Polluted Dead MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Zombie
Released	2012-05-04
Set symbol
Set name	Avacyn Restored
Set code	AVR
Power	3
Toughness	3
Number	116
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Jason A. Engle

Key Takeaways

Polluted Dead offers card advantage by targeting lands when it dies, unsettling an opponent’s strategy.
Casting this card can constrict deck possibilities to those including black mana or a diverse mana base.
Recurring Polluted Dead in certain decks can continually threaten an opponent’s mana resources.

Text of card

When Polluted Dead dies, destroy target land.

After the zombie attack, crops withered on the vine, and the thriving village became a ghost town almost overnight.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Polluted Dead contributes to card advantage upon its removal from the battlefield. When this creature dies, it allows you to destroy target land, potentially disrupting your opponent’s mana base or removing a critical utility land from the game, effectively trading one of your cards for one of theirs while impacting the board.

Resource Acceleration: While Polluted Dead itself does not provide direct mana acceleration, by removing an opponent’s land, it can contribute to a relative acceleration in resources. This is because it reduces the opponent’s available mana, potentially allowing you to be ahead in the game’s resource race, which is a subtle but powerful way to gain advantage.

Instant Speed: Although Polluted Dead’s ability is not activated at instant speed, the land destruction effect happens instantly upon its death. This means that if Polluted Dead is sacrificed or killed off during any player’s turn — possibly even in response to an opponent’s spell or ability — it can disrupt their strategy unexpectedly, giving you a sudden and impactful advantage.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One notable drawback of Polluted Dead is the potential need to discard another card to maximize its benefits. This can lead to a strategic disadvantage, particularly in games where hand size and resource management are vital. Ensuring you have expendable cards to discard requires careful planning and could potentially disrupt your game plan.

Specific Mana Cost: Polluted Dead’s casting cost requires black mana, which can restrict its inclusion to only those decks that run black or have a mana base capable of generating multiple colors with ease. Players running mono-colored or color-restricted decks might find this card incompatible with their strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana investment for bringing Polluted Dead onto the battlefield is significant when considering other options available within the same mana range. At a cost that rivals other impactful creatures or spells, it is important to weigh the benefits of including Polluted Dead in your deck against other cards that might provide more immediate or versatile advantages.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Polluted Dead provides value in various deck archetypes, capable of serving both as a tactical creature and a land removal tool. This makes it an adaptable card worthy of space in your collection, especially if you enjoy playing strategies that benefit from graveyard synergy or require efficient ways to disrupt opponents’ mana bases.

Combo Potential: This card’s ability to destroy a land upon its death allows for interesting interactions and combo plays. Integrating it into decks with ways to recur creatures from the graveyard can create a constant threat to your opponents’ land resources, effectively setting back their game plan while you advance yours.

Meta-Relevance: With decks that heavily rely on land-based strategies appearing frequently in the current meta, Polluted Dead can serve as an effective counter. Its ability to remove essential lands with ease ensures that it has a place in a metagame where keeping opponents off-balance can lead to victory.

How to beat

Polluted Dead is a creature card offering a significant advantage upon its departure from the battlefield, destroying target land. This ability can disrupt opponents by taking out crucial mana sources or specialty lands integral to their strategy. Faced with this threat, players ought to consider removal spells that exile instead of destroy, as this would prevent the triggering of Polluted Dead’s land destruction ability. Cards such as Path to Exile or Baffling End serve this purpose nicely.

Another tactic is to employ graveyard disruption. With effects from cards like Relic of Progenitus or Scavenging Ooze, one can remove Polluted Dead from the game entirely or eat it from the graveyard, ensuring its ability does not activate. Additionally, players can shift towards land protection. Heroic Intervention, for example, can safeguard your lands from single, targeted removals, which makes the Polluted Dead’s ability null and void upon it being sacrificed or destroyed.

Ultimately, preparing for Polluted Dead involves having the right answers at the right time. Control your opponent’s graveyard, safeguard or regenerate your lands, and consider exile over destruction to mitigate Polluted Dead’s disruptive potential on your game plan.

Cards like Polluted Dead

Polluted Dead is a creature card that offers a strategic advantage in black-dominated decks in Magic the Gathering. This zombie card shares similarities with other creature-based cards that provide board control upon leaving the battlefield. For instance, Festering Goblin is another card that affects the board by giving a creature -1/-1 until end of turn when it dies, a subtler form of control compared to Polluted Dead’s land destruction ability.

Comparing further, we look at Ember Hauler, a card that allows you to deal 2 damage to any target when you sacrifice it. While Ember Hauler provides more targeted removal, it lacks the direct impact on land that Polluted Dead offers. However, this added versatility can be crucial in certain game scenarios. Another comparable card is Viridian Zealot, which, like Polluted Dead, destroys something when it dies—specifically, an artifact or enchantment, which broadens the range of targets compared to the more niche land destruction Polluted Dead provides.

Polluted Dead stands out in MTG for its unique angle on removal, targeting a resource that is often more challenging to disrupt. In this context, it provides a valuable tool for players looking to inhibit their opponent’s mana base directly through creature-based strategies.

Cards similar to Polluted Dead by color, type and mana cost

Predatory Nightstalker - MTG Card versions

Wei Elite Companions - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Polluted Dead MTG card by a specific set like Avacyn Restored, 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 Polluted Dead and other MTG cards: