Serra's Emissary MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost7
RarityMythic
TypeCreature — Angel
Abilities Flying
Power 7
Toughness 7

Key Takeaways

  1. This card offers selective immunity, enhancing board presence and complicating opponent strategies.
  2. Its versatility and combo potential make it a valuable addition to diverse MTG decks.
  3. Understanding its mechanics is crucial to countering it effectively in game play.

Text of card

Flying As Serra's Emissary enters the battlefield, choose a card type. You and creatures you control have protection from the chosen card type.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Serra’s Emissary excels in evolving board presence by providing a singular, resilient threat that can be difficult for opponents to address. Upon entering the battlefield, the ability to choose a card type grants significant flexibility, essentially contributing to your card quality advantage by neutralizing a category of the opponent’s cards.

Resource Acceleration: While Serra’s Emissary itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, its formidable presence can effectively reduce the need for committing additional resources to the board. This indirect resource conservation can function as a form of acceleration since it allows you to deploy your hand and mana elsewhere, diversifying threats and board control.

Instant Speed: Although the Emissary doesn’t operate at instant speed, it synergizes well with instant-speed spells and flash creatures that can be played in response to it landing on the battlefield. This synergy allows for potent combat tricks and protection options, enabling you to maximize the impact of Serra’s Emissary during your turn or right before it comes back to you.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Serra’s Emissary doesn’t specifically ask for a card discard, playing it requires meticulous planning. Its place in your hand can be contested by other spells you may need to cast earlier to survive or establish board control, forcing difficult decisions about resource allocation.

Specific Mana Cost: This angel demands a spectrum of mana, featuring a heavy white mana presence in its casting cost. For decks running multiple colors or those relying on a diverse mana base, ensuring the right mix can be challenging, potentially leading to a delayed play or a mismatch in your mana curve strategy.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: At seven mana, Serra’s Emissary is a substantial investment. Even in formats like Commander, where its effect can be game-changing, the mana cost is a considerable hurdle, and you might find yourself turning to more cost-effective creatures or spells that offer impactful plays at a lower mana threshold.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Serra’s Emissary is a powerful addition to any collection due to its ability to adapt to various game situations. With its choice of protection upon entering the battlefield, it can be tailored to suit the needs of the deck it’s played in, whether you’re safeguarding against creature, enchantment, instant, or sorcery.

Combo Potential: There’s significant combo potential with this card. Its protection ability pairs well with a range of other cards to create near-impenetrable defenses or to secure the victory with key combo pieces safely on the board.

Meta-Relevance: Depending on the current meta, Serra’s Emissary can be a game-changer. Against decks that rely heavily on a single card type, this angelic card can single-handedly neutralize an opponent’s strategy, making it a relevant choice in diverse competitive environments.


Understanding Serra’s Emissary

Serra’s Emissary is a powerful card that offers an extraordinary level of protection in the game. With its ability to grant immunity to a chosen card type, it can create an impenetrable shield for you and other creatures you control against the chosen card categories. Identifying the chosen category is pivotal to forming an effective counterstrategy.

How to beat

Overcoming Serra’s Emissary in gameplay requires strategic finesse and knowledge of the card’s mechanics. Removal spells that don’t target, such as board wipes like “Wrath of God” or “Damnation,” can effectively clear Serra’s Emissary from the battlefield regardless of its protective ability. Alternatively, employing colorless creatures or artifacts can bypass the Emissary’s protection since it only names a card type, not a color. Using versatile spells that offer multiple modes or effects can also let you sidestep the protection granted by Serra’s Emissary by not directly targeting it, but rather altering the state of the game to your advantage.

In the realm of MTG, adaptability is key. Understanding the strengths and vulnerabilities of formidable cards such as Serra’s Emissary equips players with the knowledge to craft winning strategies and turn the tides of battle in their favor.


