Champion's Victory MTG Card

Champion's Victory - Portal Three Kingdoms

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Instant
Released	1999-05-01
Set symbol
Set name	Portal Three Kingdoms
Set code	PTK
Number	39
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	White
Illustred by	Hong Yan

Key Takeaways

Champion’s Victory offers board control by exiling opponent’s creatures during combat.
The card requires balancing resource trade-off due to discard requirements.
Champion’s Victory is situational but can be pivotal in creature-based combat.

Text of card

Play Champion's Victory only after you're attacked, before you declare blockers. Return any one attacking creature to its owner's hand.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Champion’s Victory grants an edge by potentially removing an opponent’s creature from the game, streamline your path to victory by mitigating threats and maintaining board control.

Resource Acceleration: Although Champion’s Victory doesn’t directly generate mana or tokens, its ability to tip the scales in your favor can accelerate your game plan by negating the need to deploy additional resources to handle problematic creatures.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Champion’s Victory at instant speed allows for strategic plays during crucial moments, possibly disrupting your opponent’s strategy and preserving your own creatures for a decisive counterattack.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Champion’s Victory demands a card discard to play, which could be punishing when resources in hand are critical to maintaining a strategic edge.

Specific Mana Cost: Wielding Champion’s Victory requires precise mana colors, potentially restricting deck flexibility and demanding precise mana base architecture to ensure playability.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana investment needed to cast Champion’s Victory is notable, and when evaluated against other cards at a similar cost, it might not provide the same level of immediate board impact or value.

Reasons to Include Champion’s Victory in Your Collection

Versatility: Champion’s Victory is a card that can seamlessly adapt to various deck builds. It’s not just constrained to combat-centric strategies but can also be pivotal in protecting key creatures or enabling crucial turns unimpeded by opponents’ threats.

Combo Potential: This card opens up the game for interesting combinations, potentially providing the necessary edge by ensuring your creatures prevail in battles. It can be the cog that sees your tactical engine run smoothly, meshing with cards that thrive when your creatures survive combat.

Meta-Relevance: As player decks oscillate with the ever-changing competitive landscape, having Champion’s Victory at your disposal offers a responsive tool to shifting trends. It can hold its own in an environment rife with creature-based strategies, giving you an upper hand that aligns with the current tempo of gameplay.

How to beat

Champion’s Victory is a powerful card within Magic: The Gathering, adept at suppressing opponents’ threats through its forceful targeted removal capabilities. This card’s strength lies in its ability to instantly eliminate an opponent’s creature, provided you control a more powerful one. To successfully navigate around Champion’s Victory, it is essential for players to focus on building a board presence with creatures of varied power levels to minimize the chances that Champion’s Victory can affect the battlefield.

Skills in managing your own creature’s power metrics or utilizing creatures that provide indestructibility or hexproof become pivotal in mitigating the impact of this card. Deploying cards with instant speed abilities that can boost your creatures’ power temporarily or permanently can also ensure that your creatures fall out of Champion’s Victory’s effective range. Additionally, countering this spell through cards that negate targeted spells will protect your valued creatures and preserve your strategic board setup.

Playing around Champion’s Victory calls for strategic thinking and forecasting, carefully considering the power dynamics of the creatures you and your opponent have in play. This anticipation allows you to maintain a robust formation that stands resilient against such potent removal spells, ensuring your path to victory remains clear.

Cards like Champion's Victory

Champion’s Victory stands out in the realm of creature control spells in Magic: The Gathering. It bears resemblance to renowned classics like Oblivion Ring, which can exile almost any nonland permanent. While Champion’s Victory is more specific, targeting only opponents’ creatures that are blocking or being blocked, it compensates with the potential upside of being a cheaper spell to cast under the right conditions.

Comparable to Reprisal, Champion’s Victory has the advantage of being preemptive and can be used in the midst of combat to surprise an opponent, as opposed to Reprisal’s after-the-fact nature. Conversely, when looking at Valorous Stance, which can offer the flexibility of either protection or removal, Champion’s Victory’s utility is narrower, focusing single-mindedly on the removal aspect during combat scenarios only.

As we weigh functional similarities and strategic differences among these examples, Champion’s Victory adds a dynamic tactical option for players engaging in creature-based combat in Magic: The Gathering. It’s a card that, while situational, can turn the tide of battle in your favor when played smartly.

Cards similar to Champion's Victory by color, type and mana cost

Blue Elemental Blast - MTG Card versions

Whispers of the Muse - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Champion's Victory MTG card by a specific set like Portal Three Kingdoms, 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 Champion's Victory and other MTG cards: