Damping Sphere

Artifact

If a land is tapped for two or more mana, it produces instead of any other type and amount.

Each spell a player casts costs more to cast for each other spell that player has cast this turn.

Discussion (51)

TriusMalarky on Should I Add the Filter ...

1 week ago

Filter lands lose to Damping Sphere. That card's existence sort of kills Filter's competitive playability, and if we get enough reprints they should go back to a halfway decent price.

That said, if you can afford their pointlessly high price tag, they are fairly good.

Also, scry lands are playable -- in some Pioneer decks and the occasional Modern deck, as ways to get the most out of t1 when you don't have 1 mana plays. Course, manlands are better there.

I also like running scry lands in EDH -- they're better than a lot of other garbage.

Flooremoji on Anti-Storm Blue-White Control

1 week ago

Deafening Silence and Damping Sphere are some of the more targeted storm hate cards.

All you need for infect is good removal and permission.

BioProfDude on The fun police

1 week ago

Damping Sphere in the sideboard for Lotus Breach decks is a must. Probably 3x. Cool deck, and the Containment Priest + Eldrazi Displacer combo is completely gross..... and awesome! +1 from me!

Snowmen1 on Undying Retribution

2 weeks ago

Over the past few weeks I have been really optimizing a list that I have been toying with on and off for years: Undying Retribution

I would really love it if I could get feedback or some kind of dialogue on the list, because as of right now, I am the only one working on an undying deck that utilizes card:retribution of the ancientd like this (to my knowledge). The only changes are informed by my thinking. This I know is a problem.

As a quick overview of the deck, it is an aggro deck that leverages some combination of undying creatures, sac outlets, and Retribution of the Ancients (preferably all 3) to play above the curve and attack, out-grind opponents, or just combo kill them. If you are interested and want to learn more about the deck, I have a primer written for it!

I would really like to know peoples opinions on some of the recent or "up in the air" choices I have made with the deck:

Some of which would be the inclusion of Gemrazer to deal with Anger of the Gods and artifact/enchantment based graveyard hate. While this card does a lot to deal with those types of cards, Gemrazer is still most likely to not be cast-able in the face of a bloodmoon. I also took out combo hate cards such as Damping Sphere in favor of this card, leaving me concerned about those kinds of matchups.

I also have been playing the full four Twilight Mire. While this has significantly improved the manabase, I know this comes with a trad-off, drawing only this land leaves you without the ability to play anything. I have had awkward draws while playing the full four, but the card essentially lets the deck play single colored mana producing lands like basic lands and still cast it's much needed spells. As of right now I think the value of playing Twilight Mire offsets the risk of an awkward draw, but I'd like to hear other opinions on the matter.

YamishiTheWickedOne on What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse

3 weeks ago

I finally got around to updating my sideboard.

Damping Sphere is for storm and tron

Nihil Spellbomb is a better Relic of Progenitus in Black. Cheap, fast grave hate.

Collective Brutality is for Death's Shadow, Burn, etc.

Liliana, the Last Hope is for tokens.

Ashiok, Dream Render is more grave hate and buys me time by locking down fetches.

Abrade is creature and artifact hate. Self-explanatory.

Dragon's Claw helps me not die to burn, and outlast them as their hand gets smaller.

dingusdingo on Lands choice

1 month ago

Check out https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Nonbasic_land as it lists all the non-basic lands for each color specifically. Some analysis of my own though:

Fetch lands

Polluted Delta and friends. Extremely useful for guaranteeing color access. The shuffle effect can generate extra value when you know what the top card is (especially Sensei's Divining Top and Brainstorm, but really any scry/reveal effect) by shuffling away cards you don't want. Generates huge color access when paired with Shocklands. The "pay 1 life" clause does add up, especially against decks like burn. Reusable from plenty of cards, and it also slightly thins the deck. Hosed by a few random effects like Aven Mindcensor or Leonin Arbiter that stop searches. Also hosed by Thalia, Heretic Cathar (and Root Maze if legacy/vintage) due to having two lands enter tapped instead of just one. A staple of any 2+ color deck, the positives far outweigh any negatives.