BurnMana Recommendations

Gaining an edge in MTG involves recognizing the potential of standout cards like Serra’s Emissary. This card stands as a dynamic force, tailoring protection to counteract specific threats in diverse game situations. By investing in such versatile cards, you not only enhance your deck’s resilience but also expand your strategic options against the shifting competitive meta. If you’re eager to dive deeper and unlock new levels of gameplay, we encourage you to join fellow enthusiasts and enrich your understanding and use of significant cards. Visit us to deepen your skills and integrate cards like Serra’s Emissary into winning strategies.


Cards like Serra's Emissary

Serra’s Emissary is a unique creature card within the vast landscape of MTG. It offers unparalleled protection by allowing you to choose a card type that you and creatures you control gain protection from. This ability is reminiscent of cards like Avacyn, Angel of Hope, which grants indestructibility to all other permanents you control, providing a different form of comprehensive defense.

Another card considered in parallel is Sigarda, Host of Herons, which prevents your opponent from making you sacrifice creatures. This protective measure is crucial, especially in strategies against sacrifice-based decks. Though different in its protective methods, Serra’s Emissary directly stops certain types of cards from affecting your game state. Then there is Progenitus, with protection from everything, making it the ultimate shielded being, but without the benevolence of extending protection to other creatures.

Altogether, Serra’s Emissary stands out with its selective immunity aspect. This makes it a strategic choice in decks looking to counter specific threats or secure a victory path unhindered by particular card types, stamping its mark in MTG as a card that can definitively influence the pace and outcome of a game.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope - MTG Card versions
Sigarda, Host of Herons - MTG Card versions
Progenitus - MTG Card versions
Avacyn, Angel of Hope - Open the Helvault (PHEL)
Sigarda, Host of Herons - Open the Helvault (PHEL)
Progenitus - Grand Prix Promos (PGPX)

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Vengeful Archon - MTG Card versions
Elder Land Wurm - Renaissance (REN)
Seraph - Masters Edition (ME1)
Archangel - Starter 1999 (S99)
Ancestor's Chosen - Ultimate Masters (UMA)
Serra Avatar - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Drogskol Cavalry - Shadows over Innistrad (SOI)
Eternal Dragon - Forgotten Realms Commander (AFC)
Soul of Eternity - Commander Legends (CMR)
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Multiverse Legends (MUL)
Resolute Archangel - Magic 2015 Promos (PM15)
Crowd Favorites - Onslaught (ONS)
Kami of the Honored Dead - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Luminous Angel - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Angel of Retribution - Battlebond (BBD)
Ghosts of the Innocent - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Angel of Glory's Rise - Avacyn Restored (AVR)
Windbrisk Raptor - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Pale Wayfarer - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Yoked Plowbeast - Jumpstart: Historic Horizons (J21)
Vengeful Archon - Magic 2011 (M11)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Serra's Emissary // Serra's Emissary MTG card by a specific set like Modern Horizons 2 Art Series and Modern Horizons 2, 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 Serra's Emissary // Serra's Emissary and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Serra's Emissary // Serra's Emissary Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2021-06-18 and 2021-08-26. Illustrated by Nils Hamm.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12021-06-18Modern Horizons 2 Art SeriesAMH2 82015art_seriesborderlessNils Hamm
22021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 3332015normalblackNils Hamm
32021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 302015normalblackNils Hamm
42021-06-18Modern Horizons 2 Art SeriesAMH2 8s2015art_seriesborderlessNils Hamm
52021-06-19Modern Horizons 2 PromosPMH2 30s2015normalblackNils Hamm
62021-08-26Jumpstart: Historic HorizonsJ21 1312015normalblackNils Hamm

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Serra's Emissary has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
GladiatorLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2021-06-18 The card type choice is a replacement effect, not a triggered ability. It doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to. Notably, if you choose instant, your opponent can't try to cast an instant on the Emissary before it has protection.
2021-06-18 You may choose any card type. The ones that may appear in a normal game of Magic are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal. Supertypes such as snow and basic may not be chosen. Subtypes such as Angel, Aura, and Forest also may not be chosen.

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