Ashnod's Battle Gear MTG Card

Adjust creature stats effectively during combat to gain an upper hand or strengthen defense. Equipping speed of Ashnod’s Battle Gear offers strategic flexibility in responding to opponents. Ability to create potent combos and adapt to multiple strategies, enhancing its utility.
Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityUncommon
TypeArtifact

Text of card

: Give a creature of yours +2/-2 as long as Ashnod's Battle Gear is tapped. You may choose not to untap Ashnod's Battle Gear during untap phase.

This horrid invention clearly illustrates why Mishra's lieutenant was feared as much by her troops as by her foes.

Cards like Ashnod's Battle Gear

Ashnod’s Battle Gear is a unique artifact in the realm of Magic: The Gathering, offering a distinct functionality that sets it apart from its counterparts. A comparable card to consider is Cranial Plating, which also bolsters a creature’s power with its ability to enhance attack based on the number of artifacts your control. However, Cranial Plating’s attachment method is more flexible and can be switched at instant speed.

Looking at Neurok Stealthsuit, there’s a resemblance in providing creatures with a boost, but this card favors quick defensive upgrades with shroud as long as you carry blue mana. Ashnod’s Battle Gear doesn’t offer protection but instead focuses on power and toughness adjustments. We also have Armory Automaton, which collects equipment as it enters the battlefield or attacks, which can include Ashnod’s Battle Gear, combining the abilities for a comprehensive boost.

These qualities underscore the niche Ashnod’s Battle Gear holds within the game. Its ability to freely alter power and toughness of a creature at will, albeit with some slight risk, presents intriguing strategic possibilities that can shape the battlefield in unexpected ways.

Cranial Plating - MTG Card versions
Neurok Stealthsuit - MTG Card versions
Armory Automaton - MTG Card versions
Cranial Plating - MTG Card versions
Neurok Stealthsuit - MTG Card versions
Armory Automaton - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Ashnod’s Battle Gear grants you the unique ability to adjust power and toughness of your creatures, making it easier to withstand combat and capitalize on blocking strategies without losing card value on the field.

Resource Acceleration: Equipping creatures with this artifact is a cost-effective way to maximize your board presence, offering an efficient form of resource acceleration that benefits your gameplay without expending additional cards from your hand.

Instant Speed: The flexibility to equip Ashnod’s Battle Gear at instant speed provides a tactical edge, allowing you to adapt to battlefield changes rapidly and optimize your creatures’ attributes in response to your opponents’ moves.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Engaging in the strategic play that Ashnod’s Battle Gear offers comes at a price. To utilize this artifact, you must fulfil the discard condition, which can deplete your hand, particularly when your resources are already stretched thin.

Specific Mana Cost: Deck construction can sometimes become a balancing act, and the need for specific mana types to cast Ashnod’s Battle Gear can be restrictive. If your deck doesn’t align with the mana requirements, this card could be a dead draw.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Resource management is crucial in the game, and with Ashnod’s Battle Gear demanding a substantial amount of mana to bring into play, it may deter its inclusion in some decks, especially when other cards may provide similar benefits for less.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Ashnod’s Battle Gear offers flexibility in a variety of deck builds, adapting to strategies that emphasize counter manipulation or artifact synergies, making it a useful tool in various situations.

Combo Potential: This card has the innate ability to create powerful combos with creatures that thrive on modified power and toughness or with effects that trigger upon counter distribution.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where creature-based strategies are prominent, Ashnod’s Battle Gear can be particularly impactful, allowing for unexpected power shifts and interaction with key pieces on the battlefield.

How to beat

Ashnod’s Battle Gear is a unique artifact card that can be a potent enhancer in any MTG deck, granting players the ability to modify a creature’s power and toughness. This access to adjust a creature’s stats during the course of play places it within a particular niche of tactical artifacts in the game. Similar to equipment cards that bolster a creature’s capabilities, Ashnod’s Battle Gear offers a more versatile, albeit riskier, approach as it allows for a dynamic combat strategy but at the cost of potentially lowering a creature’s toughness to dangerous levels.

Combatting a card like Ashnod’s Battle Gear requires strategic planning. One effective way is by utilizing removal spells that can target artifacts directly, stripping an opponent of their gear advantage. Green players might lean towards cards like Naturalize or Return to Nature, which can efficiently dismantle the gear’s presence on the board. Red players often have access to plentiful artifact destruction options like Shatter or Abrade, providing a direct solution to the problem. For Blue mages, countering the spell upon its casting with a Counterspell or Negate can stop the Gear from ever hitting the battlefield.

Tactically speaking, when facing decks that incorporate Ashnod’s Battle Gear, it’s imperative to keep removal cards handy and to be judicious about when to apply pressure on a creature that’s been augmented. In doing so, you can navigate around the potential pitfalls that Ashnod’s Battle Gear poses, ensuring your path to victory remains clear.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ashnod's Battle Gear MTG card by a specific set like Antiquities and Fourth Edition, 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 Ashnod's Battle Gear and other MTG cards:

TCGPlayerBUY NOW
BurnMana is an official partner of TCGPlayer
Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Ashnod's Battle Gear Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 1994-03-04 and 1995-08-01. Illustrated by Mark Poole.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11994-03-04AntiquitiesATQ 391993NormalBlackMark Poole
21995-04-01Fourth Edition4ED 2961993NormalWhiteMark Poole
31995-04-01Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border4BB 2961993NormalBlackMark Poole
41995-08-01RinascimentoRIN 1021993NormalBlackMark Poole
51995-08-01RenaissanceREN 1041993NormalBlackMark Poole

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ashnod's Battle Gear has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal