Worms of the Earth MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	1994-08-01
Set symbol
Set name	The Dark
Set code	DRK
Number	56
Frame	1993
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Anson Maddocks

Key Takeaways

Prevents opponents from playing lands, a potent tactic in land-heavy MTG metas.
Casts at instant speed, surprising foes and disrupting their best-laid plans.
Demands high mana cost and specific colors, possibly hindering your deck’s flow.

Text of card

No new land may be brought into play. During any player's upkeep, any player may destroy Worms of the Earth by sacrificing two lands or taking 5 damage from Worms of the Earth.

The ground collapsed, leaving nothing but the great Worms' mucous residues.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Worms of the Earth can provide a steady advantage by deterring land plays, which may hamstring your opponent’s ability to outpace you in resources, ensuring you stay ahead in the battle for board supremacy.

Resource Acceleration: While this card does not directly accelerate your resources, it plays a pivotal role in resource denial. By preventing both players from playing lands, you can strategically plan your land drops and spells to ensure that this asymmetrical effect works in your favor.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting this card at instant speed allows you to respond to your opponent’s actions or end-of-turn decisions, maximizing the element of surprise and disruption. This can be crucial in maintaining control of the game tempo and disrupting your opponents’ strategies at the most opportune times.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The requirement to discard another card can be a steep price, especially if you’re striving to maintain card advantage. This aspect can hinder your strategy if you’re forced to get rid of a crucial component from your hand.

Specific Mana Cost: Worms of the Earth demands a precise blend of mana to cast, which may clash with the mana base of multi-colored decks. This can lead to instances where the card is unplayable due to a lack of the right color resources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana investment is significant for the effect it provides. With a five-mana cost, players could find themselves at a tempo loss, particularly when faster, more immediate impacts on the board are needed to stay competitive in a match.

Reasons to Include Worms of the Earth in Your Collection

Versatility: Worms of the Earth caters to players looking for unique disruption tactics. Its ability to restrict opponents from playing land cards can be seamlessly integrated into land denial decks or strategies aimed at resource control.

Combo Potential: This card offers synergies with various strategies that benefit from limiting land plays. In combination with cards meant to destroy or sacrifice lands, it can severely cripple an opponent’s development on the board.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where ramp decks are prevalent, Worms of the Earth can serve as a powerful counter. By hindering land-based strategies, it can level the playing field for decks that focus on alternative mechanisms for victory.

How to beat

Worms of the Earth has the potential to be a major roadblock for players looking to stabilize their board with land plays in Magic: The Gathering. This enchantment card prevents players from playing lands, making it a valuable piece in strategies aiming to control the game’s pace. To effectively navigate around this obstacle, it’s paramount for players to incorporate enchantment removal spells in their deck. Cards like Naturalize or Disenchant are essential tools that can eliminate Worms of the Earth, freeing up the ability to play lands once again.

Another strategy is to focus on land ramp that puts lands onto the battlefield without playing them, such as through effects like Cultivate or Kodama’s Reach. Additionally, utilizing mana artifacts or creatures can help maintain a solid mana base, minimizing the impact of the card’s restrictive ability. Finally, direct creature removal or board wipes can clean the board of any threats that capitalized on the stalled land plays, which would grant a player the breather needed to deal with the menacing enchantment.

Cards like Worms of the Earth

Worms of the Earth is a distinct card within the Magic: The Gathering realm, standing out with its ability to keep players from playing lands and making all lands indestructible. A card that echoes this disruptive strategy is Drought. While Drought affects gameplay differently by punishing players for playing spells with plains, it still impacts land dynamics and player strategy significantly.

Entering the conversation is Price of Glory, which dissuades opponents from acting during others’ turns by destroying their lands if they do. Though different in approach, like Worms of the Earth, it effectively changes how opponents interact with their manabase. Conservation of the land base is also central to Splendid Reclamation, which reverses land removal strategies by returning all land cards from a graveyard to play under their owner’s control. While not preventative like Worms of the Earth, it mitigates land loss post facto.

Comparatively, Worms of the Earth offers a proactive measure to regulate land plays, contrasting with other cards’ reactive or conditional nature. Its unique ability to dictate land presence in the game carves a niche for itself in strategic deck building focused on land control in Magic: The Gathering.

Splendid Reclamation - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Worms of the Earth by color, type and mana cost

Curse of Death's Hold - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Worms of the Earth MTG card by a specific set like The Dark, 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 Worms of the Earth and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Worms of the Earth has restrictions

Format	Legality
Oldschool	Legal
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	If you cast a spell or activate an ability that lets you put a land onto the battlefield, the effect fails. You’ll still do everything else the spell or ability tells you to do, such as shuffle the library.
2004-10-04	Land can’t enter the battlefield, so an effect that “puts a land onto the battlefield” won’t do anything, and the land will stay where it is.
2006-05-01	In Two-Headed Giant, triggers only once per upkeep, not once for each player.
2008-08-01	If a permanent spell tries to enter the battlefield as a land during its resolution (for instance, a Clone entering the battlefield as a copy of a Dryad Arbor or an animated Mutavault), it is put into its owner’s graveyard instead of entering the battlefield. It never enters the battlefield, so abilities that would have triggered on it entering the battlefield won’t trigger.