Hieromancer's Cage MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Enchantment
Released	2018-07-13
Set symbol
Set name	Core Set 2019
Set code	M19
Number	14
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Jason Rainville

Key Takeaways

Provides crucial removal, exiling threats and disrupting opponents’ strategies effectively.
Demanding mana cost, limits its inclusion in multi-color or fast-paced decks.
Essential for collections, serving as disruption in a range of competitive formats.

Text of card

When Hieromancer's Cage enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until Hieromancer's Cage leaves the battlefield.

Law protects but also contains.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Hieromancer’s Cage provides a form of card advantage by removing an opponent’s key permanent. This disruption can effectively negate the resources spent by an opponent on their threat, while you maintain the same number of cards in hand.

Resource Acceleration: While Hieromancer’s Cage does not directly accelerate resources in the form of mana, it can indirectly influence resource acceleration by removing ramp-enabling creatures or artifacts, slowing down an opponent’s game plan and maintaining parity on the board.

Instant Speed: Though Hieromancer’s Cage is not an instant, its ability to exile any nonland permanent allows you to respond adaptively to threats on the board. This flexibility can be a game-changer, ensuring you’re not caught off guard by surprise permanents that could otherwise shift the game in your opponent’s favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Although Hieromancer’s Cage doesn’t actually require a card to be discarded, it’s important to note that any card that removes an opponent’s asset will always be at a risk of being a temporary setback rather than a permanent solution if your opponent has removal for the Cage.

Specific Mana Cost: Hieromancer’s Cage comes with a restrictive mana cost that requires two generic and two white mana. This specificity may deter decks that run multiple colors from including it, as it can strain the mana base and make casting it on curve challenging.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Hieromancer’s Cage can be considered costly for its effect of exiling a target nonland permanent until Hieromancer’s Cage leaves the battlefield. There are other exile spells or permanent control options in the game that offer similar outcomes at a lower cost, thereby providing a higher tempo advantage.

Reasons to Include Hieromancer’s Cage in Your Collection

Versatility: Hieromancer’s Cage is a flexible removal spell that can address a wide array of non-land permanents, making it an excellent addition to decks that need to deal with diverse threats.

Combo Potential: As an enchantment, it can synergize with strategies that revolve around enchantment interactions, possibly engaging in combinations with cards that care about enchantments entering or leaving the battlefield.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where problematic commanders or integral combo pieces dictate the pace, Hieromancer’s Cage can serve as a key disruption tool, making it a relevant choice in various competitive scenes.

How to beat

Hieromancer’s Cage is a formidable white removal spell in Magic: The Gathering, providing players with the ability to exile a nonland permanent until the enchantment leaves the battlefield. Despite its power to neutralize threats, there are ways to outmaneuver its effects. Enchantment removal cards, such as Naturalize or Disenchant, can promptly dismantle the Cage, thereby returning the exiled card to play. In strategies revolving around multicolored decks, cards like Mortify or Assassin’s Trophy offer more versatile solutions that can destroy the Cage along with other problematic noncreature permanents.

Additionally, counterplay can involve baiting an opponent into using Hieromancer’s Cage on a less critical permanent before playing a more formidable threat, ensuring that your key cards remain in play. It’s also worth considering cards with enter the battlefield effects or ones that can be sacrificed for an advantageous outcome; even if caged, their utility can still influence the game. Finally, playing around the four-mana requirement of Hieromancer’s Cage can give you a timing edge, expanding the window to execute your strategy before your opponent has the mana open to cast it.

In essence, defeating Hieromancer’s Cage requires awareness of its presence in the opponent’s deck and a prepared suite of actions to mitigate its impact, making it a manageable obstacle in your path to victory.

Cards like Hieromancer's Cage

Hieromancer’s Cage joins the roster of white removal spells in Magic: The Gathering with its ability to exile any nonland permanent until the Cage leaves the battlefield. It’s often likened to Oblivion Ring owing to the similar ‘exile until…’ effect. While Oblivion Ring offers a less restrictive mana cost, Hieromancer’s Cage strictly targets opponents’ spells, enhancing strategic gameplay.

Banishing Light, another comparable card, shares the exact cost and functionality but with newer templating that avoids some of the complicated interaction loopholes found in older formats. Lastly, there’s Cast Out, an alternative with flash that provides immediate board impact at a slightly higher cost, with the added versatility of cycling to draw a card when it’s not needed.

In analyzing the utility and effect, Hieromancer’s Cage has its niche when timing isn’t as critical and the objective is direct removal. It appeals to MTG players who need reliable answers to opponents’ threats on a variety of formats and remain robust in the face of rapidly changing board states.

Cards similar to Hieromancer's Cage by color, type and mana cost

Divine Transformation - MTG Card versions

Diversionary Tactics - MTG Card versions

Teleportation Circle - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Hieromancer's Cage MTG card by a specific set like Core Set 2019, 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 Hieromancer's Cage and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Hieromancer's Cage has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Commander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2018-07-13	Auras attached to the exiled permanent will be put into their owners’ graveyards. Any Equipment will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled permanent will cease to exist.
2018-07-13	If Hieromancer’s Cage leaves the battlefield before its triggered ability resolves, the target permanent won’t be exiled.
2018-07-13	If a token is exiled this way, it will cease to exist and won’t return to the battlefield.