#panglacial wurm

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Panglacial Wurm

"Step lightly and we might be able to use it as a bridge." —Ib Halfheart, goblin tactician

Artist: Jim Pavelec TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[googlyeyesonmagiccards]

If you listen carefully, you can hear 1000 judges crying out in anguish

[snivy1245]

And this is the counterpoint to people saying magic rulings aren't as bad as yugioh rulings

Magic the Gathering tip: everyone loves a good ol Panglacial Worm

[duskmourn-survival-guide]

Survival tip #131: You can take the books from the library but PLEASE be sure to return them. Really ruins my day finding an empty shelf.

[card-of-the-day]

Today's Card Is: Panglacial Wurm

[markrosewater]

Do you know how Panglacial Wurm works off the top of your head or do you have to double-check?

I enjoy your confidence that it works. : )

[sexhaver]

i love the dedication myself and other turbo-MTG-brain-damaged Johnnies have for theorycrafting bespoke game states involving Panglacial Wurm and nonreversible mana effects (usually Selvala, Explorer Returned or Chromatic Sphere) that would be unresolvable under the Comprehensive Rules, thus proving their fallibility, like theologicians asking the old "could God create a rock so heavy even He could not lift it" chestnut.

the crux of the issue here is that Selvala and other mana sources that move + reveal the top card of your library like Chromatic Sphere and Millikin are "nonreversible" because they reveal information from a hidden zone (your library). normally if an illegal game state arose for some reason, you can just reverse 99% of the possible actions in the game, but these guys are the exception (note the last sentence):

now this would be enough of a headache on its own, but then you add in Panglacial Wurm, notably the literal only card in the game that you can cast in the middle of searching your library. this, in turn, lets you activate mana abilities. including ones that interact with the top card of your library. the top card you can already see (but nobody else can), because you're in the middle of shuffling your library. and in the very likely event that some illegal game state arises (say you need 4 extra mana to cast the Wurm and Selvala only reveals 3 nonland cards), you explicitly CANNOT reverse these mana abilities.

you see the problem(s).

and it's a genuinely interesting line of questioning because as it turns out the main answers we (rules alchemists) get from judges boil down to "come on now, if this actually happened in a real game, the judge would know you created this situation on purpose while knowing how close it is to cheating and hand you a warning/game loss", which is more of an engineering answer than a mathematician answer imo. and then you start pressing the details further and end up in bizarre territory where you could be handed a warning/loss for "intentionally creating an illegal gamestate" when you try to cast Panglacial Wurm without enough mana because of Selvala, Explorer Returned RNG or even misplays like accidentally tapping Millikin for mana before Mul Daya Channelers, as described here. also a special shoutout to this thread:

they are doing things on MTGSalvation that Richard Garfield doesn't know about

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

MTG's style of text also means some stuff that sounds simple actually breaks the game in half because of weird as fuck rule interactions lol

There's a reason Panglacial Wurm is considered the absolute peak of rules fuckery even tho the effect is basically a big statstick with "you can play this when you search your library"

PANGLACIAL WURM MY BELOVED. But yes, the outward simplicity of wordage conceals the absolute maelstrom of fuckery underneath calm waters

[baeddoll]

what if magic made a new wurm card but it was like sexy

*but* it was sexy? this guy doesn’t even wanna fuck panglacial wurm

[drmajalis]

I heard that if you attempt to cast a Panglacial Wurm from the top of your library while searching and tap Selvala, Explorer Returned for the mana to do so- a Level 3 Judge instantly teleports behind you and caps you in the head with a .44 magnum.

[favoritemtgcard]

Sorry for being so last minute, I hope you're doing well!

My top 3 are: Hibernation's End, Panglacial Wurm, and Chatter of the Squirrel

Hibernation's End

Panglacial Wurm

Chatter of the Squirrel

[mizts-magic-blog]

Weekly Brew #1 Baru, Wurmspeaker Commander Deck

The Wurms are Coming!

This week's randomly selected commander is: Baru, Wurmspeaker!  Printed first (and only) in Dominaria United Commander, Baru is a simple commander with a simple plan. Wurms! Wurms are the plan.  With him at the helm, this deck is sure to rain wurmy wrath down on your foes!

FULL DECKLIST

GENERAL GAME PLAN

As I said previously, this Baru deck is very straightforward. Play big wurms for as little as possible, and swing them at face until you win! Not enough wurms? Wurmquake, Crush of Wurms, Wurmcalling, Sandwurm Convergence and even Baru can help you generate plenty of wurms! Wurms not big enough? Caged Sun,  Unnatural Growth, Sylvan Anthem, and similar cards add constant boosts! Having trouble casting the wurms? A fair amount of reduction and ramp has been splashed throughout the deck in order to get you to your wurms faster!

RAMP AND REDUCTION

A fair number of your wurms (read:almost all of them) are a little on the pricy side, so ramp and cost reduction are a must have. We have our usual suspects, with Emerald Medallion and Rhonas’s Monument providing a decent reduction to all your spells. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma provides a minus 2 to the cost of 28 creatures out of the 39 in the deck. If you’re looking for true ramp, this list uses some pretty standard stuff for it. We hit the usual Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Thran Dynamo, and Moss Diamond for artifacts, while throwing in a Caged Sun for good measure.  As far as creatures go, you’ll see the typical Fyndhorn Elves type cards, as well as Sakura Tribe Elder  and Karametra’s Acolyte. If those don't push enough, cards like Cultivate, Explore, and Rampant Growth have been slotted in as well (plus a few more)

CHEATING INTO PLAY

If the ramp simply isn’t enough, a number of cards in the deck will allow you to cheat your massive wurms in for a much smaller cost.  Monster Manual and Elvish Piper allow you to repeatedly play a much bigger creature for only 1 or 2 mana, and Mosswort Bridge allows you to slot away a card to cast later, provided you have enough power (you probably should have enough power with a deck like this).

GENERAL VALUE

This deck has a lot of big, expensive creatures. Garruk’s Uprising and Colossal Majesty take advantage of this to keep your hand full as much as they can. The aforementioned Mosswort Bridge and Fight Rigging take advantage of the massive creatures to try and activate their abilities as quickly as possible. Runadi, Behemoth Crawler and Goreclaw take advantage of their high power to boost them even further beyond!  Since most of the deck is green, a handful of cards are designed to take advantage of that as well. Wurm’s Tooth gives you small lifegain for each spell you cast, and Caged Sun and Sylvan Anthem pump (almost) every creature you control!

OTHER CARDS OF NOTE

Defiler of Vigor provides a handy decrease in green costs, while also pumping the full field when you cast your spells. Panglacial Wurm can be cast off the numerous “search your library for a land” spells for a fun surprise. Dirtcowl Wurm gets bigger every time an opponent has the audacity to try and play a land while Deathcoil Wurm (try not to get them mixed up) gets to totally ignore the fact that creatures are blocking it. Sifter Wurm, Ravenous Lindwurm, Pelakka Wurm, Bookwurm and Bramblewurm all provide some lifegain, with Voracious Wurm getting nice and fat off them if you can cast them in the same turn. Worldspine Worm slows down mill a smidgeon, and Elderscale Wurm will help keep you from dying to (most) combat damage. Having trouble closing out the game? Bellowing Tangleworm makes it harder to block your massive creatures, just in case trample isn't doing enough, and Unnatural Growth doubles the size of your already massive wurms.

FINAL NOTES AND CONSIDERABLE CARDS

Baru was selected at random using a complicated method (wheel spins and random number generators). This deck is built using primarily my own knowledge of cards + my raw scryfall ability. Combining these factors with the attempted $150 budget, there are likely a number of cards not in here that should be, due to budget concerns, my own incompetence, or my failure to understand a mechanic/interaction. I ask that you give me some grace, as I learn more about magic and how to better build decks. This deck’s raw power is not the highest, but I can’t say I'm too surprised. Combining the budget with an odd tribe, I really can’t say I was expecting much better. If you decide you need better lands, Three Tree City and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx can slot in quite well over any old forest. Garruk, Primal Hunter can ult for a large number of wurm tokens if you are inclined to use him. Last March of the Ents and The Great Henge are fantastic options for the deck if you are less budget inclined then I am.  Heroic Intervention is good to slot in for protection, as are other fogs and fog likes. Better and more ramp can obviously also be done, once again for a higher budget. If you feel any worms are not working, or that you need more, there are a LARGE number of them that could easily be considered, with some being notably better than others (looking at YOU Mungha Wurm).

[s1g4]

Every single stupid MTG rules interaction can be boiled down to one of four following causes: A replacement effect, something being allowed to happen when it shouldn't, prevention, or a set gimmick. The best part? Selvala-Panglacial Wurm is all four. So is the combo that allows you to cast Panglacial Wurm during untap, but if you try that against real people I will personally come to your house and eat your foundation.

[jessica-problems]

gilrs will use selvala and a chromatic sphere to cast panglacial wurm and not see anything wrong with that.

[ludosgd]

Today’s sketches! MTG’s Panglacial Wurm and silly comics about a lion and a gazelle! ✨

[markrosewater]

MaRo, what are the odds we see a Land Creature a la Dryad Arbor with Flash and the Panglacial Wurm ability to be played from the library while searching it?

I’ll call that chance low.