Kiora's Dismissal MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 1 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Instant |
| Abilities | Strive |
| Released | 2014-05-02 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Journey into Nyx |
| Set code | JOU |
| Number | 44 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Mathias Kollros |
Key Takeaways
- Kiora’s Dismissal offers tempo control by bouncing multiple enchantments, potentially shifting the game advantage.
- Playing at instant speed, the card provides tactical flexibility, crucial for reactive and strategic gameplay.
- The card’s specialization in enchantment interaction makes it a meta-relevant tool against enchantment-heavy decks.
Text of card
Strive — Kiora's Dismissal costs more to cast for each target beyond the first. Return any number of target enchantments to their owners' hands.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Kiora’s Dismissal provides an opportunity for a strategic tempo swing by potentially bouncing multiple enchantments back to an opponent’s hand. This move can disrupt their board state and plans, potentially giving you an edge in card interactions.
Resource Acceleration: While the card itself doesn’t directly accelerate your resources, it can indirectly contribute by setting back your opponent’s development. This delay can allow you to develop your resources further and deploy other threats or answers without pressure.
Instant Speed: Kiora’s Dismissal’s instant speed is a crucial aspect. It lets the player wait for the most opportune moment to act, such as in response to an opponent’s play, making it a versatile tool in a player’s arsenal. A well-timed Dismissal can be the difference between victory and defeat.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Kiora’s Dismissal doesn’t directly require a discard from your hand, the spell faces competitive choices where others may offer card advantage or similar effects without losing resources.
Specific Mana Cost: Kiora’s Dismissal has a blue mana-specific cost, potentially limiting deck integration to those running sufficient islands or blue mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an initial mana cost to cast, Kiora’s Dismissal can be mana-intensive when compared to other bounce spells that might have lower mana requirements or additional benefits.
Reasons to Include Kiora’s Dismissal in Your Collection
Versatility: Kiora’s Dismissal stands out as a multifunctional counterspell, adept at answering a wide range of threats. Its capability to return multiple enchantments to their owner’s hand makes it a valuable asset in decks that need to deal with heavy enchantment-based strategies or want to reuse their own enchantments for additional value.
Combo Potential: This card excels in combination plays, as its ability to bounce enchantments allows players to disrupt opponent strategies or reset their enchantments for repeated effects. It enables tactical plays that can swing the momentum of the game in your favor.
Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where enchantments play a significant role, Kiora’s Dismissal can be particularly effective. It shines in a meta saturated with aura decks, gods, or enduring enchantments, providing a tempo swing and potentially a game-winning advantage.
How to beat Kiora’s Dismissal
Kiora’s Dismissal can be a formidable obstacle when navigating through a match of Magic: The Gathering. This enchantment removal spell offers flexibility and the potential to reset your opponent’s board progression by returning their enchantments to their hand. To effectively counter this play, it’s important to have a strategy that minimizes the downside.
An adept player may consider maintaining a diverse range of threats to avoid over-reliance on enchantments. Running an assortment of creatures, instant spells, and abilities that don’t hinge on the battlefield state can apply pressure without falling victim to a single Kiora’s Dismissal. Also, utilizing spells that can counter noncreature spells or protect your permanents with hexproof can thwart an opponent’s attempt to leverage Kiora’s Dismissal’s strengths.
When building your decks and playing your strategies, anticipate blue mana’s notorious tricks and versatility. Having an agile and resilient gameplay approach will reduce the impact of Kiora’s Dismissal and help secure your victories in the diverse world of Magic: The Gathering.
Cards like Kiora's Dismissal
Kiora’s Dismissal elevates the play experience for MTG enthusiasts who appreciate enchantment interaction. Analogous to a spell like Disperse, which returns a single target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand, Kiora’s Dismissal has the upper hand by potentially targeting multiple enchantments. This card allows players to swing the momentum of the game by neutralizing a variety of threats for a single mana more than Disperse.
Comparatively, Cyclonic Rift stands out with its capability to remove all nonland permanents controlled by an opponent when its overload cost is paid. This wider scope of effect makes it a game-changer in late-game scenarios, despite a higher mana requirement. Then there’s Selective Snare, granting flexibility in targeting, but it is limited to creatures of a chosen type. While Kiora’s Dismissal doesn’t affect creatures, its specialization in enchantments can be pivotal against decks that rely heavily on such permanents.
Overall, Kiora’s Dismissal carves its niche among blue bounce spells in MTG, delivering a cost-efficient and potentially multi-target solution to enchantment-riddled boards that could decide the outcome of a duel.
Cards similar to Kiora's Dismissal by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Kiora's Dismissal MTG card by a specific set like Journey into Nyx, 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 Kiora's Dismissal 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
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Kiora's Dismissal has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Kiora's Dismissal card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2014-04-26 | If a spell or ability allows you to cast a strive spell without paying its mana cost, you must pay the additional costs for any targets beyond the first. |
| 2014-04-26 | If all of the spell's targets are illegal when the spell tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. If one or more of its targets are legal when it tries to resolve, the spell will resolve and affect only those legal targets. It will have no effect on any illegal targets. |
| 2014-04-26 | If such a spell is copied, and the effect that copies the spell allows a player to choose new targets for the copy, the number of targets can't be changed. The player may change any number of the targets, including all of them or none of them. If, for one of the targets, the player can't choose a new legal target, then it remains unchanged (even if the current target is illegal). |
| 2014-04-26 | The mana cost and mana value of strive spells don't change no matter how many targets they have. Strive abilities affect only what you pay. |
| 2014-04-26 | You choose how many targets each spell with a strive ability has and what those targets are as you cast it. It's legal to cast such a spell with no targets, although this is rarely a good idea. You can't choose the same target more than once for a single strive spell. |