Sinking Feeling is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Enchant creature Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step. Enchanted creature has ", Put a -1/-1 counter on this creature: Untap this creature."
Complete guide
Sinking Feeling is a blue Aura that puts a creature into a deep slumber while providing a dark way to wake it up. It acts as both a locking mechanism and a potential engine for creatures with powerful tap abilities. By granting a specific activated ability to the creature it enchants, it creates a unique tension between survival and utility.
Stalling the Board
The primary function of Sinking Feeling is to prevent the enchanted creature from untapping during its controller's untap step. This effectively neutralizes a threat or keeps a utility creature offline. However, unlike standard 'freeze' effects, this enchantment gives the creature's controller the option to force an untap by paying mana and placing a -1/-1 counter on the creature.
Resolution and Control
When Sinking Feeling enters the battlefield, it attaches to a legal target creature. From that point on, the static effect applies: the creature remains tapped during its controller's untap step. It is important to note that the activated ability is granted to the creature itself. This means only the controller of the creature can activate the ability to untap it, regardless of who owns Sinking Feeling.
Strategic Considerations
Common mistakes involve players thinking the Aura's controller can force the creature to untap or shrink; only the creature's controller has that power. This card is best used on high-toughness creatures that can survive several -1/-1 counters or on your own creatures that benefit from being untapped repeatedly, provided you have a way to mitigate the shrinking effect.
Interaction examples
Rhystic StudyIf your opponent wants to untap a creature enchanted with Sinking Feeling to use it as a blocker against your Rhystic Study, they must spend one mana for the untap ability. This drains their mana pool, making it even harder for them to pay the extra {1} required by Rhystic Study when they try to cast spells later that turn.
PropagandaWith Propaganda on the field, your opponent is already struggling to pay for attacks. By placing Sinking Feeling on their largest creature, you force them into a difficult choice: either leave the creature tapped and useless, or spend mana and weaken the creature with a -1/-1 counter just to have it eligible to pay the {2} attack tax.
You can enchant your own creature that has a powerful tap ability. By spending {1} and placing a -1/-1 counter on it, you can untap it instantly to use that ability again. This allows for multiple activations in a single turn, provided your creature has enough toughness to survive the counters.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Sinking Feeling
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Sinking Feeling grants the untap ability to the creature it’s enchanting. Only the creature’s controller can activate that ability, not Sinking Feeling’s controller.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Tui and La, Moon and Ocean + Sinking Feeling + Relic of Legends
- 1Activate Relic of Legends' second ability by tapping Tui and La, adding .
- 2Tui and La's first ability triggers, causing you to draw a card.
- 3Activate Tui and La by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on it, untapping it.
- 4Tui and La's second ability triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- 5Repeat.
Tui and La, Moon and Ocean + Sinking Feeling + Paradise Mantle
- 1Activate Tui and La by tapping it, adding .
- 2Tui and La's first ability triggers, causing you to draw a card.
- 3Activate Tui and La by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on it, untapping it.
- 4Tui and La's second ability triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- 5Repeat.
Kilo, Apogee Mind + Sinking Feeling + Relic of Legends
- 1Activate Relic of Legends' second ability by tapping Kilo, adding .
- 2Kilo triggers, causing you to proliferate and put a +1/+1 counter on Kilo.
- 3Activate Kilo by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on it, untapping it.
- 4Repeat.
Tui and La, Moon and Ocean + Sinking Feeling + Honor-Worn Shaku
- 1Activate Honor-Worn Shaku's first ability by tapping it, adding
. - 2Activate Honor-Worn Shaku's second ability by tapping Tui and La.
- 3Tui and La's first ability triggers, causing you to draw a card.
- 4Resolve the Honor-Worn Shaku ability, untapping it.
- 5Activate Tui and La by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on it, untapping it.
- 6Tui and La's second ability triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- 7Repeat.
Kilo, Apogee Mind + Sinking Feeling + Paradise Mantle
- 1Activate Kilo by tapping it, adding .
- 2Kilo triggers, causing you to proliferate and put a +1/+1 counter on Kilo.
- 3Activate Kilo by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on it, untapping it.
- 4Repeat.
Kilo, Apogee Mind + Sinking Feeling + Honor-Worn Shaku
- 1Activate Honor-Worn Shaku's second ability by tapping Kilo, adding .
- 2Kilo triggers, causing you to proliferate and put a +1/+1 counter on Kilo.
- 3Activate Kilo by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on it, untapping it.
- 4Repeat.
Morselhoarder + Sinking Feeling + Power of Fire
- 1Activate Morselhoarder by tapping it, dealing 1 damage to any target.
- 2Activate Morselhoarder by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on it, untapping it.
- 3Activate Morselhoarder by removing a -1/-1 counter from it, adding .
- 4Repeat.
Morselhoarder + Sinking Feeling + Presence of Gond
- 1Activate Morselhoarder by tapping it to create 1/1 green Elf Warrior token.
- 2Activate Sinking Feeling, by paying and putting a -1/-1 counter on Morselhoarder to untap it.
- 3Activate Morselhoarder by removing a -1/-1 counter from it to add a mana of any color.
- 4Repeat.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Sinking Feeling
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.