Shock lands

Overgrown Tomb and friends. Used in conjunction with fetchlands to guarantee color access. The 2 life to shock hurts, especially when fetched to make it 3. You can always crack fetches to grab shocks at the end of turn before yours, to have the shock enter tapped to save the 2 life. This allows you to keep mana open for instant speed response if you need it, while getting the reduced enter tapped cost if you don't need to respond to something. You generally want 1x of each shock for color access, and I personally think a 2:1 ratio is good for fetches:shocks. I will often start with 8:4 fetches:shocks for 2 or 3 color decks, and adjust as necessary from there.

Fast lands

Spirebluff Canal and friends. A nice dual land without land types that can guarantee color access fast and early. You generally should run 2-3 of these in a deck. Take note that you can play them untapped as the first, second, or third land. You like to see 1 or maybe 2 of these in a game, but don't like to draw them later. If drawn later in the game, entering tapped usually isn't nearly as big of a deal if the land entered tapped on turn 1/2/3. Extremely useful against decks like Burn or most aggro decks that seek to pressure your life total fast and early.

Check lands

Dragonskull Summit My favorite lands to use in conjunction with a fetch/shock package. They work extremely well with fetches and shocks, but do note that they will always enter tapped if it is your first land. A nice card to run, relatively efficient $$$-wise, but it doesn't play well with other non-basics such as the fastlands. These lands will also raise the percent of hands you need to mulligan with, as some otherwise playable 2 land hands will always make the checkland enter tapped (like if the other land is a fastland or other land without a basic type). Very efficient in 2 color decks, extremely efficient in 1 color dominant decks with a splash of another color for one card or sideboard reasons.

Filter lands

Cascade Bluffs and friends. Useful when you have extremely color heavy cards such as Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or other 3+ colored mana requirements. Hosed out by Damping Sphere. Worth noting that this will never make colored mana on turn 1, which slightly raises the amount of hands you will have to mulligan. A fine option for most decks, especially if you pulled one from a pack and have it available. You will see the most benefit from these in 3+ color decks.

Reveal lands

Port Town and friends. Similar to check lands, but they perform slightly differently. They can enter untapped on turn 1, which is a massive gain, but enter tapped if drawn later on after you've played your lands out from your hand. Doesn't work well with other non-basic lands outside of fetch/shocks. I personally skip these in favor of check lands, but if you notice too many turn 1 plays being broken by check lands, this may be the solution.

Battle lands

Prairie Stream and friends. Also known as tango lands. Useful in 2 color decks where you will see more basics. Can't recommend them too highly there either, but that is where can possibly see play. These have basic land types, so they can be grabbed with fetchlands, useful as an EOT play so you can untap with them normally. Really not very useful, hard to have them enter untapped. Still significantly better than almost every land that 100% enters tapped though, as it sometimes enters untapped and is fetchable.

Pain Lands

Always enters untapped, always guarantees color access. You can navigate around the 1 life on later turns by using it for instead of a color. Useful in decks that must have color access. A good budget replacement if you can't afford a fetch/shock mana base. This land will suffer against burn.

Horizon Lands

There are only 6 of these, all enemy colored except for Horizon Canopy, but spicy tech for sure. Useful in a deck like Burn that depletes its hand, or decks that use Life from the Loam to get repeat draws from the horizon lands.

MrCuddlefish on Simic Flash (Pioneer) Sideboard help needed

1 month ago

Sideboard

3x Damping Sphere replace with Censor and Blink of an Eye against Shrine to Nyxthos decks.

3x Negate replacing Censors and Sinister Sabotages against control.

3x Essence Scatter replacing Censors and Blink of an eye against large creature decks.

3x Engulf the Shore replace Sinister Sabotage and Dissallow against fast creature decks.

3x Hydroid Krasis replace with Torrential Gearhulk and Dissallow against fast damage decks with small creatures.

Wilderness Reclamation is another card I'd reccomend for this build in the main board.

Let me know what you think of my reccomendations!

Flooremoji on Goblin Sideboard

1 month ago

4x Chalice of the Void

4x Relic of Progenitus

2x Damping Sphere

1x Goblin Cratermaker

1x Legion's End

1x Fulminator Mage

2x Boil

This was the sideboard of a semi-recent 5-0 goblin list. Maybe it will be useful to you.