Display of Dominance MTG Card


Display of Dominance - Dragons of Tarkir
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityUncommon
TypeInstant
Released2015-03-27
Set symbol
Set nameDragons of Tarkir
Set codeDTK
Number182
Frame2015
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byTomasz Jedruszek

Key Takeaways

  1. Instant versatility protects creatures and disrupts certain spells, providing strategic gameplay advantages.
  2. Cons include situational utility and potential mana cost issues, influencing deck construction decisions.
  3. It competes against similar cards, finding its niche in green decks for meta-specific relevance.

Text of card

Choose one — • Destroy target blue or black noncreature permanent. • Permanents you control can't be the targets of blue or black spells your opponents control this turn.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: When using Display of Dominance, you not only negate your opponent’s noncreature spells with converted mana costs of three or less, but you also protect your own green or blue creatures from these threats. This dual utility could effectively neutralize opponent strategies while keeping your key creatures safe, providing a distinct advantage on the battlefield.

Resource Acceleration: Despite Display of Dominance not directly increasing your resources, the conservation of your creatures acts as an indirect form of acceleration. By defending your assets that contribute to your mana base or other synergies, you ensure that your pace in the game remains uninterrupted, potentially leading to a faster build-up of your board state.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Display of Dominance at instant speed provides an element of surprise and strategic depth to your plays. It allows you to wait for the perfect moment to disrupt an opponent’s plans or to shield your creatures from an unexpected removal during their turn, keeping you in control of the exchange.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the downsides of Display of Dominance is that it doesn’t require discarding as a cost, but it does have a situational use that could render it a dead card in hand against non-blue and non-black decks.

Specific Mana Cost: This card requires green mana, which means it is most effective in a deck that is heavily green or at least includes green in its color scheme. This necessity can limit the versatility of the card, potentially excluding it from some deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of two mana, Display of Dominance is affordable, but the issue lies in the opportunity cost. There might be other spells that offer broader protection or removal for a similar or even lower mana cost, thus competing for the same slot in a deck.


Reasons to Include Display of Dominance in Your Collection

Versatility: Display of Dominance offers an adaptive edge in various scenarios, efficiently addressing threats or protecting your own permanents with green or multicolored identities. This makes it a handy sideboard card for multiple decks within the green color spectrum.

Combo Potential: Its ability to protect and unexpectedly counteract opponent’s moves can be combined with strategies focusing on key green or multicolored permanents. This card strengthens combos by securing the battlefield presence of critical creatures and planeswalkers.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where blue and black control decks prevail, Display of Dominance steps up as a strategic safeguard. Its potential to disrupt opponent plans and tip the scales in your favor during pivotal turns is particularly relevant, enhancing your deck’s resilience against dominant archetypes.


How to beat

Display of Dominance is a versatile green instant spell in Magic: The Gathering that offers dual utility. It fits into a player’s strategy to not only protect their assets but also to dismantle their opponent’s. To overcome it, keen understanding and timing are critical. The key to success against this card lies in versatility and unpredictability. Players should aim to diversify their threats, ensuring not to rely solely on noncreature spells which Display of Dominance can easily counter. Furthermore, diversifying the colors of your permanents can mitigate the risk of being targeted by Display of Dominance’s noncreature, nonland destruction.

Another effective strategy is to play around the card by holding back crucial noncreature spells until your opponent is tapped out or lacks enough green mana to cast Display of Dominance. This way, you safeguard your strategic moves from being negated. Also, by maintaining pressure with creature spells and threats that require immediate answers, you can bait out the card early, reducing its impact later on when you cast your more crucial spells. Lastly, instant speed removal or abilities can help to neutralize Display of Dominance, and by carefully managing resources and making calculated plays, one can diminish its dominance in the game.


