Honor Guard MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 8 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Human Soldier
Power 1
Toughness 1

Key Takeaways

  1. Opponent strategies relying on creature abilities can be significantly disrupted by Honor Guard’s presence on the field.
  2. Deck-building becomes more strategic with Honor Guard, as it requires careful consideration of mana allocation and hand management.
  3. Incorporating Honor Guard into your MTG collection can offer powerful counterplay against prevalent creature-based tactics.

Text of card

oo W Honor Guard gets +0/+1 until end of turn.

"It is not a choice I make, to have this guard. It is the choice of my people, and my duty to them." —Oracle *en*-Vec


Card Pros

Card Advantage: When you’re seeking to maintain a strong hand, Honor Guard proves to be an asset. This card has the capability to support your strategy by offering effective ways to mitigate opponent’s buffs or recurring creature abilities, potentially messing with their game plan and indirectly working as a card advantage tool by negating your opponent’s would-be card benefits.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly impacting resources, Honor Guard can play a pivotal role in resource acceleration indirectly. Its presence may deter opponents from playing certain creature spells or abilities, allowing you to maintain a strong mana base for more impactful plays. In the long run, it contributes to your tempo, giving you the upper hand in resource management.

Instant Speed: Honor Guard itself may not be an instant, but its effect on the board is immediate. Upon hitting the field, it alters the game state by restricting certain creature abilities from being used. This allows you strategic flexibility, aligning your responses and plays more effectively at a pace that suits you, simulating the tactical edge usually afforded by instant speed maneuvers.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One aspect of Honor Guard that some players might find restrictive is the discard requirement to activate certain abilities. This can be a stumbling block, especially when your hand is depleted, forcing you to weigh the benefits of the ability against the cost of losing card advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Honor Guard comes with a precise mana cost that includes white mana. This specificity means that it fits best in white or multicolored decks, potentially limiting its versatility in a format where deck flexibility can be crucial to adapting to opponents’ strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When evaluating the balance between cost and effect, Honor Guard’s mana cost might seem steep. In the early game, allocating resources to summoning Honor Guard could delay other essential plays, and in the later stages, it may not have as significant an impact compared to other cards with a more extensive set of abilities or greater power for the same investment.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Honor Guard is a flexible card that seamlessly integrates into white-based control or midrange decks. Its ability to shut down enter-the-battlefield triggers can frustrate opponents who rely on those effects for their strategies.

Combo Potential: In addition to thwarting the opponent’s combos, it can also protect your own game plan from similar disruptive tactics, ensuring your combos can proceed without interference.

Meta-Relevance: With a constantly evolving competitive scene, where creature-based strategies often dominate, including Honor Guard in your collection ensures you have a confident answer to such threats on the battlefield.


How to beat

Honor Guard can disrupt plans since it stops creatures from activating their abilities upon entering the battlefield. This card stands as a shield against strategies that rely on these triggers. To effectively navigate around Honor Guard, prioritize using spells that directly remove it, like murder or cast down. Cards that provide a wide array of removal options, such as abrupt decay or path to exile, also work wonders in stripping your opponent of this key piece.

Another tactic to consider is going over Honor Guard’s head. Instead of focusing on creature triggers, shift your strategy to leverage instants and sorceries that have a lasting board impact or plan for an aggressive line of creatures that don’t lean on enter-the-battlefield effects. Lastly, cards that can bounce Honor Guard back to the owner’s hand, like unsummon or cyclonic rift, can open a window to execute your enter-the-battlefield triggers effectively.

To summarize, while Honor Guard poses a formidable barrier against certain strategies in Magic: The Gathering, a proactive game plan with removals, strategic shifts, and tempo plays can help turn the tides in your favor against this card.


Cards like Honor Guard

Honor Guard stands out in Magic: The Gathering’s array of creatures due to its unique ability to hamper the abilities of other cards. This distinctive trait places it in a similar category with cards like Hushbringer, which also nullifies abilities that trigger when other creatures enter or leave the battlefield. While Hushbringer has the additional effect of stifling death triggers, Honor Guard specializes in neutralizing any abilities that opponents’ creatures may trigger upon entering the battlefield.

Comparatively, Tocatli Honor Guard is another card worth mentioning. It shares the effect of stopping creatures from activating their enter the battlefield abilities. While Tocatli Honor Guard covers much of the same ground, it offers different deck synergy opportunities, especially in tribal decks or where creature types are relevant. Lastly, Torpor Orb is a non-creature variant providing a similar effect. Despite Torpor Orb’s vulnerability as an artifact, it comes with the advantage of being harder to remove for colors that struggle with enchantment removal.

Each card presents a strategic option for disrupting opponents’ gameplay, making Honor Guard a valuable card choice for players looking to control the flow of their matches in Magic: The Gathering.

Hushbringer - MTG Card versions
Tocatli Honor Guard - MTG Card versions
Torpor Orb - MTG Card versions
Hushbringer - Throne of Eldraine Promos (PELD)
Tocatli Honor Guard - Ixalan (XLN)
Torpor Orb - New Phyrexia (NPH)

Cards similar to Honor Guard by color, type and mana cost

Savannah Lions - MTG Card versions
Benalish Hero - MTG Card versions
Icatian Infantry - MTG Card versions
Icatian Scout - MTG Card versions
Icatian Javelineers - MTG Card versions
Kjeldoran Warrior - MTG Card versions
Trade Caravan - MTG Card versions
Vigilant Martyr - MTG Card versions
Volunteer Militia - MTG Card versions
Nomads en-Kor - MTG Card versions
Soul Warden - MTG Card versions
Resistance Fighter - MTG Card versions
Honorable Scout - MTG Card versions
Devoted Caretaker - MTG Card versions
Faerie Guidemother // Gift of the Fae - MTG Card versions
Kor Duelist - MTG Card versions
Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful - MTG Card versions
Mother of Runes - MTG Card versions
Daru Mender - MTG Card versions
Eager Cadet - MTG Card versions
Savannah Lions - Collectors' Edition (CED)
Benalish Hero - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Icatian Infantry - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Icatian Scout - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Icatian Javelineers - Masters Edition II (ME2)
Kjeldoran Warrior - Ice Age (ICE)
Trade Caravan - Homelands (HML)
Vigilant Martyr - Mirage (MIR)
Volunteer Militia - Portal Second Age (P02)
Nomads en-Kor - World Championship Decks 1998 (WC98)
Soul Warden - Historic Anthology 1 (HA1)
Resistance Fighter - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Honorable Scout - Planeshift (PLS)
Devoted Caretaker - Odyssey (ODY)
Faerie Guidemother // Gift of the Fae - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Kor Duelist - Wizards Play Network 2009 (PWP09)
Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Mother of Runes - The List (PLST)
Daru Mender - Legions (LGN)
Eager Cadet - Eighth Edition (8ED)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Honor Guard MTG card by a specific set like Stronghold and Seventh 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 Honor Guard and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Honor Guard Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 1998-03-02 and 2007-07-13. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11998-03-02StrongholdSTH 71997normalblackJoel Biske
22001-04-11Seventh Edition7ED 211997normalwhiteMark Zug
32001-04-11Seventh Edition7ED 21★1997normalblackMark Zug
42003-07-28Eighth Edition8ED 252003normalwhiteMark Zug
52003-07-28Eighth Edition8ED 25★2003normalblackMark Zug
62005-07-29Ninth Edition9ED 202003normalwhiteMark Zug
72005-07-29Ninth Edition9ED 20★2003normalblackMark Zug
82007-07-13Tenth Edition10E 232003normalblackDan Dos Santos

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Honor Guard has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

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