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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Hymn to Tourach
Image from Wizards.com

 Hymn to Tourach
- Fallen Empires

Reviewed Aug. 29, 2016

Constructed: 4.17
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 4.38
Multiplayer: 3.00
Commander [EDH]: 3.00

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

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Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Hymn to Tourach
 
There are very few cards that have been imitated more than Hymn to Tourach; Lightning Bolt and the original dual lands spring to mind, but there aren't many at all. With good reason - it is one of the most iconic cards from Fallen Empires and certainly the most enduring. Like almost every black card, it becomes much better when Dark Ritual is also available, but in this case it's not by quite as much as with some. Even the second turn is pretty early to face the threat of losing two cards with no answer, and there's always that fear that it's going to remove all the lands from your hand and basically end the game on the spot.
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
EDH/Commander: 3/5

James H.

Hymn to Tourach (8/29)

 

Out of the fairly poor Fallen Empires, there are maybe three cards that stand out: High Tide, Goblin Grenade, and Hymn to Tourach. The last of these is notorious for being a back-breaking card early game in any format it’s a part of, and it had the good fortune to exist alongside Dark Ritual, to enable a turn 1 Hymn.

 

For those who aren't familiar, random discard is probably the most powerful form of discard you have access to in the early game. What it lacks in surgical precision, it more than makes up for by being able to take someone's lands, keeping them from being able to get going. The caveat is that Hymn to Tourach has decks where it's a liability (anything with triggers on discard, like Loxodon Smiter, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Guerilla Tactics, and madness cards), and it's pretty weak later in the game when you need to precisely pick off a dangerous card. 2 mana for 2 cards is a fair rate of return, though.

 

Hymn to Tourach remains one of black's most notorious spells, a lethal discard spell that can take someone out of the game before they get a chance to play. It took us almost 20 years to see a retooled version of it (Whispers of Emrakul), but the consistency of the original is still remarkable.

 

(For those who desire to get their hands on it, Hymn to Tourach is an uncommon in Eternal Masters.)

 

Constructed: 4.25

Casual: 5

Limited: 4.75

Multiplayer: 3

Commander: 3


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