Heaven's Gate MTG Card


Heaven's Gate - Legends
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityUncommon
TypeInstant
Released1994-06-01
Set symbol
Set nameLegends
Set codeLEG
Number19
Frame1993
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byDouglas Shuler

Key Takeaways

  1. Heaven’s Gate offers card filtering to improve hand quality and strategic plays during matches.
  2. Instant speed usage provides flexibility, unexpected plays, and enhanced board control.
  3. Demands careful consideration of hand resources due to its discard and mana requirements.

Text of card

Changes the color of one or more target creatures to white until end of turn. You choose which and how many creatures are affected. Costs to tap, maintain, or use a special ability of target creatures remain entirely unchanged.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Heaven’s Gate provides a unique mechanic that allows for a subtle boost in card quality by exchanging less beneficial cards in your hand for potentially more advantageous ones. By filtering your hand, you’re more likely to draw into the spells and resources needed to turn the tide in a match.

Resource Acceleration: The card excels in decks that can utilize the Lands-to-Creatures ratio by swinging the balance in your favor, effectively accelerating your board presence. Regardless of the initial loss of a land, the long-term benefit often outweighs the initial cost, especially in decks built to capitalize on creature synergies.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Heaven’s Gate at instant speed gives players the flexibility to respond to opponents’ actions. This can create surprise blockers or use the card in response to an opponent’s end step, keeping your options open during your turn for more strategic play. The instant speed nature of this card provides a layer of unpredictability that can be pivotal in winning games.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Heaven’s Gate demands sacrificing a card from your hand to initiate its effect. This can lead to a tactical drawback when your hand is nearly depleted, potentially forcing you to give up crucial strategy components.

Specific Mana Cost: This spell’s mana cost requires a white mana, which might not seamlessly blend into multicolored deck strategies, particularly those not emphasizing white mana in their base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While it can provide a worthwhile effect, Heaven’s Gate has a mana value that can be considered steep within its category. Players might find themselves opting for alternate spells that offer similar benefits at a lower cost or with additional upsides.


Reasons to Include Heaven’s Gate in Your Collection

Versatility: Heaven’s Gate is a unique card that opens up opportunities for multicolor decks by allowing players to alter mana colors. This can be particularly useful in formats where color fixing is essential.

Combo Potential: This card can enable various combos by assisting in casting spells outside your primary color palette, significantly broadening the range of interactions and synergies available to you.

Meta-Relevance: Given its ability to diversify mana, Heaven’s Gate can prove to be a strategic asset in a meta where adaptability and color flexibility can edge out opponents, making it a prudent choice for players looking to stay competitive.


How to Beat Heaven’s Gate

Heaven’s Gate is a strategic card that allows players to briefly dabble in playing cards outside of their deck’s color identity. It provides a window of opportunity for multicolor decks to smoothly cast spells from different mana backgrounds without the usual constraints. This access to a spectrum of colors can significantly bolster a player’s board state and provide the edge needed to win a tight game.

To effectively counter Heaven’s Gate, you might want to consider the use of spot removal or disruption tactics. Counterspells are particularly potent because they can directly negate Heaven’s Gate’s activation, ensuring the opponent’s mana remains unused for the intended purpose. Additionally, card removal spells that target enchantments can dismantle the setup that Heaven’s Gate relies upon, essentially leaving your opponent’s strategy in disarray. Land destruction can also be devastating to a deck that depends on Heaven’s Gate, as it disrupts the intricate mana base required for a successful multicolored strategy.

Ultimately, when you’re facing a deck that utilizes Heaven’s Gate, staying mindful of your opponent’s potential to diversify their plays is key. By preparing the right countermeasures and remaining vigilant, you can effectively nullify the advantage Heaven’s Gate provides and maintain control over the game’s flow.


Cards like Heaven's Gate

Heaven’s Gate holds its own unique place in the realm of mana-fixing spells in Magic: The Gathering. An older counterpart, Celestial Dawn, shares its ability to manipulate mana colors. Celestial Dawn changes all nonland mana you produce to white, whereas Heaven’s Gate allows you to switch one color for another at a smaller, single-instance scale.

Analyzing cards with a similar influence on mana, we come across Mycosynth Lattice. This card takes the concept further by transforming all permanents on the battlefield into artifacts and all mana into colorless. This has a broader impact but at a significantly higher cost and being a permanent rather than an instant like Heaven’s Gate. Comparably, Prismatic Omen is another spell that aligns closer to Heaven’s Gate’s purpose by enabling all lands you control to produce mana of any color, providing versatility without the need to target individual spells.

To summarize, Heaven’s Gate offers a unique combination of flexibility and low cost, becoming a strategic tool for players managing multicolored decks in Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to fine-tune mana usage in a controlled, immediate manner provides tactical advantage that is distinct from other, broader mana-fixing solutions.

Celestial Dawn - MTG Card versions
Mycosynth Lattice - MTG Card versions
Prismatic Omen - MTG Card versions
Celestial Dawn - Mirage (MIR)
Mycosynth Lattice - Darksteel (DST)
Prismatic Omen - Shadowmoor (SHM)

Cards similar to Heaven's Gate by color, type and mana cost

Death Ward - MTG Card versions
Blaze of Glory - MTG Card versions
Healing Salve - MTG Card versions
Purelace - MTG Card versions
Swords to Plowshares - MTG Card versions
Guardian Angel - MTG Card versions
Righteousness - MTG Card versions
Indestructible Aura - MTG Card versions
Glyph of Life - MTG Card versions
Warning - MTG Card versions
Heal - MTG Card versions
Anoint - MTG Card versions
Reaping the Rewards - MTG Card versions
Rally the Troops - MTG Card versions
Enlightened Tutor - MTG Card versions
Orim's Touch - MTG Card versions
Pollen Remedy - MTG Card versions
Sacred Rites - MTG Card versions
Pay No Heed - MTG Card versions
Path to Exile - MTG Card versions
Death Ward - Collectors' Edition (CED)
Blaze of Glory - Intl. Collectors' Edition (CEI)
Healing Salve - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Purelace - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Swords to Plowshares - Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC)
Guardian Angel - Limited Edition Beta (LEB)
Righteousness - Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
Indestructible Aura - Chronicles (CHR)
Glyph of Life - Legends (LEG)
Warning - Ice Age (ICE)
Heal - Masters Edition III (ME3)
Anoint - Tempest (TMP)
Reaping the Rewards - Exodus (EXO)
Rally the Troops - Portal Second Age (P02)
Enlightened Tutor - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Orim's Touch - Invasion (INV)
Pollen Remedy - Planeshift (PLS)
Sacred Rites - The List (PLST)
Pay No Heed - Torment (TOR)
Path to Exile - March of the Machine Commander (MOC)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Heaven's Gate MTG card by a specific set like Legends, 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 Heaven's Gate and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Heaven's Gate has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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