Joven's Tools MTG Card

Homelands (HML)
1995-10-01 - Number 108

Fifth Edition (5ED)
1997-03-24 - Number 386

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact

Key Takeaways

Joven’s Tools disrupts opponents by neutralizing artifact-reliant creature threats, crucial in balanced gameplay.
Instant speed usage enhances tactical plays, making it a formidable surprise element at critical moments.
Requires thoughtful card discard for activation, adding a layer of strategic choice and game planning.

Text of card

o4, oc T: Target creature cannot be blocked except by walls until end of turn.

"If that thief Joven ever shows his head around here again, make sure he leaves without it." —Eron the Relentless

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Joven’s Tools can effectively neutralize multiple threats from opponents. It offers a reliable solution to deal with creatures equipped with artifacts, a common strategy that can often tip the scales in your opponent’s favor. By disrupting this equilibrium, the Tools help preserve your position on the board.

Resource Acceleration: While not acting directly as a resource accelerator, Joven’s Tools enable smoother gameplay by removing artifact-based roadblocks. This can indirectly speed up your plays by dealing with mana-generating artifacts or ones that provide cost reduction to your opponent, ensuring their pace doesn’t outmatch yours.

Instant Speed: The ability to use Joven’s Tools at instant speed gives you the tactical upper hand. You can wait until the most impactful moment during your opponent’s turn to deactivate an artifact creature or negate an artifact’s abilities, making your maneuvers more unpredictable and effective.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Joven’s Tools necessitates discarding a card to unlock its capabilities. This ask can be taxing in gameplay, particularly when your hand is depleting and every card counts. This condition adds an extra layer of strategy, as choosing which card to discard can have significant repercussions on the later stages of the game.

Specific Mana Cost: The activation of Joven’s Tools’ abilities is bound to a specific mana cost that includes red mana. This constraint can render the card less flexible, locking it into decks that can produce red mana reliably. It could be a hurdle in multicolored decks that might not always have the necessary red mana at the crucial moment when the card’s effects are most needed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When evaluating Joven’s Tools against other options in MTG, the mana investment might seem steep for the benefits rendered. Allocating four mana to make use of this card’s abilities can be cumbersome, especially when there are other cards in the pool that serve similar purposes at a lower cost, potentially freeing up resources for additional plays within the same turn.

Reasons to Include Joven’s Tools in Your Collection

Versatility: Joven’s Tools is not bound to a single strategy, giving decks a boost in both offense and defense. Its ability to untap creatures can be strategically significant, whether you’re planning a surprise block or readying your forces for an unexpected assault.

Combo Potential: This artifact harmonizes with cards that benefit from being tapped or untapped, potentially setting off a chain of actions that can lead to game-winning turns. With Joven’s Tools, your combo pieces gain additional utility and opportunities for exploitation.

Meta-Relevance: Given a meta that prioritizes paced gameplay with a focus on creature interaction, Joven’s Tools provide an edge. The artifact’s unique ability to manipulate the state of creatures lends itself well to disrupting opponent strategies while advancing your own.

How to beat

Joven’s Tools is a unique artifact that can cause a stir within a game of MTG. This card, known for its ability to disrupt the battle plans of your opponents by tapping creatures and denying them the chance to attack, presents an interesting challenge on the battlefield. However, overcoming the obstacle posed by Joven’s Tools requires a strategic approach. Tactics include using artifact removal spells or abilities, which are abundant in MTG. Cards like Disenchant or Naturalize can eliminate Joven’s Tools from the game with minimal effort and at a low mana cost.

Speed is also an essential factor in outmaneuvering Joven’s Tools. Deploying an aggressive early game strategy with quick creatures can diminish the impact of this card, as it requires time to set up and utilize effectively. Furthermore, having a versatile deck that can pivot between attacking and alternative win conditions means that Joven’s Tools becomes less of a threat. If your MTG collection includes cards that focus on direct damage spells or alternative win conditions, relying on those could bypass the need to attack with creatures altogether, negating the usefulness of Joven’s Tools for your adversary.

In sum, while Joven’s Tools can be a tricky hurdle in MTG, a combination of prompt artifact removal, rapid offensive strategies, and adaptable gameplay can ensure that its influence is minimal, allowing you to maintain control over the course of the match.

Cards like Joven's Tools

Joven’s Tools is a peculiar addition to Magic: The Gathering’s arsenal of accelerators and deterrents. It shares traits with cards like Icy Manipulator, which allows players to tap target artifacts, creatures, or lands, impeding opponent’s strategies. Icy Manipulator offers more flexibility with its ability to target any card type, whereas Joven’s Tools is restricted to affecting creatures with flying.

When compared to Gravity Well, which ensures all creatures lose flying, Joven’s Tools takes a more selective approach, allowing for tactical plays without completely nullifying a specific creature characteristic. Yet it lacks the permanence of Gravity Well’s effect. Moreover, Cobbled Wings, another similar equipment, gives any creature it equips flying, serving as an opposite function to Joven’s Tools, though both revolve around the mechanic of flight.

Ultimately, Joven’s Tools carves out its unique niche within Magic: The Gathering by offering a way to ground flying foes while being an artifact with its own strategic advantages and limitations.

Cards similar to Joven's Tools by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Joven's Tools MTG card by a specific set like Homelands and Fifth 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 Joven's Tools and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Joven's Tools Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1995-10-01 and 1997-03-24. Illustrated by 2 different artists.