Magic: the Gathering cards have all sorts of names. From the poetic, like All is Dust, to the functional, like Lightning Bolt, to the bizarre, like Lhurgoyf. One of the grossest card names out there has to be Saproling Burst, though. Maybe it's just me, but the thought of a little sentient fungus person "bursting" makes me both queasy and a little sad. Slimefoot did nothing wrong, don't go around bursting its friends. Fortunately, despite its unappealing name, Saproling Burst now forms the centerpiece of an effective two card combo.
Saproling Burst has Fading 7. This means that it enters play with seven fade counters on it, one of which is removed each upkeep, and it gets sacrificed when none remain.
The card allows you to manually remove a fade counter to create a saproling token. This token has no abilities, but has power and toughness equal to the number of fade counters remaining on Saproling Burst. So, when you first play Saproling Burst, you can remove a fade counter from it to create a 6/6 saproling, then removing another counter will create a 5/5 saproling, and so on. The power of each token scales based on the number of counters remaining on Saproling Burst.
While these days we are spoiled for choice when it comes to low cost creatures with massive stat blocks, in the year 2000, when Saproling Burst first dropped, the ability to create a 6/6 for five mana was a pretty appealing offer.
That offer becomes even more enticing when you combine Saproling Burst with Pandemonium, an enchantment that allows every player to have their creatures deal damage equal to their power to any target when they enter the battlefield.
By immediately removing every vanishing counter from Saproling Burst, while Pandemonium is in play, you'll spit out six saprolings that will deal a combined total of 21 damage to your opponent as they enter play, enough to end the game in any 20 life format.
Because of this combo, which is tearing through the Premodern format, both Saproling Burst and Pandemonium have seen massive price spikes. According to the price tracking site MTGGoldfish, Saproling Burst has spent 25 years as a roughly $2 card before abruptly spiking to $20(£14.50) on the 21st January, and peaking at $46(33.71) on the 22nd. The site MTGStocks, where this price spike was first documented, records a peak value of $69.50(£51) for Saproling Burst on the 22nd. There are currently no listings of this card for less than $33(£24) on TCGplayer.
Similarly, Pandemonium leapt from $2.50 to $34.50(£25) between the 19th and the 21st and its cheapest TCGplayer listing is currently $18.35(£13.50).
Is this a combo that you're eager to experiment with, or do you prefer your saprolings unexploded? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord.