Pernicious Deed vs. Gaze of Granite

[scryfall]Pernicious Deed[/scryfall]
Enchantment, 1BG

{X}, Sacrifice Pernicious Deed: Destroy each artifact, creature, and enchantment with converted mana cost X or less.

[scryfall]Gaze of Granite[/scryfall]
Sorcery, XBBG

Destroy each nonland permanent with converted mana cost X or less.

Pretty much the same card, right. There are obvious differences. Pernicious Deed is generally better, because it requires a smaller commitment on black mana and the full cost can be spread over two turns. It can also control the battlefield, if you just keep it sitting there, and you can time it better. However, just as an exercise in how well we know the game, lets come up with situations where Gaze of Granite is better.

Obvious one: Gaze of Granite kills planeswalkers. Obviously at the time Pernicious Deed was printed, there were no planeswalker cards, so we can’t really fault it for that.

Split Second: [scryfall]Krosan Grip[/scryfall] can destroy Pernicious Deed without you being able to activate it.

[scryfall]Quicken[/scryfall], [scryfall]Hypersonic Dragon[/scryfall]: With help, Gaze of Granite can be cast at instant speed in situations where Pernicious Deed can not.

[scryfall]Annul[/scryfall]: In general, there are more options for countering sorceries, but in this one case, we have a counterspell, which specifically targets enchantments and artifacts. In comparison, there are eight counterspells, which mention sorcoeries (and often instants) by name.

[scryfall]Voidmage Husher[/scryfall]: This is another real concern for the Pernicious Deed player. At least in our group. Voidmage Husher is one of the cards I use the most in my decks. Obviously, it isn’t even the only card with this functionality. I also often have [scryfall]Squelch[/scryfall] in my deck. Since the use of [scryfall]Oblivion Stone[/scryfall] in our meta seems to be waning, probably because of my love for the Voidmage, I might not use these cards that much in the future. We’ll see.

[scryfall]Augur of Bolas[/scryfall]: You can hit Gaze of Granite with Augur or similar cards. On the other hand, it can also be hit with [scryfall]Mindclaw Shaman[/scryfall]. Of course, there are also tutors, like [scryfall]Mystical Teachings[/scryfall], which tutor specific card types.

In the end, probably the major thing going for Gaze of Granite is its availability. Price of Pernicious Deed is about 20 times higher.

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