Animate Wall MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 15 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant

Key Takeaways

  1. It offers strategic surprise by allowing walls to switch from defense to offense during play.
  2. Its instant speed enables real-time tactical shifts, enhancing its in-game utility.
  3. Despite requiring dedicated deck design, it harbors potential for powerful combos.

Text of card

Target wall can now attack. Target wall's power and toughness are unchanged, even if its power is 0.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: When summoning an Animate Wall, you effectively transform a defensive card into a potential source of offense, which could lead to an unexpected advantage. The Wall you animate was initially just a barrier, but now it’s a threat to your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: Animate Wall enables dormant defense walls to become active attackers without requiring additional mana investment to play another creature. This accelerates your board presence without depleting resources typically necessary for deploying additional threats.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Animate Wall at instant speed offers flexibility in gameplay. You can catch your opponent off-guard by converting a blocking wall into an attacker right before your turn, potentially swinging the game in your favor without telegraphing your strategy.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Animate Wall mandates that players have a wall on the battlefield to target, which could narrow deck-building options and necessitate additional cards dedicated to walls in your deck design.

Specific Mana Cost: This card asks for a white mana, which might not be readily available in multicolor decks that don’t emphasize white mana sources, thus potentially limiting its integration into diverse deck strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Requiring two mana, one of which is white, might seem low; however, the effect of simply allowing a wall to attack may not stack up against other two-mana cost cards that could provide more impactful board presence or utility.


Reasons to Include Animate Wall in Your Collection

Versatility: Animate Wall lends itself to a variety of strategies, enabling walls you’d typically use for defense to turn into aggressive creatures. This can lead to unexpected attacks, catching opponents off guard and adjusting your board position fluidly.

Combo Potential: Pairing Animate Wall with high toughness walls or those with significant abilities enhances their utility, allowing you to engage in combat or exploit abilities that typically lie dormant. The synergistic possibilities open up numerous tactical plays in your matches.

Meta-Relevance: Since many players overlook walls for more direct threats, incorporating Animate Wall into your deck adds a layer of complexity to your game plan. It presents a novel challenge for opponents who might not be prepared for your defensive structures to come to life offensively.


How to beat

Animate Wall is a unique card in the vast universe of Magic: The Gathering, functioning as an enabler for defensive walls to join the offense. The ability to turn a wall, typically a stationary defender, into an active attacker can certainly catch opponents off guard. However, like all strategies, there are ways to dismantle this approach. Consider employing removal spells that can bypass the defensive statistics of a wall. Since walls generally boast higher toughness, direct damage spells might falter, so spells that can exile or force a player to sacrifice a creature could prove more effective. Targeted removal like Path to Exile or board wipes that don’t discriminate based on toughness, like Wrath of God, can clear the path to victory.

Another effective tactic is to utilize spells that prevent the wall from attacking or neutralize abilities. Abilities like “tap target creature” or enchantments such as Pacifism can render Animate Wall ineffective. This strategy not only stops the converted attackers in their tracks but also ensures that your opponent’s defenses are down, paving the way for your creatures to press an advantage. Overall, adapting your strategy to include versatile removal and control elements will increase your resilience against cards like Animate Wall and similar unexpected tactics in Magic: The Gathering.


Cards like Animate Wall

Animate Wall takes its place in Magic: The Gathering as a unique enchantment, allowing walls to attack as though they were typical creatures without defender. When considering other spells that modify creature abilities, Rolling Stones stands out. It feeds into the same strategy, granting all walls the ability to attack as if they didn’t have defender. The difference lies primarily in scope—Rolling Stones affects all walls rather than just one.

Moving forward, Wakestone Gargoyle presents another parallel. This creature provides a similar effect with its activated ability, which can unlock the combat potential of all defender creatures you control for a turn. Unlike the permanent enchantment Animate Wall offers, this is a temporary and repeated effect, offering flexibility in how and when you let your defenders join the offense. Lastly, Warmonger’s Chariot is an equipment that allows a wall equipped with it to attack, but also grants it a power boost. This presents both an offensive and a protective strategy by enabling the wall to contribute to battlefield aggression while potentially surviving the encounter.

In summary, while Animate Wall targets individual defenders, other cards in Magic: The Gathering deliver similar effects on varying scales, weaving versatility into decks that turn otherwise passive walls into formidable offensive assets.

Rolling Stones - MTG Card versions
Wakestone Gargoyle - MTG Card versions
Warmonger's Chariot - MTG Card versions
Rolling Stones - Stronghold (STH)
Wakestone Gargoyle - Dissension (DIS)
Warmonger's Chariot - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)

Cards similar to Animate Wall by color, type and mana cost

White Ward - MTG Card versions
Green Ward - MTG Card versions
Holy Strength - MTG Card versions
Lance - MTG Card versions
Consecrate Land - MTG Card versions
Black Ward - MTG Card versions
Blue Ward - MTG Card versions
Holy Armor - MTG Card versions
Red Ward - MTG Card versions
Land Tax - MTG Card versions
Brainwash - MTG Card versions
Spirit Link - MTG Card versions
Green Scarab - MTG Card versions
Blue Scarab - MTG Card versions
Armor of Faith - MTG Card versions
Kithkin Armor - MTG Card versions
Flickering Ward - MTG Card versions
Limited Resources - MTG Card versions
Mask of Law and Grace - MTG Card versions
Sheltering Prayers - MTG Card versions
White Ward - Revised Edition (3ED)
Green Ward - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Holy Strength - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Lance - Revised Edition (3ED)
Consecrate Land - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
Black Ward - Limited Edition Beta (LEB)
Blue Ward - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Holy Armor - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Red Ward - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Land Tax - Wilds of Eldraine: Enchanting Tales (WOT)
Brainwash - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Spirit Link - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Green Scarab - Ice Age (ICE)
Blue Scarab - Ice Age (ICE)
Armor of Faith - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Kithkin Armor - Weatherlight (WTH)
Flickering Ward - Tempest (TMP)
Limited Resources - Exodus (EXO)
Mask of Law and Grace - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Sheltering Prayers - Prophecy (PCY)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Animate Wall MTG card by a specific set like Limited Edition Alpha and Limited Edition Beta, 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 Animate Wall and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Animate Wall Magic the Gathering card was released in 14 different sets between 1993-08-05 and 2022-11-28. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11993-08-05Limited Edition AlphaLEA 11993normalblackDan Frazier
21993-10-04Limited Edition BetaLEB 11993normalblackDan Frazier
31993-12-01Unlimited Edition2ED 11993normalwhiteDan Frazier
41993-12-10Intl. Collectors' EditionCEI 11993normalblackDan Frazier
51993-12-10Collectors' EditionCED 11993normalblackDan Frazier
61994-04-01Revised Edition3ED 11993normalwhiteDan Frazier
71994-04-01Foreign Black BorderFBB 11993normalblackDan Frazier
81994-06-21Summer Magic / EdgarSUM 11993normalwhiteDan Frazier
91995-04-01Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border4BB 41993normalblackDan Frazier
101995-04-01Fourth Edition4ED 41993normalwhiteDan Frazier
111997-03-24Fifth Edition5ED 51997normalwhiteRichard Kane Ferguson
121999-04-21Classic Sixth Edition6ED 11997normalwhiteRichard Kane Ferguson
132007-09-10Masters EditionME1 21997normalblackDan Frazier
142022-11-2830th Anniversary Edition30A 12015normalblackDan Frazier
152022-11-2830th Anniversary Edition30A 2981997normalblackDan Frazier

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Animate Wall has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2007-09-16 This is a change from the most recent wording. As was the case in the past, Animate Wall can now enchant only a Wall.

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