Walking Sponge

Creature — Sponge

Tap: Target creature loses flying, first strike, or trample until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (11)

FormOverFunction on Favorite EDH Cards

6 days ago

Just a fun Friday post. What are some of your favorite pet-cards? Not necessarily key pieces or staples, just cards that you at least want to include in whatever deck you’re working on. I’m going to toss a couple out, though I’ll probably remember more later (and I hope you all do too). Whipkeeper is weird, and heavily reliant on circumstances, but when you have it on hand and those circumstances arise it’s really fun! Walking Sponge is another similar critter. That’s red and blue, and now I think I’ll shoot for one of each color. I’ve touted my love for Xenic Poltergeist often enough that you’re probably tired of it, but I’m always happy to draw it. I don’t play a ton of green, but Dense Canopy is something that’s had a special flavor for me. I love the idea of stealing a little of the power from flying, which is a pretty significant strength for a basic evergreen ability. In white I’ll pick Confessor as it’s a neat effect with a solid flavor. Mechanically I’m not a big fan of what lifegain decks have become, because of the sort of game state that you can end up with in a casual format, but I’m not totally negative on them. For an artifact, as a bonus, I’ll say Armageddon Clock because it’s a fun, symmetrical, way to move the game ahead while still giving people an extra out to regulate it some. What are some of your favorite cards, even if they aren’t particularly high-end?

FormOverFunction on Your Cheap Obscure Overperformers?

1 year ago

Walking Sponge is also a ton of fun if you’re going to third-party your way into combat; dropping a flier down to earth pre-blockers can be a great surprise. Same for first strike. You say your opponents pay better attention to the cards on the table? No sweat, you’ve at least just complicated their combat math in new and exciting ways. “I can’t believe I’m burning a kill spell on a €#*<¥+~ sponge.”

FormOverFunction on Are there any old cards …

3 years ago

I’m sort of surprised Heat Stroke isn’t used more. I know it’s too slow for red burn, but I would assume token decks would get value from it (my goblin deck certainly does). Artificer's Hex is an all-time favorite of mine for my haunted house deck. Equipment cards bug me almost as much as planeswalkers so I love messing with them. It’s strong because it doesn’t outright destroy it, so GY recursion doesn’t save it. It’s weak (but more fair) because the player can still choose to use it if it’s worth the creature dying, which makes the play more engaging. Similar to equipment, other artifacts are so core to Standard EDH Decks(tm) that something like Corrosion can jack up a 4-player game big time. Clearly, I get a great deal of enjoyment out of dragging other players back to 1996 by destroying their insane swords and 1/3 flying first strike 1cmc creatures (or whatever). Giant Oyster is far from flashy, but killing things (even fliers!) with -1 toughness is strong, and especially brutal if they have to watch it happen over five non-untapping turns. (Note: sorry if you’ve looked at my decks before, I’m obviously just scrolling through them at this point) Walking Sponge can sometimes make wild swings in momentum in multiplayer. Hilarious. Homarid Spawning Bed produces so many tokens that I’m certain that if I was better at making functional decks I could misuse that in some sort of sac-outlet jank. How do you get giant creatures into play that are worth sacrificing? Glad you asked! Iceberg is such a crazy amount of ramp for blue I’m astonished that it’s not more popular. My guess would be that it’s practically impossible to find, because blue always wants blue mana rather than colorless and because cool new blue stuff is basically free anyways ;p but I've loved it ever since I found a (one!) copy of it for my Briny Deep deck. Breaking Wave might be something The Cool Kids are still using (sadly I wouldn’t know) but if it isn’t it absolutely should be as it can be bonkers. Paralyze was a lot of fun to use on your own creature that wouldn’t otherwise untap in your untap phase. I hope that still works nowadays. Transmutation had always been fun, and I hope it’s still useful. If you enjoy making deals cast a Callous Oppressor and start the bidding high! Do you like hurling insults down at the two strangers fighting in the ring? Get yourself a Whipkeeper and turn it up to eleven! This is way too long a post, so I’ll stop and see what else comes up in the posts. I’m looking forward to hearing about other people’s favorites!!

FormOverFunction on Driving Ms. Depala

3 years ago

Definitely!! Sadly, cards like these aren’t always set aside by folks as worth tracking for sale/trade, so it can be a while before I finally find one. It took me about a year to finally get a Walking Sponge for my Briny Deep deck! Thanks for the comment!!

rdean14 on Card creation challenge

3 years ago

The two Sponges in Magic's history aree Thought Sponge and Walking Sponge, so:

La'akea, the Observer

Legendary Planeswalker - La'akea

+1: Target permanent loses all abilities until your next turn.

-1: Create a 0/2 blue Sponge creature with defender.

-X: Draw X cards, then put a card from your hand on top of your library.

2

---

Yes, this is specifically designed for Pioneer and Standard, not Modern with it being in Lightning Bolt range, or being a worse Divination. The -1 will be the rarest used ability.

I'd like to see a new Basri Ket or Teyo, the Shieldmage

ClockworkSwordfish on Card creation challenge

4 years ago

Vampiric Sponge

Creature - Sponge Vampire

: Target creature loses flying, first strike or trample until end of turn. Vampiric Sponge gains that ability until end of turn. Put a +1/+1 counter on Vampiric Sponge.

2/2

---

Walking Sponge was one of my first uncommons, and its ability is very cool, so keeping the Sponge Train going was a no-brainer.

Uhhh... now make a Sponge tribal equipment!

dextrousfighter2 on Card creation challenge

4 years ago

The only sponge currently is the Walking Sponge

Flagellum on Flagellum

6 years ago

Yup, I don't have the swords though. I didn't see a whole lot of card draw and the abundance of artifacts might hinder T&L's ability. I did see some things I didn't know existed like the Walking Sponge lol. I just fear having too many non fliers might hurt me. So I've opted for the Dragonauts type critters to benefit from the cantrips. I also am running some of the wheels like Wheel of Fortune and Diviner's Wand to make a rather large flier. I guess synergy is what the deck will go for.