Academic Probation MTG Card

Academic Probation provides selective control, hindering your opponent’s hand and potential responses. The card’s sorcery speed demands strategic play to gain tempo and board advantage. Its limitations include a specific mana requirement and the need to discard, reducing hand size.
Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeSorcery — Lesson

Text of card

Choose one — • Choose a nonland card name. Opponents can't cast spells with the chosen name until your next turn. • Choose target nonland permanent. Until your next turn, it can't attack or block, and its activated abilities can't be activated.

Cards like Academic Probation

Academic Probation is a notable piece within the subset of modal cards that offer players choices in Magic: The Gathering. It bears a resemblance to cards like Profane Command or Austere Command in its multifaceted nature. While Academic Probation doesn’t share the same power as these commands due to its limitation to creatures or planeswalkers, and its non-permanent effects, it does excel in its low mana cost and immediate impact on the board.

Diving deeper, we can look at cards like Detention Sphere or Oblivion Ring. These cards provide a similar effect of neutralizing threats but do so in a way that’s more permanent, with the caveat of being more vulnerable to removal spells. Academic Probation, while temporary, can be a tactical play to clear the path for a winning strike, especially during pivotal turns, something its counterparts cannot always guarantee given their higher casting costs.

Ultimately, Academic Probation’s ability to temporarily disrupt an opponent’s strategy gives it an edge in games where timing and precision are paramount. Offering a unique mix of agility and precision, it’s a card that cleverly aligns with its educational theme – preparing players to capitalize on the right moment for academic—and magical—victory.

Profane Command - MTG Card versions
Austere Command - MTG Card versions
Detention Sphere - MTG Card versions
Oblivion Ring - MTG Card versions
Profane Command - MTG Card versions
Austere Command - MTG Card versions
Detention Sphere - MTG Card versions
Oblivion Ring - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Academic Probation offers a unique kind of card advantage by allowing you to select and neutralize an opponent’s potential threat from their hand, reducing their ability to respond effectively to your plays.

Resource Acceleration: Though not directly impacting mana resources, by specifically targeting and limiting an opponent’s plays, Academic Probation can indirectly accelerate your board state by hindering their development, ensuring you stay ahead.

Instant Speed: This card operates at sorcery speed, but wielded correctly, it creates a tempo advantage by forcing the opponent to skip critical plays, which can be as valuable as any instant-speed interaction in securing a win.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Academic Probation card comes with the caveat of having to discard a card. This can often lead to a tricky situation if your hand is already depleted or if you’re holding onto key pieces for your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: Players must pay both white mana and generic mana to play Academic Probation. This makes it less flexible and potentially a dead card in hands of those not running a deck with strong white mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its mana value, Academic Probation’s cost is on the higher end for its effects when compared to other options in the game. There are alternatives that could potentially impact the board state more dramatically for a similar or lower cost.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Academic Probation offers a unique flexibility in gameplay, granting players the ability to disrupt opponents’ strategies by limiting the use of a key card or the capabilities of a problematic creature, seamlessly integrating into various deck archetypes.

Combo Potential: This card can be a critical piece in lock-down strategies or in conjunction with cards that care about casting from the sideboard. Its ability to pinpoint specific threats can amplify combos that aim to control the board or prevent opponents from executing their plans.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where players rely heavily on certain creatures or planeswalkers, Academic Probation can serve as a precise tool to temporarily neutralize those threats, tilting the odds in your favor. Its presence in your collection ensures that you have a tactical answer to evolving gameplay trends.

How to beat

Academic Probation is a unique card from the Strixhaven: School of Mages set that offers players the chance to temporarily neutralize threats on the battlefield. This card allows you to choose a nonland card name, preventing those named spells from being cast, or to select a creature that won’t be able to attack or block until your next turn.

To navigate this temporary roadblock effectively, it’s essential to maintain a diverse and flexible deck. Tools such as instant-speed removals or abilities that can be activated at any time keep your strategy resilient. Instant-speed spells are particularly useful as they can be cast in response to Academic Probation, ensuring vital effects or creature capabilities remain available.

Moreover, diversifying the types of threats on the board also minimizes Academic Probation’s impact. With a variety of creature types, abilities, and an array of spells that can be cast across different phases, you can ensure your game plan is not significantly disrupted. Keeping up a seamless flow in your deck’s strategy is key, and it diminishes the restrictive power Academic Probation holds.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Academic Probation MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Strixhaven: School of Mages, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Academic Probation and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Academic Probation Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2021-04-23 and 2021-04-24. Illustrated by Cristi Balanescu.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 900102015NormalBlackCristi Balanescu
22021-04-23Strixhaven: School of MagesSTX 2872015NormalBlackCristi Balanescu
32021-04-23Strixhaven: School of MagesSTX 72015NormalBlackCristi Balanescu
42021-04-24Strixhaven: School of Mages PromosPSTX 7s2015NormalBlackCristi Balanescu
52021-04-24Strixhaven: School of Mages PromosPSTX 7p2015NormalBlackCristi Balanescu

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Academic Probation has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Academic Probation card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2021-04-16 Academic Probation is a sorcery, but in some unusual cases it may be cast in response to other spells. Spells with the chosen name that somehow happen to already be on the stack when Academic Probation resolves will not be affected.
2021-04-16 Activated abilities contain a colon. They're generally written "
-ost:
-ffect]." Some keyword abilities (such as equip) are activated abilities and will have a colon in their reminder text. Triggered abilities (starting with "when," "whenever," or "at") are unaffected.
2021-04-16 Although spells with the chosen name can't be cast, a card with that name can still be put onto the battlefield by another effect (if it's a permanent card).
2021-04-16 Although you may want to include Lessons in your sideboard if you're playing with cards that instruct you to learn, Lesson cards can be included in your main deck like other instant or sorcery cards.
2021-04-16 For the first mode, no one can cast spells between the time a card is named and the time that Academic Probation's effect starts to apply.
2021-04-16 If you target a noncreature permanent with the second mode and it later becomes a creature, that creature still won't be able to attack or block until your next turn.
2021-04-16 Lesson is a spell subtype found on some instant and sorcery cards in the Strixhaven set. The Lesson subtype has no special rules associated with it.
2021-04-16 You can name either face of a modal double-faced card, but not both, and you can name either half of a split card, but not both. Opponents may still cast the face or half you didn't name.