Mantle of Webs MTG Card

Magic Origins (ORI)
2015-07-17 - Number 187

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 1267

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number ORI-187

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Enchant

Key Takeaways

Gives creatures reach, significantly boosting defensive capabilities against flyers.
Enhancements at sorcery speed can disrupt opponent’s combat plans.
Demands specific mana colors and can be costly for its effects.

Text of card

Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+3 and has reach. (It can block creatures with flying.)

"Why does everything the Golgari touch end up sticky?" —Arrester Lavinia, Tenth Precinct

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mantle of Webs can give your creature an edge by effectively turning it into a significant threat. By beefing up a creature, it may draw out a removal spell from your opponent that could have otherwise been used on a more crucial card, indirectly preserving your board presence and maintaining card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: Enhancing a creature with the additional Reach ability provides utility in dealing with flying threats. Being able to block and potentially remove a flying creature can be seen as a form of resource acceleration since it negates your opponent’s potential aerial advantage without expending extra cards.

Instant Speed: Though Mantle of Webs is cast at sorcery speed, its effect remains relevant as it prepares you for combat on your next turn. Although not at instant speed, your forward-thinking gameplay can create instant-like advantages during the combat phase by disrupting your opponent’s expectations and blocking strategies.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Although Mantle of Webs can bolster a creature’s stats and enhance its abilities with reach, it requires you to sacrifice strategic advantage by potentially discarding other valuable cards from your hand, affecting your long-term game.

Specific Mana Cost: Mantle of Webs demands both green mana and colorless mana for casting, thereby limiting its inclusion to decks that can reliably produce both types of mana, which could restrict its versatility in a multi-colored deck.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The enhancement it provides, while beneficial in certain scenarios, comes at the cost of three mana. For similar or sometimes less investment, players can access a wider range of enchantments or creatures that could offer greater utility or immediate board impact.

Reasons to Include Mantle of Webs in Your Collection

Versatility: Mantle of Webs can boost creatures in a variety of decks, imparting not only an important stat boost but turning creatures into more formidable blockers with its added reach. This can be particularly useful in decks that rely on smaller creatures needing protection from fliers.

Combo Potential: The enchantment enhances strategies revolving around creature abilities, such as tapping or untapping mechanics, by increasing a creature’s toughness. Furthermore, decks that benefit from enchantment synergies can exploit Mantle of Webs for its low cost and desirable effects.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where flyers can dominate the battlefield, Mantle of Webs gains relevance by offering a simple and mana-efficient way to modify ground creatures to contest the aerial threat, making it a timely addition to decks in certain metas.

How to beat

Mantle of Webs is a unique Aura spell in Magic: The Gathering that can catch an opponent off guard by turning a seemingly innocuous creature into a formidable blocker. The card offers the endowed creature a boost in both power and the crucial ability to reach sky-scraping threats. This can shift the tides in combat, particularly in games where flyers dominate the battlefield.

Conquering a creature enhanced by Mantle of Webs calls for strategic plays. Removal spells are the most straightforward solution, neutralizing the augmented creature before it becomes a threat. Efficiency is key; therefore, utilizing low-cost removal like Shock or Fatal Push can preserve your mana for other tactics. Alternatively, countering the Aura itself with spells like Negate or Spell Pierce prevents the opposition from ever gaining the advantage, maintaining your control over the game state.

Ultimately, understanding when to dismantle the woven web of power and reach is crucial. By keeping removal or counterspells in hand for pivotal moments, players can navigate around the obstacles posed by Mantle of Webs, maintaining the upper hand in their Magic: The Gathering matches.

Cards like Mantle of Webs

Mantle of Webs brings a distinctive twist to creature enhancement within the realm of Magic: The Gathering. This enchantment parallels cards like Spider Silk Armor, providing a boost in a creature’s defensive capabilities. While Spider Silk Armor grants creatures an across-the-board enhancement to toughness and the ability to block flying creatures, Mantle of Webs gives an individual creature these deft evasion tactics plus an additional boost to power.

Another comparison is drawn with Aspect of Hydra. While Aspect of Hydra offers a potentially larger increase in power dependent on the number of green devotion, it lacks the added reach and toughness beef-up that Mantle of Webs supplies. This makes Mantle of Webs versatile, balancing both offensive and defensive upgrades.

Talons of Wildwood, too, shares similarities as a reusable aura that enhances a creature’s combat abilities. However, its reliance on a recurring mana investment contrasts with the one-time cost of Mantle of Webs, which provides a permanent upgrade unless the enchantment is removed. Overall, Mantle of Webs represents a critical option for players looking to fortify creatures and add a dimension of aerial defense to their game.

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mantle of Webs MTG card by a specific set like Magic Origins and Mystery Booster, 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 Mantle of Webs and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Mantle of Webs Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2015-07-17 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Mathias Kollros.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2015-07-17	Magic Origins	ORI	187	2015	Normal	Black	Mathias Kollros
2	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	1267	2015	Normal	Black	Mathias Kollros
3	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	ORI-187	2015	Normal	Black	Mathias Kollros