Culling Sun MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery
Released	2006-02-03
Set symbol
Set name	Guildpact
Set code	GPT
Number	109
Frame	2003
Layout	normal
Border	black
Illustred by	Daren Bader

Key Takeaways

Provides control by removing multiple threats simultaneously, benefiting from sweeping board clears.
Demands specific deck construction, and its mana cost requires commitment to certain colors.
Strategic inclusion in collections for its meta-relevance and combo potential within creature-heavy decks.

Text of card

Destroy each creature with converted mana cost 3 or less.

"Who truly runs this city? Look to the sky on hallowed days, and see whose sigil is stamped clearly onto the heavens." —Vuliev of the Ghost Council

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Culling Sun provides a significant sway in card advantage by potentially removing multiple creatures from the battlefield in one sweep. This can leave an opponent at a deficit while you maintain or increase your presence on the board.

Resource Acceleration: Although Culling Sun itself isn’t a direct source of mana acceleration, it efficiently clears the way for your resource-generating creatures to attack or utilize their abilities without being blocked or hindered by an opponent’s creatures.

Instant Speed: Although Culling Sun is a sorcery, its impact on the game can feel akin to a powerful instant, resetting the board in your favor during your turn. This allows you to strategically plan your main phase plays without worrying about an opponent’s creature-based responses.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Though Culling Sun doesn’t have an inherent discard condition, leveraging it fully often requires a specific deck design. This consideration compels players to think about potentially discarding other valuable cards to make room for adequate deck support for Culling Sun’s mechanism.

Specific Mana Cost: With a mana cost that involves two white mana and one black mana, Culling Sun requires a commitment to those colors. This specificity can restrict the card’s inclusion solely to white, black, or multicolor decks, potentially excluding it from various other strategy decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Culling Sun’s five mana cost, while justifiable by its potent board-clearing capability, is relatively high. In the fast-paced modern format, this may render it too slow against aggressive decks that capitalize on quicker, more cost-efficient removal options.

Reasons to Include Culling Sun in Your Collection

Versatility: Culling Sun offers a flexible removal tool, capable of clearing multiple threats off the board regardless of creature type. This card becomes particularly valuable in decks that face a wide range of aggressive strategies.

Combo Potential: In decks that manipulate counters or benefit from creature deaths, Culling Sun acts as an enabler, triggering a swath of abilities simultaneously. Whether it’s bolstering your own board state or weakening your opponent’s, it fits snugly into various combo frameworks.

Meta-Relevance: With creature-heavy decks frequently dominating play, Culling Sun serves as a powerful response. As the metagame shifts towards faster creature decks, this card can be a game-changer, effectively resetting the board and giving control players a significant advantage.

How to beat

Culling Sun is a powerful spell in the Magic: The Gathering world, known for its ability to wipe the board clean of creatures with low power. Standing against this card requires strategic gameplay and making smart choices. Protection spells, indestructible creatures, and utilizing creatures with a power threshold above three are key tactics to counteract the devastating impact of Culling Sun. Moreover, keeping counterspells in hand to negate its casting or using hexproof to safeguard your valuable creatures also works effectively.

Another robust strategy includes playing cards like Selfless Spirit, which grant your creatures indestructibility, thereby rendering Culling Sun ineffective. Timing also plays a crucial role. By playing bait creatures to lure out Culling Sun and then deploying higher-powered creatures, you can maintain a presence on the battlefield. Additionally, holding onto regenerative capabilities or cards that can swiftly bring creatures back from the graveyard minimizes the long-term damage dealt by such sweeping removal spells.

Ultimately, countering Culling Sun hinges on anticipation and knowing when to commit resources to the board versus holding back. A carefully curated deck with answers to board wipes, alongside tactical play, can effectively overcome the challenge posed by this potent area-of-effect spell.

Cards like Culling Sun

Culling Sun presents a unique spot in the array of removal spells in Magic: The Gathering. It is akin to cards like Day of Judgment, which also has a sweeping effect to clear the board of creatures. Culling Sun differentiates itself with an important detail – it only destroys creatures with power 3 or less. This feature allows strategic players to design their board to be immune to their own wipe. Day of Judgment lacks this condition, indiscriminately removing all creatures.

On a similar tangent, we can look at Dusk // Dawn. This spell also keynotes on power discrepancies, segregating creatures by those with power 3 or greater. Its aftermath ability provides a resurrection opportunity for smaller creatures, something Culling Sun doesn’t offer. We also have cards such as Ritual of Soot, which applies a threshold but based on converted mana cost rather than power, affecting the board differently.

In essence, when we juxtapose these spells’ characteristics and weigh their strategic uses, Culling Sun can be particularly potent in creature-specific control scenarios within Magic: The Gathering, representing a tactical choice for many deck builds.

Ritual of Soot - Guilds of Ravnica Promos (PGRN)

Cards similar to Culling Sun by color, type and mana cost

Graceful Restoration - MTG Card versions

Unburial Rites - Shadows of the Past (SIS)

March from the Tomb - Battle for Zendikar (BFZ)

Rise to Glory - Theros Beyond Death (THB)

Graceful Restoration - Jumpstart: Historic Horizons (J21)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Culling Sun MTG card by a specific set like Guildpact, 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 Culling Sun and other MTG cards: