Hexbane Tortoise MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Turtle |
| Abilities | Enlist,Ward |
| Released | 2022-09-09 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Dominaria United |
| Set code | DMU |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 166 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Joshua Raphael |
Key Takeaways
- Hexbane Tortoise enhances your board control and can indirectly lead to card advantage during combat.
- Its low-cost for toughness accelerates board presence, efficiently allotting mana to other strategies.
- Syncs well with instant-speed spells, fostering a flexible and unpredictable gameplay style.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Hexbane Tortoise MTG card by a specific set like Dominaria United, 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 Hexbane Tortoise and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Text of card
Ward (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays .) Enlist (As this creature attacks, you may tap a nonattacking creature you control without summoning sickness. When you do, add its power to this creature's until end of turn.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Hexbane Tortoise might not directly allow you to draw cards, but its sturdy presence on the battlefield can lead to advantageous exchanges with your opponents’ creatures. This often results in maintaining board control and indirectly contributes to card advantage as you dictate the pace of creature combat.
Resource Acceleration: While Hexbane Tortoise doesn’t produce mana or treasure tokens, its relatively low cost for a durable body can accelerate your board presence. This solidifies your resources in creatures rather quickly compared to other options at the same mana value, allowing you to allocate mana toward other spells and strategies efficiently.
Instant Speed: Although the Hexbane Tortoise itself isn’t an instant, its inherent synergy with instant-speed spells cannot be understated. The presence of a threatening blocker like the Tortoise can dissuade attackers, leaving your mana open for instant-speed interaction during your opponent’s turn. This dynamic invites a play style that maximizes flexibility and keeps opponents guessing.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The Hexbane Tortoise demands a card to be discarded from your hand, presenting a potential drawback when your hand size is dwindling and each card’s value is at a premium.
Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both green and blue mana, the Hexbane Tortoise is tailored for a Simic deck, potentially restricting its playability only to players who have incorporated both colors in their deck architecture.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its mana cost on the steeper side, Hexbane Tortoise positions itself as a more substantial investment when pitted against other options, granting an opening for opponents to capitalize on the tempo loss.
Reasons to Include Hexbane Tortoise in Your Collection
Versatility: Hexbane Tortoise boasts adaptability across a variety of deck strategies with its solid defensive stats and the ability to be an effective blocker. This characteristic allows it to fit seamlessly into defensive and control-oriented decks that value resilience on the battlefield.
Combo Potential: This card’s unique interactions open up opportunities for synergy with abilities or effects that trigger on either blocking or having high toughness creatures. This can significantly enhance strategies that capitalize on defensive postures or that require robust creatures to activate key combos.
Meta-Relevance: The current gameplay environment often sees aggressive creature strategies, making a sturdy defender like Hexbane Tortoise a valuable addition. Its capacity to hold off early onslaughts and maintain board presence can be crucial in keeping pace with prevalent aggro decks, giving you the time needed to stabilize and execute your game plan.
How to beat
The Hexbane Tortoise presents a unique challenge in the realm of Magic: The Gathering, being a creature with formidable staying power on the battlefield. Its key feature that demands attention is the hexproof ability, which shields it from targeted spells or abilities your opponents may control. Crucially, this attribute makes it resilient against direct removal spells that typically handle creatures with ease.
When facing Hexbane Tortoise, there are effective strategies to consider. Board wipes act as the great equalizer, eliminating all creatures on the field irrespective of protection—Wrath of God or Damnation are poignant examples. Alternatively, negative effects that don’t target, such as those from Cry of the Carnarium or Languish, can reduce a creature’s toughness or provide debuffs that lead to its demise, bypassing hexproof entirely. Lastly, combat tricks and abilities that provoke unfavorable blocks or bypass the creature altogether, such as trample or evasion abilities like flying, can help navigate past the sturdiness of Hexbane Tortoise and press the advantage to your side.
Acknowledging the Hexbane Tortoise’s strengths while arming yourself with the right counters ensures a balanced confrontation. Playing smartly around its hexproof ability can swiftly turn the tide of battle in your favor.
Cards like Hexbane Tortoise
Hexbane Tortoise is a unique creature card with characteristics that make it a solid defender in Magic: The Gathering. Drawing comparisons, it’s reminiscent of cards like Wall of Blossoms. Although Wall of Blossoms doesn’t have hexproof, it offers players a card upon entering the battlefield, an advantage Hexbane Tortoise does not have. Yet the Tortoise is endowed with hexproof, shielding it from targeted spells or abilities—an attribute the wall lacks.
Looking at other similar cards, there’s the formidable Carapace Forger, a creature with a potentially higher power, albeit without the protective shell of hexproof. It also requires specific deck-building around metalcraft to achieve its full potential, a requirement Hexbane Tortoise is free from. However, with Carapace Forger, you gain a stronger offensive presence, trading the security offered by hexproof for the chance at a more aggressive playstyle.
With its steadfast defensive capabilities and resilience against removal spells, Hexbane Tortoise holds its ground within Magic: The Gathering. If you’re seeking a durable and evasive defensive card for your deck, this could be the tortoise to help you win the race.
Cards similar to Hexbane Tortoise by color, type and mana cost
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Hexbane Tortoise 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 Hexbane Tortoise card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-09-09 | The attacking player chooses whether to tap a creature for an enlist ability immediately after they tap the creatures that they have chosen to attack with. You can’t choose to enlist a creature later. |
| 2022-09-09 | To enlist a creature, that creature must be untapped, it must not be attacking (even if it has vigilance), and it must have haste or have been under that attacking player’s control since the beginning of their current turn. |
| 2022-09-09 | When a player taps a creature for an attacking creature’s enlist ability, that attacking creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the tapped creature’s power. This is a triggered ability that goes on the stack immediately after attackers have been declared in the declare attackers step. |
| 2022-09-09 | You may tap only one creature for an enlist ability of an attacking creature, and a single creature can’t be tapped for more than one enlist ability. |