Cards like Display of Dominance

A critical player in the battle for board control, Display of Dominance offers targeted protection and destruction specifically designed for green decks. Its similarities can be drawn with other spells that shield your assets, like Heroic Intervention, which defends all permanents from most forms of harm. Where Display of Dominance shines is its capacity to obliterate blue or black noncreature permanents, a trait not shared by the broader defensive scope of Heroic Intervention.

Veil of Summer is another card echoing protective qualities. It not only grants your spells virtual invincibility from blue and black spells for a turn but also lets you draw a card if an opponent has cast a blue or black spell, giving it a dual-purpose edge. Autumn’s Veil has a similar design to Veil of Summer, offering conditional protection without the card draw perk. Though less versatile than Veil of Summer, it holds its ground by filling a niche against certain color matchups.

Overall, Display of Dominance asserts its presence by offering personalized protection and targeted removal for green mages, a unique and situational advantage over its counterparts that bolsters green’s arsenal against particular threats.

Heroic Intervention - MTG Card versions
Veil of Summer - MTG Card versions
Autumn's Veil - MTG Card versions
Heroic Intervention - Aether Revolt (AER)
Veil of Summer - Core Set 2020 (M20)
Autumn's Veil - Magic 2011 (M11)

Cards similar to Display of Dominance by color, type and mana cost

Tranquil Domain - MTG Card versions
Resuscitate - MTG Card versions
Heavy Fog - MTG Card versions
Aggressive Urge - MTG Card versions
Tangle - MTG Card versions
Krosan Reclamation - MTG Card versions
Seedtime - MTG Card versions
Nourish - MTG Card versions
Wear Away - MTG Card versions
Vital Surge - MTG Card versions
Predator's Strike - MTG Card versions
Might of the Nephilim - MTG Card versions
Resize - MTG Card versions
Squall Line - MTG Card versions
Regenerate - MTG Card versions
Strength of the Tajuru - MTG Card versions
Naturalize - MTG Card versions
Tel-Jilad Defiance - MTG Card versions
Tribute to the Wild - MTG Card versions
Plummet - MTG Card versions
Tranquil Domain - Mirage (MIR)
Resuscitate - Exodus (EXO)
Heavy Fog - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Aggressive Urge - Jumpstart (JMP)
Tangle - World Championship Decks 2001 (WC01)
Krosan Reclamation - Judgment (JUD)
Seedtime - Judgment (JUD)
Nourish - Darksteel (DST)
Wear Away - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Vital Surge - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Predator's Strike - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Might of the Nephilim - Dissension (DIS)
Resize - Coldsnap (CSP)
Squall Line - Time Spiral (TSP)
Regenerate - Magic 2010 (M10)
Strength of the Tajuru - Worldwake (WWK)
Naturalize - Core Set 2019 (M19)
Tel-Jilad Defiance - Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)
Tribute to the Wild - Commander Anthology Volume II (CM2)
Plummet - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Display of Dominance MTG card by a specific set like Dragons of Tarkir, 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 Display of Dominance and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Display of Dominance has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2015-02-25 If you choose the second mode, Display of Dominance will affect any permanent you happen to control at any point during the rest of the turn, not just permanents you control as it resolves. That’s because it doesn’t grant an ability to those permanents; rather, it affects the game rules and states something that’s now true about those permanents.
2015-02-25 If you choose the second mode, and if a permanent you control is being targeted by a spell when Display of Dominance resolves, nothing happens right away. When that spell would resolve, its color is checked. If it’s blue or black, that permanent will be an illegal target for that spell and won’t be affected by it. If all that spell’s targets have become illegal by the time it would resolve, it’s countered.
2015-02-25 If you choose the second mode, no new blue or black spell may be cast by an opponent that turn targeting a permanent you control after Display of Dominance resolves.
2015-02-25 Keep in mind that an Aura spell targets the permanent it will enchant (but an Aura on the battlefield doesn’t target the permanent it’s attached to).
2015-02-25 Permanents you control may be the targets of abilities from blue or black sources controlled by your opponents.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks