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Strategic traps and practical pitfalls when casting a delver-finisher
When you unclip Empty the Pits from your deck, you’re not just popping a big spell onto the stack; you’re balancing a delicate, graveyard-focused engine with a precise mana puzzle. This Khans of Tarkir instant—mythic, black-aligned, and steeped in Sultai flavor—invites you to think in two planes at once: how many zombie bodies you’ll flood the board with, and how many cards you’re willing to exile from your own marrow-filled graveyard to pay for it. 🧙♂️🔥💎 The card’s flavor text about rebuilding an empire on the dead is as much a memory-jogger as a reminder to plan ahead, because the payoff hinges on careful calculation and timing.
Let’s walk through the most common misplays and how to sidestep them like a pro who’s learned the graveyard’s secret handshake. This is the kind of spell that rewards preparation, not impulse, so keep a cool head when you’re staring down the stack and a red-lipped pump of mana rising in your number-crunching brain. ⚔️🎲
1) Not understanding the two X’s and the Delve payoff
Empty the Pits costs {X}{X}{B}{B}{B}{B}. That means you choose X when you cast and commit to paying 2X colorless mana plus four black mana, with Delve reducing the total generic cost for each card exiled from your graveyard. If you don’t wrap your head around how the Delve cost interacts with the X-part, you’ll either overpay or fizzle out before you actually drop the tokens. The insight to lock in is: every card exiled from your graveyard reduces the total generic mana by 1, making the X value effectively more affordable—but only if you’ve planned for enough black mana to satisfy the {B}{B}{B}{B} portion. 🧙♂️
- Misplay: Exiling too few cards and ending up paying more mana than you can swing with. Fix: pre-calculate how many cards you’ll exile and what that means for your X.
- Misplay: Exiling cards you actually need later in the game. Fix: prioritize cards in your graveyard that won’t disrupt future plays, like early-game nothings or dead-draw targets rather than key threats you want to reuse.
- Misplay: Assuming the Delve option makes Empty the Pits mana-free. Fix: Delve lowers the generic cost, not the black mana requirement. The four black mana still has to be produced somehow.
2) Underestimating the black mana requirement
The four black mana in the casting cost is non-negotiable. If your global mana base hasn’t got a reliable source of B mana, you simply cannot cast this spell—no matter how many cards you exile to pay for the delve portion. In other words, you can’t “get away” with a purely colorless mana base and expect to fire this off on a whim. Plan your mana rocks, fetch lands, and duals with the expectation that four black mana will be a floor, not a ceiling. This is a common oversight in midrange and control shells that lean on colorless fixing. 🧙♂️
- Misplay: Trying to cast with insufficient black mana sources. Fix: ensure your manabase can reliably produce B via fetches, pain lands, or black-producing rocks.
- Misplay: Overrelying on mana ramp that doesn’t deliver black mana. Fix: include at least a handful of black-producing accelerants if Empty the Pits is a key finisher in your list.
3) Overvaluing the X value without a plan to cash it in
Two Xs sound impressive, but you’re not generating a revolving door of 2/2 zombies out of nowhere. The tokens you create are tapped and come into play as 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens. This matters: you’ll need the board state and your follow-up plan to capitalise on a bunch of tapped bodies. If you fling X too high without a plan to swing or recur, you’ll be staring at a pile of tapped assets you can’t immediately attack with. Use Empty the Pits as a means to push into a next-turn alpha strike, or as a way to outpace a stalled board, rather than as a snap-finisher that ends the game instantly. 🎨⚔️
- Misplay: Exiling too many cards just to ramp X without a concrete plan for the tokens. Fix: slot Empty the Pits into a broader plan—clear the way for a lethal attack next turn or set up a wipe that your other spells can finish.
- Misplay: Failing to consider that tokens enter tapped. Fix: factor in a turn of tempo where you can untap or use other build-around cards to maximize your next combat step.
4) Neglecting graveyard hate and graveyard-centric interactions
This is a flavor-laden black spell that sits squarely on the graveyard edge. If your meta loves Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, or graveyard-sniping hates, your delve payoff can evaporate faster than a fog bank in a desert storm. The Delve engine is powerful, but it’s not immune to graveyard disruption. In practice, you’ll want to time Empty the Pits for windows where you’ve weathered the hate or protected your graveyard long enough to sling the spell and still exile from a survivable yard. 🧙♂️🔥
- Misplay: Casting into a void without protection or a plan to recover. Fix: use protection spells or set up redundancy so your graveyard remains a resource late in the game.
- Misplay: Forgetting that Delve cards don’t age well with graveyard hate on the battlefield. Fix: either stack your graveyard reactivity or pivot to a plan that doesn’t rely on the graveyard as heavily.
5) Timing and integration with your overall game plan
Empty the Pits works best when your deck is built around a late-game plan: you’re already working toward a ground-swing with a zombie swarm or you’re leveraging the mass of tokens as a finisher. If you cast it too early, the tokens might not matter as much, and you’ll miss the tempo swing your opponent expects. In contrast, waiting too long can leave you with a pile of exiled cards and a dwindling graveyard to feed Delve. The sweet spot lies in a mid-to-late moment where you’ve stabilized the board, then push with a well-timed X value to flood the battlefield. 🧙♂️🎲
Flavor-forward note: "The Sultai would rebuild the empire on the backs of the dead." Empty the Pits captures that ethos—turning graveyard resources into a tangible, black-tinged payoff that can shift a game in a heartbeat.
Pro tips for maximizing value in commander and constructed formats
In Commander, Empty the Pits often serves as a finisher that punishes attrition. In midrange or control builds, it acts as a layered, snowballing effect: you exile from your own yard to flood the board with zombies, which then can be leveraged with sacrifice outlets or anthem effects. The card thrives where your deck already has a plan for recursion or control, and it rewards you for sequencing spells and maintaining a logical line of play. And while it’s not a budget-buster, it remains a cool exploration of graveyard mechanics and delve’s clever cost-reduction calculus. 🧙♂️💎
Prices, as tracked by Scryfall, sit in a comfortable space for a mythic from Khans of Tarkir, with non-foil around a few tenths of a dollar and the foil a touch pricier. These figures ebb and flow with reprints and commander demand, so if you’re cataloging a collection or planning a budget upgrade, watch the market and plan a buy when the gravity of the format aligns with your build. 🔥
For readers who love blending theme with practical play, consider pairing this with graveyard-focused staples and token synergies that turn a handful of 2/2 zombies into a formidable late-game board state. The art by Ryan Alexander Lee evokes a shadowy, Sultai-styled empire, and the card’s rarity and historical footprint make it a memorable pick for collectors and players who enjoy flavor as much as function.
While you’re fine-tuning your setup, here’s a little something to keep you ready on the go. Phone grip click-on mobile holder kickstand—a handy companion for jotting deck lists or muttering mana calculations from the couch or your local game store. Down below you’ll find a convenient link to grab one for your next night of play. 🧙♂️🎨