Iona, Shield of Emeria MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost9
RarityMythic
TypeLegendary Creature — Angel
Abilities Flying
Power 7
Toughness 7

Key Takeaways

  1. This card can dominate by preventing the use of certain colored spells, creating significant card advantage.
  2. While not accelerating resources herself, Iona’s control over spell casting can indirectly hasten your gameplay.
  3. Although powerful, the specific and high mana cost of Iona can limit deck diversity and speed.

Text of card

Flying As Iona, Shield of Emeria enters the battlefield, choose a color. Your opponents can't cast spells of the chosen color.

No more shall the righteous cower before evil.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Boasting a powerful ability to lock opponents out of casting spells of a named color, Iona, Shield of Emeria can significantly tip the scales of card advantage in your favor. By preventing players from casting spells from their hand, this towering angel ensures that their cards remain unused and effectively increases your relative card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: Although Iona doesn’t directly accelerate resources, her mere presence on the battlefield can indirectly hasten your gameplay. By deterring opponents from playing spells, you buy time to further develop your mana base and play even more impactful spells in subsequent turns.

Instant Speed: While Iona herself cannot be cast at instant speed, her ability to control the tempo of the game is a form of proactive disruption that is similar in effect to an instant speed intervention. Once she’s in play, the strategic advantage she provides works continuously, akin to having an omnipresent force that acts on your behalf with each spell your opponent attempts to cast.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Iona, Shield of Emeria doesn’t directly make you discard cards, but its restrictive mana requirements can deplete your hand as you seek to obtain the right mana sources, leading to potential card disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Iona demands a hefty dose of white mana, specifically W/W/W and six additional mana of any color. This specific mana cost often confines her to mono-white or bi-colored decks with a heavy white mana base, which could limit deck-building diversity.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total cost of nine mana, Iona’s summoning demands a significant resource investment, making her a late-game play. As such, her presence on the battlefield may come too late against faster, more aggressive strategies that aim to win before she can impact the game.


Reasons to Include Iona, Shield of Emeria in Your Collection

Versatility: Iona, Shield of Emeria is not just a formidable creature; it’s a strategic piece that adapts to various playstyles. Its ability to shut down a single color can adapt to any game, protecting your board and stalling opponents’ plans efficiently.

Combo Potential: As a linchpin in combo decks, Iona can work seamlessly with reanimation tactics or cheat-into-play strategies. Pair it with cards like “Reanimate” or “Sneak Attack” to surprise your opponents and lock them out of the game unexpectedly. Its presence amplifies any setup aiming for a lockout victory.

Meta-Relevance: Iona’s place in the metagame is solidified as a powerful counter to mono-colored or heavily skewed color-centric decks. In formats where particular colors dominate, Iona can single-handedly transform the landscape of a game, making it a must-have for players looking to disrupt prevalent strategies.


How to beat

Iona, Shield of Emeria is a powerful card in the MTG universe, capable of locking out an entire color, which can be daunting for opponents who rely heavily on that hue for their strategies. Defeating this mighty angel requires a plan that goes beyond color-based tactics. Cards that don’t rely on a specific color to function are essential in this battle. Artifacts are excellent tools for this, as well as spells that involve sacrificing creatures, which aren’t hindered by Iona’s abilities.

Furthermore, having counter spells ready when your opponent attempts to summon Iona can prevent her from entering the battlefield entirely. Another strategy involves using cards that change a card’s color or turn Iona into a different type of permanent, reducing her impact. Colorless creatures, often found among the Eldrazi tribes, are also impervious to her color protection and can be formidable adversaries to her. In summary, maneuvering around Iona, Shield of Emeria calls for versatile deck construction and strategic gameplay to triumph over her restrictive influence.


Cards like Iona, Shield of Emeria

Iona, Shield of Emeria stands out in MTG as a powerhouse when it comes to mono-colored deck restrictions. Void Winnower, albeit not a direct parallel, shares the disruptive ethos by preventing opponents from casting spells with even mana costs. While Iona allows you to choose a color, Void Winnower places a blanket ban on an entire subset of spells, affecting deck strategies globally.

Diving deeper into the realm of color-specific disruption, Gaddock Teeg presents an intriguing similarity to Iona. While considerably cheaper to cast, Gaddock Teeg restricts the playing of high-cost spells, with a focus on non-creature spells mana value four or greater, as well as X spells, which affects a wider range of decks but does not lock out a color entirely.

In essence, when assessing powerful control elements amongst MTG cards, Iona brings a unique twist to game dynamics that impacts specific deck archetypes. Her ability to single-handedly constrain a player’s color choices sets her in a league of her own, compared to similar cards that influence the game in a broader, but potentially less targeted manner.

Void Winnower - MTG Card versions
Gaddock Teeg - MTG Card versions
Void Winnower - Battle for Zendikar Promos (PBFZ)
Gaddock Teeg - Lorwyn (LRW)

Cards similar to Iona, Shield of Emeria by color, type and mana cost

Reya Dawnbringer - MTG Card versions
Blazing Archon - MTG Card versions
Reya Dawnbringer - Ultimate Masters (UMA)
Blazing Archon - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Iona, Shield of Emeria MTG card by a specific set like Zendikar and Modern Masters 2015, 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 Iona, Shield of Emeria and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Iona, Shield of Emeria Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2009-10-02 and 2015-08-21. Illustrated by Jason Chan.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12009-10-02ZendikarZEN 132003normalblackJason Chan
22015-05-22Modern Masters 2015MM2 202015normalblackJason Chan
32015-08-21From the Vault: AngelsV15 92015normalblackJason Chan

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Iona, Shield of Emeria has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderBanned
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhBanned

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Iona, Shield of Emeria card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2009-10-01 Iona’s third ability includes permanent spells (artifacts, creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers), not just instant and sorcery spells. It does not include lands or abilities (such as cycling or unearth).
2009-10-01 Once the color is chosen, it’s too late for opponents to respond by casting spells of that color. Iona is not yet in the battlefield at the time the color is chosen, so, for example, there’s no way for an opponent to destroy it by casting Doom Blade if the chosen color is black.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks