Grand Ball Guest MTG Card

Grants card advantage and accelerates resources, offering strategic depth with its dual-colored mana cost. Instant speed play enhances flexibility, allowing mid-game adaptability and surprise tactics. Requires careful deck construction to mitigate its high mana cost and specific color requirements.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Human Peasant
Abilities	Celebration
Released	2023-09-08
Set symbol
Set name	Wilds of Eldraine
Set code	WOE
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	134
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Leanna Crossan

Text of card

Celebration — Grand Ball Guest gets +1/+1 and has trample as long as two or more nonland permanents entered the battlefield under your control this turn.

It takes a lot to pull a master blacksmith from their work, but Maurice couldn't pass up an invitation to a lavish Delverhaugh feast.

Cards like Grand Ball Guest

The Grand Ball Guest is an intriguing piece within Magic: The Gathering’s broad tapestry of creature cards. It stands shoulder to shoulder with cards like Viashino Sandstalker in terms of being a creature that provides a temporary battlefield presence. While Viashino Sandstalker is known for its haste and return to hand ability at the end of turn, Grand Ball Guest offers its own unique spin on the fleeting visit to the battlefield.

Another card worth comparing is Norin the Wary, which shares the trait of dodging removal by leaving the battlefield only to return later. However, Grand Ball Guest differs in its conditions for leaving and entering the battlefield. Then there’s the card Dust Elemental, a powerful creature that can bounce other creatures to your hand when it comes into play, granting a form of protection and flexibility. Grand Ball Guest lacks this kind of board impact but has its own merits in themed decks.

Ultimately, Grand Ball Guest carves out its niche with specific synergies, opening up strategies across various deck types. This makes the Grand Ball Guest a fine choice for players who capitalize on creatures that aren’t meant to stick around permanently.

Viashino Sandstalker - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Grand Ball Guest by color, type and mana cost

Goblin Elite Infantry - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Grand Ball Guest MTG card shines in providing card advantage. When played, it lets you survey the top cards of your library and potentially add key cards to your hand, keeping you ahead in the long game.

Resource Acceleration: This card excels with its ability to accelerate your resources. It can untap lands or artifacts upon entering the battlefield or upon certain triggers, thus giving you access to more mana and playing big spells sooner than your opponent.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of being able to cast Grand Ball Guest at instant speed cannot be overstated. This trait allows savvy players to adapt to the flow of the game, making tactical moves during the opponent’s turn and optimizing their plays to align with the state of the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Grand Ball Guest’s ability necessitates that you discard a card to trigger its effect. This condition can strain your hand, especially if you’re in a position where maintaining card advantage is crucial for your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: Its casting requires a mix of both black and white mana, making it less flexible and potentially challenging to play in a multi-colored deck that doesn’t focus on these colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that’s higher than some other creatures of similar caliber, Grand Ball Guest may not always represent the best value for your mana investment when other lower-cost alternatives could fit into your curve more seamlessly.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Grand Ball Guest offers a unique flexibility in deck construction, as it serves multiple roles within aristocrat or party-themed decks, and can easily slide into casual or themed EDH decks.

Combo Potential: This card holds the potential to fuel combo engines with its ability to interact with other cards that capitalize on guests, tokens, or certain party mechanics, making it a smart choice for synergistic plays.

Meta-Relevance: Given the evolving landscape of the metagame, Grand Ball Guest’s nuanced abilities could provide unexpected advantages in matchups that pivot around creature-based strategies or specific party synergies.

How to beat

The Grand Ball Guest is a unique player in the intricate dance of MTG gameplay. With its potential to offer card advantage, it provides a player with an array of options. Key to outmaneuvering this opponent is to limit their ability to capitalize on the card’s benefit. A strategy could include applying removal spells before its ability triggers or employing strategies that restrict hand growth. Managing the battlefield tempo to your advantage is also crucial, as the card gains potential in prolonged games with ample resources at a player’s disposal.

Effective counters are particularly found among instant speed removals, which can disrupt the setup of a Grand Ball Guest’s benefits. Additionally, excelling in hand disruption can leave this card’s controller at a disadvantage, reducing the impact of their potential card advantage. It is critical to recognize the right moment to play out your strategy and to observe carefully how this card interplays with the rest of the tableau, to ensure that your tactics do not inadvertently play into the Grand Ball Guest’s strengths.

Ultimately, understanding your opponent’s strategy and adapting accordingly is central to overcoming the challenges posed by the Grand Ball Guest. Quick action and preemptive counters, combined with a keen eye on resource management, will guide you towards claiming victory over this card’s twisted dance.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Grand Ball Guest MTG card by a specific set like Wilds of Eldraine, 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 Grand Ball Guest and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Grand Ball Guest has restrictions

Format	Legality
Standard	Legal
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Future	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2023-09-01	Celebration abilities only care if two or more nonland permanents entered the battlefield under your control in a turn. They won’t get more powerful if more than two permanents entered the battlefield under your control in a turn.
2023-09-01	Each celebration ability has a different effect.
2023-09-01	Others are static abilities that give creatures abilities or power and toughness increases as long as two or more nonland permanents entered the battlefield under your control that turn.
2023-09-01	Some celebration abilities trigger at specific parts of the turn and check whether two or more nonland permanents entered the battlefield under your control already in that turn.
2023-09-01	The permanents that entered the battlefield don’t need to remain on the battlefield or under your control. Celebration abilities are checking for past events, not the current game state.