Always Watching MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: One of the key strengths of Always Watching is its ability to boost your entire team without necessitating additional cards. This means that each of your creatures becomes a more significant threat on their own, effectively giving you an edge in resources without losing card count from your hand.

Resource Acceleration: While Always Watching doesn’t directly accelerate your resources in the form of mana or tokens, it allows you to be more efficient with the resources you have. Your creatures gain vigilance, meaning they can attack and still be ready to block, saving you from potentially needing to invest in more creatures just for defense.

Instant Speed: Although Always Watching is not an instant itself, it indirectly impacts instant-speed interactions. With vigilance on your creatures, you can maintain a strong defense while keeping mana available for instant-speed interactions, giving you the flexibility to respond to your opponent’s moves without sacrificing offensive pressure.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Unlike some enchantments which can offer benefits without additional costs, Always Watching requires you to have a stable board presence to be effective. Without creatures to buff, its value plummets, leaving it as a dead draw in situations where you’re struggling to maintain creatures on the field.

Specific Mana Cost: Always Watching comes with a triple white mana cost, which may not be easily splashed in multicolored decks. This can make it challenging for players running three or more colors to consistently cast it, limiting its playability to mono-white or two-color decks where white mana is abundant.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Always Watching is a commitment in the early game. Players may find that dedicating their third turn to non-creature spells could lead to a loss of momentum, especially when other lower-cost enchantments or creatures could provide immediate on-board advantages or interact with the opponent’s strategy more directly.

Reasons to Include Always Watching in Your Collection

Versatility: Always Watching offers a substantial boon to any deck focusing on non-token creatures. Its ability to give your creatures +1/+1 and vigilance means that it fits smoothly into various deck archetypes, bolstering both offense and defense.

Combo Potential: The static buff and vigilance provided complement numerous strategies. It’s particularly powerful in decks that capitalize on tapping and untapping creatures for value, since vigilance allows those creatures to remain ready to activate those abilities.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta heavy with creature-based strategies, Always Watching allows your creatures to stay alert for both attacking and defending, giving you a critical advantage in maintaining board presence and pressure against your opponents.

How to Beat Always Watching

Always Watching presents a unique challenge on the battlefield, offering vigilant buff-ups to all non-token creatures under your opponent’s control. This card stands out by augmenting three key aspects simultaneously: attack strength, defense robustness, and strategic flexibility. Unlike cards that boost only during either offense or defense, Always Watching is a constant threat that cannot be ignored.

The key to handling this enchantment lies in targeted removal or counterplay strategies. Look to include spells like Disenchant, which can remove Always Watching without much cost. Cards such as Negate are also efficient in pre-empting the threat, allowing you to counter it as it tries to hit the field. Moreover, sweepers like Wrath of God can bypass the vigilance advantage by clearing all creatures regardless of their untapped status. Understand that card advantage is crucial; minimize the impact of Always Watching by keeping the board state manageable and preventing your adversary from gaining a wide field of vigilant attackers.

Handling Always Watching requires a blend of foresight and controlled aggression. By integrating removal, control elements, and board wipes into your deck, you can mitigate the enhancement it provides and maintain the upper hand in the face of vigilant opposition.

BurnMana Recommendations

Diving into the dynamics of Always Watching can truly transform your game. Staying informed and prepared is key when incorporating such a strategic card into your deck. It’s not simply about the individual cards but about the synergy and power they unlock when combined. As you refine your deck, consider the interplay of resource management, the value of card advantage, and the strategic edge provided by Always Watching. Interested in enhancing your strategic outlook and evolving your gameplay? We’re here with insights and guidance to expand your collection and sharpen your skills. Explore further with us and embrace the full potential of your MTG plays.