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Moxonomy

Pulse of the Dross

Sorcery1 generic manaBlack manaBlack mana

Black's discard had a structural ceiling that Mind Rot and its kin always ran into: once your opponent is empty-handed, the spell is dead in your hand, a topdeck that does nothing. The recursion clause flips that math by tying the spell's return to the very condition that makes discard useful. As long as the target holds more cards than you do, this comes back, so it stops being a one-shot and becomes an attrition engine that grinds a full grip down to parity, then politely retires once the resource race is even. The reveal-three-and-you-choose framing is the half that does the discipline: the opponent loads the choice, but you pick the card that hurts, which means the worst case is still a meaningful answer rather than a random pitch. That combination, self-replicating only while you are behind on cards, makes it a control mirror tool by nature. Against an empty hand it is inert; against a hoarder it never stops coming. It sits in a small early-era design experiment in spells that recur based on a board-or-hand asymmetry rather than a flat mana cost, and of that group this is the one aimed squarely at the long game, where the slow bleed of a recurring discard outlasts decks built to refill.

Pulse of the Dross (dst)
DST · #50rare
Pricing
Normal: $0.32
Foil: $0.97
Oracle Text

Rules text

Target player reveals three cards from their hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card. Then if that player has more cards in hand than you, return Pulse of the Dross to its owner's hand.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
Legal
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
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