Mandatory Friendship Shackles MTG Card
Text of card
Whenever you crank Mandatory Friendship Shackles, target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Cards like Mandatory Friendship Shackles
Mandatory Friendship Shackles is a unique addition to the landscape of control cards in Magic: The Gathering. It shares similarities with other enchantments like Pacifism, which restricts an opponent’s creature from attacking or blocking. What sets Mandatory Friendship Shackles apart is its ability to control opponents’ actions by only allowing them to attack you with one creature per combat. This specific restraint offers a new strategic dimension not present in Pacifism.
Examining other equivalents, Encase in Ice comes to mind. This enchantment also disables the target creature and has the added advantage of tapping that creature, preventing immediate threats. Despite these strengths, Encase in Ice is limited to creatures of a single color, whereas Mandatory Friendship Shackles applies to any creature regardless of color or type. Bonds of Discipline can also be considered as it taps out opponent’s creatures providing a turn of respite, but lacks recurring control across successive turns as offered by the Shackles.
Ultimately, within MTG control cards, Mandatory Friendship Shackles introduces an intriguing tactical approach to hindering opponent creatures, combining elements of both deterrence and ongoing battle phase manipulation.
Cards similar to Mandatory Friendship Shackles by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Mandatory Friendship Shackles allows for controlled card interactions on the battlefield, facilitating superior board position through strategic detainment of key opponent creatures.
Resource Acceleration: The card effectively hampers an opponent’s resource generation by restricting their creature’s ability to attack or tap for abilities, allowing you to gain a tactical speed advantage.
Instant Speed: Since Mandatory Friendship Shackles can be played at instant speed, it offers flexible timing, enabling you to disrupt an adversary’s plans at a critical moment or during their turn for maximum surprise and impact.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Mandatory Friendship Shackles necessitates that you discard a card to activate its ability. This can deplete your hand quickly, particularly if you don’t have sufficient card draw or if you’re trying to maintain card advantage against an opponent.
Specific Mana Cost: Requires a blend of colorless and white mana to cast, thus it’s not always the best fit for multicolored or mono-colored decks that don’t include white.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that requires three mana, including one white, and the additional discard cost, it sits on the higher side when compared to other enchantments that might offer a more immediate or significant impact for the same or a lower cost.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Mandatory Friendship Shackles offers multifaceted utility by being able to neutralize key creatures on the battlefield. Whether you’re up against aggressive attackers or crucial utility creatures, this card can adapt to be an effective tool in a wide array of deck archetypes.
Combo Potential: This card can serve as a crucial component in decks that aim to control opponent’s options. It pairs well with cards that capitalize on tap and untap mechanics, enabling intricate combos that can lock down opponents’ strategies while advancing your own board position.
Meta-Relevance: With an environment that often celebrates creature-based strategies, Mandatory Friendship Shackles becomes an asset by potentially turning an opponent’s strength into their weakness. It’s a smart addition to any collection, particularly if creature-heavy decks are dominant in the current meta.
How to beat
Mandatory Friendship Shackles is a unique control piece in the landscape of artifact-based strategies, curbing combat capabilities by halting your opponent’s most formidable creatures. To dismantle the constraints imposed by this card, players must adapt their approaches to ensure victory. Consider employing artifact removal spells like Naturalize or Disenchant, which are straightforward solutions that can swiftly break the shackles.
Additionally, embracing versatility in your deck construction can outmaneuver the limitations set by Mandatory Friendship Shackles. Instant-speed interaction, such as Counterspell or Heroic Intervention, can protect your creatures or negate the artifact before it becomes a hindrance. Incorporating alternative strategies for dealing damage, like non-creature spells or abilities that do not rely on attacking, could also circumvent the shackles’ effects, thus maintaining your offensive momentum even in the face of adversity.
In essence, overcoming Mandatory Friendship Shackles demands flexible gameplay and a well-prepared deck. Counterplay options are plentiful within Magic: The Gathering, empowering players to disrupt such controlling artifacts and pursue victory unimpeded.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Mandatory Friendship Shackles MTG card by a specific set like Unstable, 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 Mandatory Friendship Shackles and other MTG cards:
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Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Mandatory Friendship Shackles card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2018-01-19 | Any Contraption that’s on the battlefield and wasn’t assembled immediately heads to the scrapyard. However, if it’s a not an actual Contraption card (like Copy Artifact isn’t), it goes to your graveyard as normal. Non-Contraption cards can’t be in the scrapyard. |
| 2018-01-19 | At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control any Contraptions, move the CRANK! counter to the next sprocket. You may then crank any number of Contraptions on that sprocket, causing their abilities to trigger. Cranking a Contraption is always optional. |
| 2018-01-19 | Contraptions are artifacts. Anything that interacts with artifacts will interact with Contraptions. |
| 2018-01-19 | Contraptions aren’t put into your main deck. They go into a separate deck called the Contraption deck. |
| 2018-01-19 | If a Contraption would leave the battlefield and go to any zone other than exile, it instead goes to the scrapyard, the Contraption deck’s version of the graveyard. Things that affect the graveyard do not affect the scrapyard. You can exile Contraptions just fine. |
| 2018-01-19 | If you crank multiple Contraptions, their abilities can be put onto the stack in any order. The ability put onto the stack will resolve first. |
| 2018-01-19 | If you or a permanent you control are instructed to assemble a Contraption, reveal the top card of your Contraption deck. Put it onto the battlefield on one of the three sprockets. |
| 2018-01-19 | If you or a permanent you control assembles a Contraption and your Contraption deck is empty, nothing happens. You don’t lose the game. |
| 2018-01-19 | In Constructed formats, a Contraption deck must have at least fifteen different Contraption cards and no more than one of each. |
| 2018-01-19 | In Limited formats, a Contraption deck may include any number of Contraption cards in your card pool. You don’t have to include every Contraption card you draft or open in sealed deck. In those formats, your Contraption deck may include duplicates. |
| 2018-01-19 | In silver-bordered games using Contraptions, you have three sprockets, illustrated on the back of Contraption cards. At the start of the game, put a CRANK! counter on sprocket 3. |
| 2018-01-19 | While Contraptions you control are on the battlefield, the Contraption deck is not, even if you are using it to signify the three sprockets. |