Konda's Banner MTG Card

Boosts existing creatures, saving mana and improving the board without playing more cards. Demands legendary creatures, restricting its utility in decks without such creatures. Elevates tribal deck performance, making it a valuable asset for certain MTG strategies.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Legendary Artifact — Equipment
Abilities	Equip
Released	2004-10-01
Set symbol
Set name	Champions of Kamigawa
Set code	CHK
Number	259
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Donato Giancola

Text of card

Konda's Banner can be attached only to a legendary creature. Creatures that share a color with equipped creature get +1/+1. Creatures that share a creature type with equipped creature get +1/+1. Equip

Cards like Konda's Banner

Konda’s Banner stands out in Magic: The Gathering as a unique artifact designed specifically for tribal decks. As a comparison, take Coat of Arms, which also amplifies the power of creatures based on shared types. Yet, Konda’s Banner offers a distinct advantage by boosting both power and toughness for a chosen creature and others that share a type, provided it’s legendary. Moreover, it attaches only to legendary creatures, ensuring your most crucial asset gets the spotlight on the battlefield.

Another artifact that comes to mind is Door of Destinies. While it has a similar focus on creature types, it accumulates power over time through casting spells of the chosen type, as opposed to Konda’s Banner’s immediate effect. Yet, Konda’s Banner excels in offering an immediate board presence shift, which can be pivotal during combat.

Both Konda’s Banner and the aforementioned alternatives have their place in tribal themed decks, but Konda’s Banner is specifically tailored for decks heavily relying on legendary creatures, providing an immediate impact and synergy that can be game-changing. This makes Konda’s Banner a potent asset for particular MTG strategies, uniquely positioning it among its artifact peers for players looking to leverage legendary creature dynamics.

Cards similar to Konda's Banner by color, type and mana cost

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Konda’s Banner enhances your creatures, turning each of them into a more significant threat. This can often result in a board state that outmatches your opponent without needing to add more cards to the field. In tribal decks, its value increases as it synergizes with every creature that shares a type, effectively generating multiple improvements from a single artifact.

Resource Acceleration: By elevating the power of your existing creatures, Konda’s Banner effectively accelerates your resource efficacy on the battlefield. It allows for a more efficient use of the creatures you already have in play, saving mana that would otherwise be spent on casting additional creature spells just to increase your board presence.

Instant Speed: While Konda’s Banner isn’t an instant itself, it offers an immediate impact once it’s on the field. Its ability to attach to a creature as soon as it enters the battlefield means that it can be utilized as a surprise element during the combat phase, optimizing its instant-like qualities to sway the tide of battle unexpectedly.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Konda’s Banner has the equip condition that requires a legendary creature. If your deck runs few legendary creatures or none at all, this card essentially becomes a dead draw, limiting its utility and possibly cluttering your hand when you need other forms of support.

Specific Mana Cost: While not color-specific, Konda’s Banner does demand a precise cost of three generic mana to play and another three to equip. This specificity makes it a card with a stringent setup cost, which could be challenging in a fast-paced game where tempo is crucial.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total investment of six mana to both cast and equip, Konda’s Banner can be considered to have a high mana cost relative to other equipment or utility artifacts. This can be a disadvantage when compared to lower-cost alternatives that activate faster and contribute to board state while preserving mana for other strategic plays.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Konda’s Banner is a unique artifact that can seamlessly integrate into tribal decks, amplifying the power and toughness of creatures that share a type. In addition to boosting your army, it can adapt to various tribal themes, making it a flexible choice for many deck builds.

Combo Potential: Konda’s Banner has synergy with cards that capitalize on creature-type enhancements or those that generate tokens of a specific type. As you amass an identical creature type on the battlefield, the Banner escalates their threat level, enabling powerful combos and formidable board states.

Meta-Relevance: Given the prevalence of tribal strategies in various MTG formats, Konda’s Banner is often relevant in the meta. It can give your creatures the edge they need to overpower opponents, particularly in formats where tribal decks are common.

How to beat

Konda’s Banner is a unique equipment artifact in MTG that can bolster the effectiveness of your tribe-focused decks. The synergy it creates, enhancing not only the equipped creature but also others that share a creature type, can be quite formidable on the battlefield. Essentially, Konda’s Banner amplifies both the power and toughness of similar creatures, making it a staple in tribal decks around the creature such as Samurai or Knights.

When facing off against this card, the key strategy lies in timely removal. Disenchant effects or spells that specifically target artifacts can dismantle the advantage created by Konda’s Banner. Cards like Naturalize or Abrade offer quick and efficient solutions to remove troublesome artifacts from the battlefield. In addition, countering the spell before it resolves prevents the imposition of its powerful buffs, keeping the opponent’s creatures within manageable bounds. In essence, direct artifact removal or counter spells are your best line of defense against the possible game-swinging effects of Konda’s Banner.

Understanding the potential power plays that Konda’s Banner can facilitate allows savvy MTG players to prepare their decks with appropriate countermeasures, ensuring that any momentum gained by your opponent can be swiftly rebalanced or overturned.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Konda's Banner MTG card by a specific set like Champions of Kamigawa, 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 Konda's Banner and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Konda's Banner has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-12-01	A creature can’t get more than +2/+2 from Konda’s Banner. Sharing more than one color or more than one creature type with the equipped creature does nothing.
2004-12-01	The equipped creature shares a color with itself, as long as it has one or more colors.
2004-12-01	The equipped creature shares a creature type with itself, as long as it has one or more creature types. “Artifact” is not a creature type.