Let’s look at some game changers! I’ve got some mixed feelings about WotC’s definition of these powerful cards. They’re staples of the format, and they’re undeniably powerful, but the Game Changer categorisation has the potential to stigmatise their use.
Or does it?
It may well be the case for some groups that by identifying and admitting the power of these cards and defining how many one can include in a deck of a specific tier, it actually gives tacit permission for their use. Go figure.
Whichever way you see it, it’s worth knowing what these cards do. Today, let’s look at Biorhythm!
If there’s one card that captures the absolute chaos of green’s high-cost sorceries, it’s Biorhythm. First printed in Onslaught, this eight-mana green sorcery (6GG) does something almost no other card in Magic: The Gathering can do: it completely rewrites the primary resource of the game in a single resolution.
Banned in Commander for over a decade, Biorhythm remains pretty damn polarising. Let’s break down why it can be so terrifying, how to abuse it, and how to defend against it.
Setting each player’s life total directly equal to the number of creatures they control bypasses almost every conventional mechanic in Magic:
- An Instant Knockout: If an opponent has no creatures on the board when Biorhythm resolves, their life total drops directly to zero, causing them to lose immediately due to state-based actions.
- Bypasses Life Totals & Lifegain: It doesn’t matter if an opponent used Aetherflux Reservoir or Felidar Sovereign to gain 500 life; Biorhythm sets them to whatever their creature count is, completely trivialising massive life pools.
- Turns Small Boards into Lethal Outlets: You don’t need a massive army of Craterhoof Behemoth targets. If you control three token creatures and your opponents control zero, casting Biorhythm puts everyone else at zero and leaves you sitting comfortably at 3.
- Punishes Control Decks: Control strategies relying on a completely empty board and a handful of counterspells or planeswalkers like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria get killed on the spot if Biorhythm resolves after a board wipe.
To make Biorhythm a guaranteed win condition, you want to maximise your creature count while ensuring your opponents have absolutely none. There are a couple of different ways to accomplish this. The obvious one is to lead into it with a board wipe:
- Asymmetrical Board Wipes: Pair Biorhythm with non-creature removal spells like Toxic Deluge, Farewell, or Wrath of God, followed by instant-speed token creation like Raise the Alarm or Secure the Wastes before casting Biorhythm.
- Floating Mana: Use mana engines like Gaea’s Cradle or Mana Geyser to cast a wipe like Plague Wind or In Garruk’s Wake, leave yourself with a single creature (or cast a cheap dork like Llanowar Elves), and immediately resolve Biorhythm to end the game.
There are a bunch of other tricks as well, of course. There are so many different interactions that couple be fun and/or deadly. Have a look at your decks that incorproate green and see what you can come up with.
Now, it’s all fun and games when you’re using this card. When someone else uses it, though? War crime. Go directly to the Hague. I mean, facing down eight mana in green usually means something terrifying is coming either way. So, how do we keep Biorhythm from ending your game instantly?
Let’s start with instant-speed creature generation. Because Biorhythm checks creature counts upon resolution, keeping instant-speed token creators in hand acts as a life-saving shield:
- Flash & Token Spells: Cast Raise the Alarm or flash in a creature via The Wandering Emperor or Chord of Calling with Biorhythm on the stack to ensure your life total stays above zero.
- Land Transformation: Animate creature lands like Inkmoth Nexus, Celestial Colonnade, or Mishra’s Factory in response to the spell.
Of course, you’ve also got the option of negating the spell through the usual methods:
- Counterspells: Simple, hard counters like Counterspell, Fierce Guardianship, or Mana Drain shut down Biorhythm entirely, forcing the caster to waste eight mana.
- Redirect & Deflection: Spells like Deflecting Swat won’t change the global effect, but stack-manipulation spells like Summary Dismissal or Mindbreak Trap exile the sorcery outright.
Direct, instant removal is also a completely valid (and deserved!) response to Biorhythm. If an opponent attempts a combo by clearing your board and leaving themselves with only one or two creatures, use instant-speed removal like Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, or Lightning Bolt on their creatures while Biorhythm is on the stack. If everyone ends up with zero creatures when Biorhythm resolves, the spell results in a sudden draw!
Whether you view Biorhythm as a brilliant green finisher or an unfair one-card knockout, there’s no denying its legacy. It forces every deck at the table to respect creature presence at all times. Love it or hate it, when Biorhythm hits the stack, the game often ends right then and there; little or no maths required.
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