Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils MTG Card
2022-06-10 - Number 23
2022-07-07 - Number 90
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 7 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Instant — Adventure |
Text of card
Exile target artifact or enchantment. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)
Cards like Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils
Guardian Naga stands out in the realm of creatures within Magic: The Gathering, much like its inheritors. Sharing traits with fellow creatures like Striped Riverwinder, Guardian Naga offers players a sustainable blocker that includes hexproof, rendering it immune to an opponent’s targeted spells. However, it differs notably in its cost and lack of cycling ability.
Examining Banishing Coils, a powerful enchantment linked to Guardian Naga, allows us to draw parallels with other entrapping spells such as Lignify or Imprisoned in the Moon. What sets Banishing Coils apart is its unique switch mechanism, which equips a creature with a potentially game-ending deathtouch ability, something rarely found in similar enchantments. Also, unlike Darksteel Mutation, Banishing Coils can transform a harmless creature into a lethal threat, rather than simply neutralizing it.
In analyzing Guardian Naga and Banishing Coils within Magic: The Gathering, it’s evident that their unique combination of protection, transformation, and aggression offers players a distinct tactical advantage. They blend the lines between offensive and defensive plays, contributing versatility to creature-focused builds.
Cards similar to Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Guardian Naga provides a unique advantage by potentially removing an opponent’s threat from the game, essentially negating one of their cards and tipping the scales in your favor. Its second side, Banishing Coils, offers a different kind of advantage by enabling selective targeting of nonland permanents, efficiently aligning your battlefield presence with your game plan.
Resource Acceleration: Banishing Coils contributes to resource acceleration by effectively dealing with tapped creatures without expending additional resources. This opens up your mana pool for further gameplay developments and keeps the pace firmly in your control.
Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Guardian Naga or Banishing Coils at instant speed cannot be overstated. This not only allows you to react to your opponent’s moves with precision but also keeps them guessing about your next play. Utilizing the instant speed of Banishing Coils particularly well can sway the momentum of the game, offering tactical advantages when they least expect it.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Guardian Naga requires a player to discard another card to activate its ability. This condition could potentially exhaust your hand, leaving you at a disadvantage in the game, especially if your strategy isn’t built around discarding.
Specific Mana Cost: Banishing Coils demands a very specific mana investment—two white mana and one colorless. This can be challenging in multi-colored decks where access to the required mana can be less consistent and potentially delay your game plan.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: For its ability to exile a target creature, Guardian Naga’s mana cost is on the higher end. When you could be casting more impactful spells or establishing a stronger board presence with the same amount of resources, this can make the card seem less appealing in competitive play formats.
Reasons to Include Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils in Your Collection
Versatility: Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils offers dual utility. As a creature, Guardian Naga serves as a solid blocker, while its flip side, Banishing Coils, provides enchantment-based control, which can seamlessly integrate into a variety of decks from control to midrange builds.
Combo Potential: Both aspects of this card can play a pivotal role in combos. The Guardian Naga’s form can synergize with strategies emphasizing on creature presence, while Banishing Coils can interact with flicker or bounce mechanics for repeated use.
Meta-Relevance: With decks that require answers to versatile threats, the transform nature of Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils ensures relevance in changing metas. It can defend against aggressive early-game creatures or later transition into an enchantment that disrupts your opponent’s strategy.
How to Beat Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils
Guardian Naga and its transformed enchantment, Banishing Coils, present an interesting challenge on the battlefield. As a creature, Guardian Naga boasts solid defensive stats, but its true potential is unlocked upon dealing combat damage, as it transforms into Banishing Coils. The key to overpowering this card lies in preventing the Naga from ever flipping – keeping it from connecting with a player is crucial.
Direct removal spells are your best friend here, with options like Doom Blade and Murder being able to handle the creature before it can make an impact. If you’re looking to counteract the Banishing Coils once it’s in play, enchantment removal spells such as Disenchant or Naturalize become indispensable. In addition, cards that grant hexproof to your creatures, such as Blossoming Defense or Ranger’s Guile, will nullify the threat of the Coils’ immobilizing capabilities. Another strategy is to play creatures with greater power than the Guardian Naga, ensuring that it can’t survive combat, therefore, it can’t transform.
Strategically plan your removal and protection spells, maintain board control, and you’ll find overcoming both sides of this MTG card to be a manageable feat, keeping the snake at bay and ensuring its coils remain loose on the battlefield.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils MTG card by a specific set like Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate and Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate, 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 Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils and other MTG cards:
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Printings
The Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2022-06-10 and 2022-07-07. Illustrated by Tom Babbey.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022-06-10 | Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate | CLB | 23 | 2015 | Adventure | Black | Tom Babbey | |
| 2 | 2022-07-07 | Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate | HBG | 90 | 2015 | Adventure | Black | Tom Babbey |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Guardian Naga // Banishing Coils card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-06-10 | An adventurer card is a permanent card in every zone except the stack, as well as while on the stack if not cast as an Adventure. Ignore its alternative characteristics in those cases. For example, while it’s in your graveyard, Altar of Bhaal is an artifact card whose mana value is 2. |
| 2022-06-10 | An effect may refer to a card, spell, or permanent that “has an Adventure.” This refers to a card, spell, or permanent that has an adventurer card’s set of alternative characteristics, even if they’re not being used and even if that card was never cast as an Adventure. |
| 2022-06-10 | Casting a card as an Adventure isn’t casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to the Adventure. |
| 2022-06-10 | If a spell is cast as an Adventure, its controller exiles it instead of putting it into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves. For as long as it remains exiled, that player may cast it as a permanent spell. If an Adventure spell leaves the stack in any way other than resolving (most likely by being countered or by failing to resolve because its targets have all become illegal), that card won’t be exiled and the spell’s controller won’t be able to cast it as a permanent later. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an adventurer card ends up in exile for any other reason than by exiling itself while resolving, it won’t give you permission to cast it as a permanent spell. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an effect copies an Adventure spell, that copy is exiled as it resolves. It ceases to exist as a state-based action; it’s not possible to cast the copy from exile. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative Adventure name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose. |
| 2022-06-10 | If an object becomes a copy of an object that has an Adventure, the copy also has an Adventure. If it changes zones, it will either cease to exist (if it’s a token) or cease to be a copy (if it’s a nontoken permanent), and so you won’t be able to cast it as an Adventure. |
| 2022-06-10 | If you cast an adventurer card as an Adventure, use only its alternative characteristics to determine whether it’s legal to cast that spell. |
| 2022-06-10 | When casting a spell as an Adventure, use the alternative characteristics and ignore all of the card’s normal characteristics. The spell’s color, mana cost, mana value, and so on are determined by only those alternative characteristics. If the spell leaves the stack, it immediately resumes using its normal characteristics. |
| 2022-06-10 | You must still follow any relevant timing rules for the permanent spell you cast from exile. Normally, you’ll be able to cast it only during your main phase while the stack is empty. |