Choking Restraints MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Enchant
Released	2016-07-22
Set symbol
Set name	Eldritch Moon
Set code	EMN
Number	16
Frame	2015
Layout	normal
Border	black
Illustred by	John Stanko

Key Takeaways

Choking Restraints offers a critical control element, neutralizing threats without losing your own card presence.
Its “sacrifice” ability offers late-game resource management, enhancing strategic flexibility in gameplay.
The enchantment’s instant-speed sacrifice option adds an element of surprise, optimizing your mana and tactics.

Text of card

Enchant creature Enchanted creature can't attack or block. , Sacrifice Choking Restraints: Exile enchanted creature.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Choking Restraints gives players a strong positional edge by neutralizing a target creature, effectively reducing the number of threats to manage. This removal translates to advantageous exchanges by impairing an opponent’s strategies without losing card presence on your side.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly serving as a mana accelerator, Choking Restraints presents resource advantages through its ‘sacrifice’ ability. This mechanism can free up resources later in the game, allowing for more strategic flexibility and timing when managing your board state.

Instant Speed: Though Choking Restraints is an enchantment cast at sorcery speed, the card offers a tactical instant-speed option. The ability to sacrifice it when you have enough mana can catch opponents off-guard, liberating your own mana usage for responses or counters during their turns.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In certain gameplay scenarios, having a card like Choking Restraints in your hand can present a dilemma particularly when your hand is nearly empty. Being forced to discard can tip the scales unfavorably, especially if you’re holding onto key pieces of your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: Choking Restraints demands a precise mana combination for its casting cost. Tapping two plains can strain your mana resources, making it potentially challenging to play other spells in the same turn or even to cast this one on curve in a multicolored deck.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When compared to other removal options available within the game, Choking Restraints’ three mana investment may be considered steep. This can be particularly evident when pacing against aggressive or highly efficient decks that may exploit the tempo loss.

Reasons to Include Choking Restraints in Your Collection

Versatility: Choking Restraints is a flexible removal option that can neutralize a wide variety of threats. It’s a great fit for decks needing control elements without relying on outright destruction, which can be useful against creatures with recursion or death triggers.

Combo Potential: With its ability to immobilize key creatures, Choking Restraints can be a seamless inclusion in lock-down or prison-style decks. Its later game ability to exile the creature it enchants opens up interactions with graveyard-play mechanics and synergizes with cards that benefit from exile effects.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where creatures play a significant role, Choking Restraints can shine by offering a cost-effective means of dealing with opponents’ threats. This can stifle aggressive strategies or interrupt combo pieces, making it a considerable option for sideboards or even main decks, depending on the atmosphere of play.

How to beat

Choking Restraints is a white enchantment that can prove to be quite the obstacle in MTG. It’s meant to hinder your opponent’s creatures, effectively rendering them unable to attack or block as long as the enchantment remains on the battlefield. Overcoming such control tactics requires strategic thinking and a good understanding of your deck’s capabilities.

To tackle this challenge, you’ll want to have enchantment removal at the ready. Cards like Naturalize or Disenchant can directly target and destroy Choking Restraints, freeing your creature to resume its duties. Alternatively, bounce spells like Unsummon or Counterspell when Choking Restraints is initially cast can prevent it from sticking to your creature in the first place. But don’t fret if you’ve missed the initial window – indestructible or hexproof abilities on creatures can also serve as great preventative measures against such restricting spells.

Evaluating the best approach to handle Choking Restraints depends heavily on your deck’s composition and the current game state. Yet, having a counter plan in your back pocket makes sure that you’re seldom caught off guard by your opponent’s control strategies.

Cards like Choking Restraints

Choking Restraints offers a distinct place among Magic: The Gathering’s control options. It’s in line with enchantments that incapacitate opponent creatures, much like Pacifism. Both prevent the enchanted creature from attacking or blocking, yet Choking Restraints goes a step further. With an additional mana investment, you can completely remove the threat from the game, a feature that Pacifism does not have.

Another parallel is found in Bonds of Faith, which demonstrates versatility by either boosting your human creature or neutralizing an opponent’s non-human creature. However, Bonds of Faith lacks the finality of Choking Restraints’ exile ability. Then there’s Claustrophobia, which taps and locks down a creature. While it ensures the creature stays out of combat, unlike Choking Restraints, it doesn’t offer a path to exile the creature, leaving a window open for opponents to react.

Assessing these enchantments showcases Choking Restraints as a noteworthy card, with its unique exile clause elevating it beyond the traditional lockdown effects of its counterparts and granting a permanent solution to deal with imminent threats in the game.

Cards similar to Choking Restraints by color, type and mana cost

The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration - MTG Card versions

Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant // Rune-Tail's Essence - MTG Card versions

Glorious Anthem - Junior Super Series (PSUS)

Sparring Regimen - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)

Shielded by Faith - Signature Spellbook: Gideon (SS2)

The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)

Oblivion Ring - Modern Masters 2015 (MM2)

Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant // Rune-Tail's Essence - The List (PLST)

Guardian's Magemark - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)

Celestial Dawn - Time Spiral Timeshifted (TSB)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Choking Restraints MTG card by a specific set like Eldritch Moon, 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 Choking Restraints and other MTG cards: