pick Your Poison’s pivotal role in the tempo of the game cannot be ignored. By preemptively addressing threats or key components in your opponent’s plan, you may effectively stall their acceleration and provide yourself an indirect boost in the race for board dominance.

Instant Speed: The true potency of this card is unleashed at instant speed, lending you the element of surprise and ensuring your readiness for any adversarial moves. The flexibility to cast Pick Your Poison on your turn, or crucially, during your opponent’s turn, gives you a tactical edge, always keeping your adversaries one step behind.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The strategy behind Pick Your Poison involves a discard action that is mandatory, potentially disrupting your game plan, especially if you are running low on cards in your hand.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a precise mana configuration to be played, specifically black mana. This requirement can be restrictive, making it more challenging to fit into a multicolored deck that may not always have the necessary black mana available when needed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that is on the higher side for its effects, Pick Your Poison competes with other cards that could provide similar or greater value at a lower cost, thus it may not always be the best choice for deck optimization.


Reasons to Include Pick Your Poison in Your Collection

Versatility: Pick Your Poison is an excellent choice for various decks due to its ability to disrupt opponents’ plans by making them choose between two detrimental options. This adaptability makes it useful in many game scenarios.

Combo Potential: This card pairs well with strategies that capitalize on opponents making choices, such as cards that trigger off discarded cards or punishing opponents for losing life, amplifying its impact on the game.

Meta-Relevance: Given the strategic depth of current gameplay, having control elements like Pick Your Poison can be crucial. It’s especially potent in environments where players build intricate set-ups, as it can critically unsettle your opponent’s strategy.


How to beat

Understanding how to navigate around the hurdles presented by Pick Your Poison can be critical during match play. This particular card in the realm of MTG creates a unique challenge with its ability to offer your opponent a choice between two detrimental outcomes. To counteract this, smart play involves minimizing the advantage that Pick Your Poison could give to your opponent. This can be achieved by managing your hand and battlefield in such a way that the choice presented by Pick Your Poison becomes less impactful.

Players might consider keeping a balance between the value of creatures on their field and the significance of the cards in their hand. By doing so, the impact of either choice—an opponent gaining life or forcing you to lose a card—becomes manageable. It’s about having redundant resources so that sacrificing a creature or discarding a card doesn’t critically impede your strategy. Additionally, holding onto instants that can respond to Pick Your Poison or having abilities that trigger upon discarding or creature death can convert the setback into an advantage. Careful resource control and strategic planning are key to outplaying the twisted selections offered by Pick Your Poison.


Cards like Pick Your Poison

Pick Your Poison is a card that occupies an interesting niche in MTG’s array of choice-based spells. It can be likened to modal spells such as Cryptic Command or the more recent Charm cycle from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. Like these, Pick Your Poison gives players the agency to choose their fate, with options ranging from disrupting opponent tactics to bolstering your own game plan. The versatility of such cards provides a tactical edge, although they often come at a higher mana cost than Pick Your Poison.

Another parallel can be drawn with the classic card Fact or Fiction. This card forces an opponent to split a number of cards, letting the casting player choose a pile to add to their hand. While the interactive element is similar, Pick Your Poison typically presents more immediate consequences to the flow of the game. Then there’s the card Would You Kindly, which tasks opponents with a choice that could either thwart their own strategy or give you an advantage. Here again, the instant speed of Pick Your Poison often makes it a more reactive and flexible option during a tight match.

Evaluating each card’s strategic value shows that Pick Your Poison holds a unique position, offering a brew of unpredictability and control rarely matched by similar MTG cards, especially at such a manageable casting cost.

Cryptic Command - MTG Card versions
Fact or Fiction - MTG Card versions
Cryptic Command - Lorwyn (LRW)
Fact or Fiction - Invasion (INV)

Cards similar to Pick Your Poison by color, type and mana cost

Pestilent Cauldron // Restorative Burst - MTG Card versions
Worm Harvest - MTG Card versions
Spider Spawning - MTG Card versions
Death Frenzy - MTG Card versions
Diregraf Rebirth - MTG Card versions
Pestilent Cauldron // Restorative Burst - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)
Worm Harvest - Commander 2018 (C18)
Spider Spawning - Shadows of the Past (SIS)
Death Frenzy - Khans of Tarkir (KTK)
Diregraf Rebirth - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Pick Your Poison MTG card by a specific set like Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 and Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021, 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 Pick Your Poison and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Pick Your Poison Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2019-11-07 and 2024-02-09. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12019-11-07Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019CMB1 972015normalblackCorey Bowen
22021-08-20Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021CMB2 972015normalblackCorey Bowen
32024-02-09Murders at Karlov ManorMKM 1702015normalblackJulia Metzger

Rules and information

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

DateText
2019-11-12 Each chosen mode is performed in the order printed. This means, for example, that you can’t create a Snake token and then put a +1/+1 counter on it.
2019-11-12 If you choose the first mode at least once, Pick Your Poison will have at least one target. If those targets all become illegal before Pick Your Poison would resolve, it won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen.

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