Hisoka's Guard MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Hisoka’s Guard can help you cycle through your deck faster with its scry ability, potentially helping you find the right tools for victory.

Resource Acceleration: This card may contribute to your board presence, acting as both a potential blocker or an enabler for synergies that require creatures on the battlefield, thereby indirectly accelerating your resource development.

Instant Speed: Hisoka’s Guard can be cast at instant speed, giving you the flexibility to respond to threats or to bluff holding up more complex and disruptive plays until just the right moment during your opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Hisoka’s Guard necessitates discarding another card as part of its casting cost, which can deplete your hand and reduce your strategic options, particularly in the early game when hand size is critical for maintaining momentum.

Specific Mana Cost: With a casting requirement that includes one blue mana, this card fits primarily into blue-heavy or blue-inclusive decks. This specificity can limit deck diversity and make Hisoka’s Guard less adaptable to various deck builds that don’t focus on blue mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Deploying Hisoka’s Guard requires three mana, which, for a creature that offers protection abilities, might be considered a costly investment. Other cards in the same mana range may offer either stronger creatures or additional abilities that provide greater versatility or board presence.

Reasons to Include Hisoka’s Guard in Your Collection

Versatility: Hisoka’s Guard offers flexibility as it can serve as both an early blocker and a means to protect more critical creatures later in the game. The card’s ability to shield your key creatures from targeted spells makes it a valuable addition to blue-centric strategies that aim to preserve their board state.

Combo Potential: Given its ability to redirect spells, this creature can work well within decks that leverage spell-based combinations. It can help maintain the integrity of intricate combos by effectively keeping essential combo pieces secure from direct removal or disruption attempts.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where removal spells and targeted disruption are rampant, Hisoka’s Guard becomes exceedingly beneficial. As the meta shifts towards strategies that rely on pinpoint precision to dismantle an opponent’s setup, having Hisoka’s Guard can be a game-changer by maintaining your board presence under duress.

How to Beat

Hisoka’s Guard proves to be a clever protective measure for players in MTG. It acts as a sentinel, ready to counter threats by returning creatures to their owner’s hand, which can be a roadblock for opponents relying on battlefield presence. But how do you outsmart this guard?

Removal spells that don’t target, such as board wipes, can effectively circumvent Hisoka’s Guard’s ability, clearing the way for your assault. Also, spells that restrict actions, like those preventing the casting of blue spells or abilities, can neutralize the guard without needing to address it directly.

Adding pressure with non-creature strategies, like burn spells or enchantments that deal damage over time, can reduce the effectiveness of Hisoka’s Guard. By diversifying your threat portfolio beyond mere creatures, you ensure that Hisoka’s Guard becomes less of an obstacle, allowing you to continue your game plan unimpeded.

In essence, while Hisoka’s Guard may appear daunting, with thoughtful strategy and diverse tactics, you can overcome this obstacle and maintain the upper hand in your MTG matchups.