Strength of Unity MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Domain,Enchant
Released	2000-10-02
Set symbol
Set name	Invasion
Set code	INV
Number	40
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Andrew Goldhawk

Key Takeaways

Builds card advantage and resource acceleration, crucial for winning prolonged matches.
Strength of Unity’s instant speed allows for unexpected plays and board state disruption.
Highly versatile, integrates well with decks focusing on creature synergies and counters.

Text of card

Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each basic land type among lands you control.

All Dominarians agreed on one thing: they would not go down without a fight.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Strength of Unity card weaves an intricate game plan by offering a valuable card draw with each activated ability. This ensures a steady flow of options in your hand, keeping you ahead in the longer duels where resources can be the deciding factor.

Resource Acceleration: With the potential to untap lands or other mana sources, Strength of Unity helps harmonize your play by accelerating your resources. This can lead to more significant spells being cast sooner or enable multiple spells in a single turn, which might turn the tide of a match in your favor.

Instant Speed: The reactive nature of this instant-speed spell offers the duality of surprise and adaptability. Cast it when your opponents least expect it, during their turn or at the end of it, to disrupt their strategy while building your board state and preserving the element of surprise for what’s in your hand.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Strength of Unity card necessitates letting go of another card in your hand, which might place you at a disadvantage during tight situations where every card is vital.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a precise mix of mana types, which could be challenging to muster in a game where your mana base isn’t perfectly calibrated to its needs.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Given its mana requirements, one may argue that there are alternatives available which might fit more seamlessly into your deck’s curve and provide similar or enhanced effects for less investment.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Strength of Unity is a card that seamlessly integrates into a wide array of deck concepts, particularly those that capitalize on creature synergies and +1/+1 counters.

Combo Potential: This card excels in setups that exploit counter manipulations. It can amplify strategies that revolve around boosting creatures, enabling powerful interactions and wins.

Meta-Relevance: With the right build, Strength of Unity can play a crucial role in environments that favor enduring creatures and protracted board states. Its potential for incrementally strengthening your board presence makes it a relevant choice for such meta landscapes.

How to beat

Strength of Unity is known for empowering creatures on the battlefield, synchronizing nicely with decks that capitalize on counters or creature-heavy strategies. To counter this card, one effective strategy is disruption. Targeted removal spells, like Doom Blade or Path to Exile, can remove the creatures buffed by Strength of Unity before they become too large a threat. This dismantles the synergy and reduces the opponent’s field advantage.

Board wipes, such as Wrath of God or Damnation, can also effectively reset the state of play, clearing out all creatures irrespective of their size or the number of counters on them. Additionally, managing your opponent’s resources and graveyard with cards like Thoughtseize or Bojuka Bog can prevent them from ever deploying or recurring Strength of Unity effectively.

Ultimately, maintaining control of the board and depriving your opponent of the opportunity to establish their strategy is crucial for overcoming the advantages gained from Strength of Unity. Being proactive and disrupting your opponent’s plays allows you to keep the pace of the game in your favor.

Cards like Strength of Unity

Strength of Unity is a unique addition to the suite of buff spells in Magic: The Gathering. Its kinship is close with cards like Glorious Anthem, which similarly offers a boost to your creatures. Yet, Strength of Unity departs with its attachment to a single creature and the incremental value it gains from each activation ability it has.

In the realm of creature buffs, we also find Always Watching, which not only gives a stat increase but also vigilance. Though it affects all creatures, unlike Strength of Unity, it doesn’t elevate a creature’s power based on its abilities. Another parallel is found in Honor of the Pure, granting a bonus to white creatures, influencing the board more broadly without focusing on a single creature’s potential versatility. It shines in mono-white decks where its condition can be fully exploited.

Evaluating the subtle nuances and strategic depth of each option, Strength of Unity stands out in decks designed around multi-faceted creatures. Its capacity to turn a single creature into a formidable threat as the game progresses can be pivotal in securing victory in the nuanced world of Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Strength of Unity by color, type and mana cost

Divine Transformation - MTG Card versions

Diversionary Tactics - MTG Card versions

Teleportation Circle - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Strength of Unity MTG card by a specific set like Invasion, 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 Strength of Unity and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Strength of Unity has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2009-02-01	A number of nonbasic lands have basic land types. Domain abilities don’t count the number of lands you control — they count the number of basic land types among lands you control, even if that means checking the same land twice. For example, if you control a Tundra, an Overgrown Tomb, and a Madblind Mountain, you’ll have a Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest among the lands you control. Your domain abilities will be maxed out.
2009-02-01	How many lands you control of a particular basic land type is irrelevant to a domain ability, as long as that number is greater than zero. As far as domain is concerned, ten Forests is the same as one Forest.
2009-02-01	To determine the number of basic land types among lands you control, look at the lands you have on the battlefield and ask yourself whether the subtypes Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest appear within that group. The number of times you say yes (topping out at five) tells you how powerful your domain abilities will be.