Fighting Chance MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Rare
Type	Instant
Released	1998-06-15
Set symbol
Set name	Exodus
Set code	EXO
Number	82
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Mike Raabe

Key Takeaways

Card advantage via blocking ensures hand replenishment and sustained board pressure.
Instant speed allows surprise combat maneuvers, disrupting opponent strategies.
Mana-specific and discard requirements might limit the card’s deck compatibility.

Text of card

For each blocking creature, flip a coin. If you win the flip, that creature deals no combat damage this turn.

A stroke of luck can smite an army.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: With Fighting Chance in your deck, the ability to give each creature you control the potential to draw a card when it’s blocked offers a way to replenish your hand and keep the pressure on your opponents. This ensures that even in the midst of combat, you can emerge with a more substantial hand size, poised to tackle future turns.

Resource Acceleration: The resource acceleration potential of this card lies in its synergy with decks that capitalize on creatures entering the battlefield or dying. While it doesn’t directly produce additional mana, it can facilitate triggers that lead to resource gains, keeping your tempo high throughout the game.

Instant Speed: The instant speed of Fighting Chance allows for tactical flexibility, enabling you to decide during the combat phase whether or not it is the optimum time to leverage its benefits. This can catch an opponent off guard, potentially disrupting their strategies and providing a pivotal swing in the game state when they least expect it.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Necessary in activating Fighting Chance, this card requires players to discard another card. This condition can be a detriment, especially when your hand is already dwindling and every card counts.

Specific Mana Cost: Fighting Chance demands a precise combination of mana types—requiring both red and white. This requirement can sometimes be restrictive, confining the card’s inclusion to decks that can consistently produce both colors of mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of four mana, including three of any type plus one white, Fighting Chance can be considered costly for its one-time effect. Players might find it challenging to justify this investment over alternatives that provide ongoing benefits or have a lower casting cost for a similar one-time impact.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Fighting Chance is adept at offering a last-minute safeguard for your creatures, allowing them to survive in a variety of situations. This instant card can turn the tide in your favor during a critical battle phase or save your key pieces from removal.

Combo Potential: With the right setup, Fighting Chance can be a linchpin in strategies centered around creature survival. It can enable combos by ensuring your creatures live to see another turn, activating their abilities or triggering enter-the-battlefield effects again.

Meta-Relevance: In a game state heavy with board wipes or combat tricks, Fighting Chance provides a strategic edge. It allows you to commit to the board aggressively knowing you have a trick up your sleeve to protect your army from potential threats.

How to beat Fighting Chance

Fighting Chance is an intriguing spell that temporarily swings the odds in favor of your creatures during combat. Its potential to save your creatures in a pinch or surprise opponents with an unexpected combat trick can be quite impactful. Nonetheless, there are ways to mitigate its advantages and strategize effectively against it.

To counter the effect of Fighting Chance, consider using spells that don’t rely on damage to remove creatures, such as those that cause exile or force opponents to sacrifice creatures. Board wipes that clear the battlefield before the attack phase can also eliminate the relevance of the combat-centric card, negating its benefits entirely. Efficient counterplay involves preemptive measures like hand disruption to remove Fighting Chance before it can be played or holding up counterspells if it’s likely to be cast during a crucial combat phase.

Adapting your strategy to avoid over-committing creatures when Fighting Chance could turn the tides can prevent you from falling into a trap. By understanding the conditions under which Fighting Chance thrives, such as in a creature-heavy deck, adjustments to your removal timing and the types of removal used can neutralize its potential and keep you in control of the battlefield. With careful planning, Fighting Chance can be beaten.

Cards like Fighting Chance

Fighting Chance is an intriguing card that offers players a unique reactive ability within Magic: The Gathering. Like the red card Balduvian Rage, Fighting Chance allows players to surprise their opponents during combat by enhancing their creatures’ capabilities, though Balduvian Rage is directed at a single creature. In contrast, Fighting Chance applies to multiple creatures which can alter the outcome of an entire combat phase.

Closely resembling the effect of Fighting Chance, we have cards like Rally the Righteous. While Rally the Righteous can also affect more than one creature, it is specifically tied to the Radiance mechanic, limiting it to creatures that share a color. Fight to the Death is another card that sheds some light on sudden combat twists but works differently by negating all but one creature’s damage in a fight. Both Rally the Righteous and Fight to the Death have their niches, but they don’t offer the potential for a sweeping combat advantage that Fighting Chance does.

In the realm of MTG, where combat tricks are crucial, Fighting Chance stands out as a solid choice for player decks focused on turning tides in their favor with broad and sudden impacts on the board, a different but effective twist compared to its peers.

Cards similar to Fighting Chance by color, type and mana cost

March of Reckless Joy - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Fighting Chance MTG card by a specific set like Exodus, 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 Fighting Chance and other MTG cards: