Crowd's Favor MTG Card

Crowd’s Favor provides strategic combat advantages and can indirectly result in card economy gains. Its low cost coupled with Convoke enables efficient plays and better resource management. Flexibility from instant speed allows for surprise tactics and keeping opponents guessing.

Magic 2015 (M15)
2014-07-18 - Number 138

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 894

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number M15-138

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Convoke

Text of card

Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for or one mana of that creature's color.) Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn. (It deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)

Cards like Crowd's Favor

Crowd’s Favor enters the realm of combat trick cards in Magic: The Gathering, standing alongside cards like Brute Force. It gives a slight power boost to a creature, although Brute Force offers a greater increase in power and toughness. Where Crowd’s Favor shines is in its flexibility due to the Convoke mechanic, allowing players to tap creatures rather than pay mana, potentially making it a free trick to play.

Rouse the Mob is another card that’s often weighed against Crowd’s Favor. It similarly boosts a creature’s power; however, it has the advantage of increasing the power for each red mana you spend when casting it. Unlike Crowd’s Favor, Rouse the Mob lacks the option to utilize the Convoke mechanic. Titan’s Strength should also be noted for comparison. It gives a significant power and toughness boost and provides a scry to set up the next move. Titan’s Strength costs one red mana and doesn’t have the flexibility of being cast for free, unlike Crowd’s Favor with Convoke.

While these cards vary slightly in their utility and cost, Crowd’s Favor offers a unique advantage in its potential cost-efficiency, making it a strategic choice for players looking to optimize their combat without exhausting mana resources.

Cards similar to Crowd's Favor by color, type and mana cost

March of Reckless Joy - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Crowd’s Favor may not directly enable you to draw additional cards, it can certainly tip combat outcomes in your favor, allowing you to keep your creatures on the board while possibly taking down an opponent’s. This can indirectly lead to card advantage as you maintain a stronger presence and card economy on the battlefield.

Resource Acceleration: Although Crowd’s Favor doesn’t produce additional mana or tokens, its low casting cost, including the alternative of paying with the Convoke mechanic, can preserve your resources. This lets you play other cards or abilities more rapidly by tapping creatures instead of spending mana, accelerating your game plan with efficient resource management.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Crowd’s Favor at instant speed grants tremendous tactical flexibility. You can spring a surprise during combat or at the end of your opponent’s turn, potentially turning the tides of battle without having to commit resources prematurely. This instant speed action enables strategic plays that can keep opponents on their toes.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Crowd’s Favor can grant an instant boost in combat, it necessitates the discarding of a card. For players, this could mean losing a valuable asset in hand, making it a potentially costly play when options are scarce.

Specific Mana Cost: Crowd’s Favor demands red mana, which restricts it to decks that can produce this mana type. Players running multi-color decks may find it challenging to keep red mana available specifically for this card, reducing its overall flexibility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The red mana cost for its Strive mechanic, which allows it to target multiple creatures, may be seen as steep for the benefit it provides. In some situations, players might prefer cards with lower mana costs for a similar or even better impact on the game state.

Reasons to Include Crowd’s Favor in Your Collection

Versatility: Crowd’s Favor is a flexible card that plays well in decks focusing on creature-based strategies. Its ability to buff a creature at a critical moment can be game-changing, making it useful in a variety of situations.

Combo Potential: This instant synergizes well with cards that care about the number of spells cast in a turn or that trigger upon casting red spells. With convoke, it seamlessly integrates into decks that go wide with creatures.

Meta-Relevance: Considering that aggressive red or red-white decks can dominate in the right meta, Crowd’s Favor can provide a cost-effective edge, especially in a field with many blockers or in mirror matches where combat tricks decide the victor.

How to beat

Crowd’s Favor is a card that can swing a battle in the favor of the aggressor, often leveraged in MTG to empower a creature at a crucial moment. Its unique feature, compared to other combat tricks, is its convoke ability, which allows players to tap creatures to help pay the mana cost. If you’re trying to sidestep the advantage this card provides, timing is imperative. Interrupting your opponent’s momentum by removing their creatures before they attack can neutralize Crowd’s Favor’s potential. Cards like Shock or Fatal Push are good options to consider, as they can disrupt the convoke before it turns the tides.

On the other hand, cards with the ability to grant hexproof, such as Blossoming Defense or Ranger’s Guile, can protect your creatures from being targeted, not just from Crowd’s Favor, but from a myriad of other spells and abilities. It’s vital to keep instant-speed interaction up your sleeve, so you can respond quickly and efficiently. Understanding when to go on the offensive and when to hold back to safeguard your creatures will keep you one step ahead of Crowd’s Favor’s allure.

In short, to outplay this card, it’s essential to anticipate and disrupt your opponent’s strategy, maintain flexibility in your plays, and protect your key assets in the battlefield.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Crowd's Favor MTG card by a specific set like Magic 2015 and Mystery Booster, 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 Crowd's Favor and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Crowd's Favor Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2014-07-18 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Slawomir Maniak.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2014-07-18	Magic 2015	M15	138	2015	Normal	Black	Slawomir Maniak
2	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	894	2015	Normal	Black	Slawomir Maniak
3	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	M15-138	2015	Normal	Black	Slawomir Maniak

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Crowd's Favor has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2014-07-18	Because convoke isn’t an alternative cost, it can be used in conjunction with alternative costs.
2014-07-18	Convoke doesn’t change a spell’s mana cost or converted mana cost.
2014-07-18	If a creature you control has a mana ability with in the cost, activating that ability while casting a spell with convoke will result in the creature being tapped when you pay the spell’s costs. You won’t be able to tap it again for convoke. Similarly, if you sacrifice a creature to activate a mana ability while casting a spell with convoke, that creature won’t be on the battlefield when you pay the spell’s costs, so you won’t be able to tap it for convoke.
2014-07-18	Tapping a multicolored creature using convoke will pay for or one mana of your choice of any of that creature’s colors.
2014-07-18	The rules for convoke have changed slightly since it last appeared in an expansion. Previously, convoke reduced the cost to cast a spell. Under current rules, you tap creatures at the same time you pay the spell’s costs. Tapping a creature this way is simply another way to pay.
2014-07-18	When calculating a spell’s total cost, include any alternative costs, additional costs, or anything else that increases or reduces the cost to cast the spell. Convoke applies after the total cost is calculated.
2014-07-18	When using convoke to cast a spell with in its mana cost, first choose the value for X. That choice, plus any cost increases or decreases, will determine the spell’s total cost. Then you can tap creatures you control to help pay that cost. For example, if you cast Chord of Calling (a spell with convoke and mana cost ) and choose X to be 3, the total cost is . If you tap two green creatures and two red creatures, you’ll have to pay .