Scourge of the Nobilis MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Enchantment — Aura |
| Abilities | Enchant |
| Released | 2008-07-25 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Eventide |
| Set code | EVE |
| Number | 146 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Dan Scott |
Key Takeaways
- Enhances creatures with lifelink and power boost, offering strategic combat and resource acceleration benefits.
- Instant speed casting offers flexibility, enabling surprise plays and altering combat outcomes.
- Demands careful hand management and color-specific mana, which may limit deck integration.
Text of card
Enchant creature As long as enchanted creature is red, it gets +1/+1 and has "{GU}: This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn." As long as enchanted creature is white, it gets +1/+1 and has lifelink. (Whenever it deals damage, its controller gains that much life.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Scourge of the Nobilis provides an edge by offering an additional way to utilize your creature’s damage to draw more cards, thereby maintaining a fuller hand and ensuring a steady flow of options.
Resource Acceleration: This card equips your creature with an enhanced ability to generate extra resources, namely lifegain. By doing so, it accelerates your ability to stay in the game longer, enabling more strategic plays and potential comebacks.
Instant Speed: Scourge of the Nobilis can be cast at instant speed, providing the flexibility to enhance a creature unexpectedly during combat or at the end of your opponent’s turn. This surprise factor can swing the game in your favor by creating advantageous blocks or unexpected lethal attacks.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Scourge of the Nobilis provides an aura that can boost your creature’s abilities, it also necessitates a strategic hand management. This card doesn’t have a discard requirement per se, but it does compete for resources in your hand that could be used to respond to an opponent’s threats or to further your own board position.
Specific Mana Cost: The card’s mana cost demands both red and white mana which may not always align with decks that have a more diverse mana base. This requirement can potentially alienate a segment of players who prefer more flexible mana costs for easier deck integration.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Investing three mana for an aura is sometimes considered costly, particularly in formats where tempo is crucial. Given the investment, players might expect a more immediate impact on the game state, which isn’t always guaranteed with Scourge of the Nobilis.
Reasons to Include Scourge of the Nobilis in Your Collection
Versatility: Scourge of the Nobilis is a card that offers flexibility in deck building. It’s an enchantment that can fit into various deck archetypes that focus on aggressive and combo strategies, due to providing both a power boost and additional lifelink ability to your creatures.
Combo Potential: This card pairs well with creatures that have tap abilities or benefit from attacking, as it not only buffs them but also grants lifelink, turning any creature it enchants into a dual threat. This can synergize with strategies that capitalize on life gain for victory conditions.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where lifegain and evasion are key, Scourge of the Nobilis holds significant value. In a meta with heavy combat, the lifelink and power increase can turn the tide in your favor, making it a useful tool against aggressive opponents.
How to Beat
Scourge of the Nobilis is a card that brings a certain allure to any deck that focuses on the power of auras in Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to grant both lifelink and firebreathing (a term used to describe the ability to increase a creature’s power) makes it a formidable addition, especially in decks tailored around creature enhancement. Solving the puzzle this card presents requires strategic play and a keen understanding of removal options.
Combatting the Scourge of the Nobilis starts with controlling the board state. Enchantment removal spells like Disenchant or Naturalize allow you to directly target the aura attached to your opponent’s creature, rendering its advantageous abilities null. Another method is creature removal—spells like Doom Blade or Path to Exile remove the buffed creature from play altogether. If your opponent has managed to bolster their creature to an insurmountable level, board wipes such as Wrath of God can reset the playing field. Additionally, counterspells are effective preemptive measures to ensure the Scourge never touches the battlefield.
Remember, timing is crucial. Whether you choose to deal with the creature before the aura is attached or directly handle the Scourge of the Nobilis itself, act swiftly to keep your opponent’s advantage to a minimum.
Cards like Scourge of the Nobilis
Scourge of the Nobilis is an intriguing enchantment in Magic: The Gathering that offers a multifaceted boost to the creature it enchants. Alongside giving the enchanted creature +2/+2, it provides lifelink and allows it to get an extra boost in power for each point of red or white mana spent. As an aura, it can be paralleled to something like Ethereal Armor, which also offers a power and toughness increase. However, Ethereal Armor’s strength hinges on the number of enchantments you control.
Comparatively, Unflinching Courage is another card with a similar effect, granting both a stat boost and lifelink at three mana. While Unflinching Courage bestows a fixed bonus of +2/+2 without the mana flexibility, it also imbues the creature with trample. This difference could lead to varying strategies depending on how a player wants to capitalize on the enchantment’s abilities. Then there’s Armadillo Cloak, an old favorite, which, despite its similarity to the aforementioned cards, doesn’t grant lifelink but still provides a semblance of the same effect, alongside trample.
In sum, Scourge of the Nobilis presents a valuable option for players looking to enhance their creatures in a versatile manner, balancing raw power with a potential for life gain that can swing games in their favor.
Cards similar to Scourge of the Nobilis by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Scourge of the Nobilis MTG card by a specific set like Eventide, 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 Scourge of the Nobilis and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Scourge of the Nobilis has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Scourge of the Nobilis card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-08-01 | If the enchanted creature is both of the listed colors, it will get both bonuses. |
| 2008-08-01 | Once the +1/+0 ability is activated, it exists independently of the creature and Scourge of the Nobilis. It will resolve, and the creature will retain the bonus for the rest of the turn, even if Scourge of the Nobilis stops enchanting that creature. |
| 2008-08-01 | The controller of the enchanted creature, not the controller of Scourge of the Nobilis, can activate the +1/+0 ability. |
