Wicked Guardian MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Wicked Guardian offers a notable opportunity for card advantage. When it enters the battlefield, you can have it deal 2 damage to another creature you control; if you do, you draw a card. This can turn creatures with expendable health into valuable card economy, keeping your hand stocked with options.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing resource acceleration, Wicked Guardian can indirectly contribute to it. By utilizing cards that benefit from being damaged or have death triggers, you can set off a chain reaction that might lead to ramp or other accelerative benefits.

Instant Speed: Although Wicked Guardian itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it synergizes well with instant-speed spells in your deck. Damage-inducing instants can ready other creatures to survive Wicked Guardian’s trigger, maximizing the potential for card drawing without losing board presence.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Wicked Guardian necessitates the player to discard a card to utilize its full potential. This can deplete a player’s hand, particularly when the situation calls for maintaining a variety of options.

Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost that requires both black mana and generic mana, Wicked Guardian may not seamlessly fit into all deck types, particularly those that do not run heavily on black.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For its four mana cost, its ability to deal 2 damage to another creature you control in order to draw a card can be seen as costly. There are more mana-efficient cards available that might fit better in a deck designed for rapid card draw or creature-based strategies.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Wicked Guardian thrives in decks that can leverage her ability to draw a card when she deals damage to another one of your creatures. This can be particularly effective in decks with creatures that have death triggers or those that benefit from being targeted.

Combo Potential: Wicked Guardian can act as an enabler in combo decks. Pair her with creatures that have undying or persist to repeatedly draw cards or with creatures that want to be damaged for value, such as the “enrage” dinosaurs from Ixalan.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where every card drawn counts, Wicked Guardian offers an additional draw with the right board setup. For decks running plentiful cheap creatures, she can provide ongoing value and maintain card advantage in longer, grindier matches.

How to beat

Wicked Guardian stands out in MTG as a card that demands strategic handling due to its ability to deal damage and draw cards. This particular creature card allows a player to draw a card at a cost – it requires dealing 2 damage to another creature you control. Hence, the key to outmaneuvering Wicked Guardian lies in negating its ability or rendering it futile. Cards with indestructible attributes or those that can regenerate swiftly ensure that the damage from Wicked Guardian won’t be lethal. Additionally, employing instant-speed removals to take it out before its ability resolves will efficiently counteract the draw benefit it confers on your opponent. It is also worthwhile to invest in creatures with toughness greater than 2; these not only endure the damage but also nullify the downside of playing Wicked Guardian. By incorporating these strategies, players can easily counteract the benefits Wicked Guardian offers to an opponent, maintaining control over the game’s direction.