Monastery Siege MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment

Key Takeaways

  1. Monastery Siege enhances card draw and choice, crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in games.
  2. It offers dual modes for flexibility, catering to different deck strategies and meta demands.
  3. Understanding its strengths and weaknesses can inform strategies to incorporate or counter it effectively.

Text of card

As Monastery Siege enters the battlefield, choose Khans or Dragons. • Khans — At the beginning of your draw step, draw an additional card, then discard a card. • Dragons — Spells your opponents cast that target you or a permanent you control cost more to cast.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Monastery Siege provides consistent card filtering with its “Khans” mode, allowing you to draw an additional card and then discard a card each turn. This mechanism helps sift through your deck to find the keys you need to win, essentially giving you a persistent advantage over your opponent by offering more options each turn.

Resource Acceleration: Alternatively, by choosing the “Dragons” mode, Monastery Siege lets your spells cost less to cast if they’re targeted by your opponents. This can be a form of resource acceleration, as it taxes your opponents’ resources while protecting your key pieces, allowing you to advance your board state with less worry about your opponents’ interference.

Instant Speed: While Monastery Siege itself is not an instant, it indirectly powers up your instant-speed interactions. With the additional cards drawn from the “Khans” mode or the protection offered by the “Dragons” mode, you are better equipped to make impactful decisions at instant speed, utilizing your mana and spells more efficiently during all phases of the game.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Unlike other enchantments that may provide value without any prerequisites, Monastery Siege can compel you to discard if you choose the ‘Dragons’ mode, potentially diminishing your hand without immediate benefit.

Specific Mana Cost: Monastery Siege requires a specific mana commitment with two blue mana in its casting cost, making it a less versatile choice in multicolored decks that might need to prioritize mana for other spells.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For a three-mana enchantment, some players may find Monastery Siege’s impact on the game less immediate compared to other cards at the same cost, potentially slowing down your tempo in fast-paced matches.


Reasons to Include Monastery Siege in Your Collection

Versatility: Monastery Siege can serve dual purposes depending on the mode you choose when casting it. It can either protect your hand and battlefield with its Dragons mode, or fuel your draw strategy in the Khans mode, supporting multiple deck archetypes.

Combo Potential: The additional draw from Khans mode increases your chances of drawing into key combo pieces, making it a strategic inclusion in decks looking to assemble particular interactions or synergies.

Meta-Relevance: Given the fluctuating nature of the meta, the defensive utility from Dragons mode can be crucial in matchups against targeted removal or discard strategies, preserving your game plan.


How to Beat Monastery Siege

Monastery Siege is a versatile enchantment from Magic the Gathering that can pose quite the challenge with its two modes: Dragons or Khans. In the Dragons mode, it turns the targeted player’s spells more expensive, taxing their resources. The Khans mode presents a different problem by enabling the siege’s controller to sift through their deck more efficiently, potentially finding the answers to your threats.

To outmaneuver Monastery Siege, effective strategies include direct enchantment removal such as Disenchant or Naturalize, to dismantle it before it causes significant impact. Alternatively, countering it before it hits the battlefield is key, making Cancel or Negate effective tools. Moreover, imposing additional costs is less burdensome for decks that can operate efficiently with low mana curves or an abundance of mana resources. As for the Khans mode, hand disruption spells, like Thoughtseize or Duress, can strip key components from your opponent’s hand before they can use the drawing advantage. Managing resources wisely and maintaining board control can mitigate the advantages Monastery Siege offers, ultimately keeping you one step ahead in the game.


BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering the ebb and flow of Magic the Gathering gameplay often comes down to strategic card choices and understanding the meta. With Monastery Siege, you gain a versatile tool that can adapt to your strategies and protect your valuable plays. Whether you’re filtering for the perfect hand with “Khans” or safeguarding your spells with “Dragons,” this enchantment has a palpable impact on your control within the game. To smartly integrate Monastery Siege into your arsenal or learn more about shaping your deck to its strengths, join our community. Together, we’ll refine your strategies and add a layer of resilience to your gameplay.


Cards like Monastery Siege

Monastery Siege is an intriguing enchantment card in the realm of MTG, positioned within the Khans of Tarkir set. Its functionality lies closely with cards like Search for Azcanta in that they both provide a filtering mechanism to improve card quality and selection each turn. Monastery Siege, however, presents players with two distinct choices upon entering the battlefield, making it a versatile tool in any player’s arsenal.

Compelling cards like Mystic Remora also share the principle of incremental value over time. Mystic Remora demands an upkeep cost, while Monastery Siege does not, yet both cards have the potential to draw you extra cards throughout the game. Conversely, Rhystic Study allows you to draw cards as opponents cast spells, assuming they don’t pay the additional mana cost. While Rhystic Study can yield more cards depending on your opponents’ actions, Monastery Siege gives control over the card selection process regardless of the opponents’ plays.

Assessing comparable options reveals that Monastery Siege holds a unique position with its choice-driven mechanics, providing targeted strategies for deckbuilders. It can either refine your draws with regularity or safeguard your plays from targeted spells, showcasing its dual-mode flexibility in various MTG deck builds.

Mystic Remora - MTG Card versions
Rhystic Study - MTG Card versions
Mystic Remora - Ice Age (ICE)
Rhystic Study - Prophecy (PCY)

Cards similar to Monastery Siege by color, type and mana cost

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Feedback - Fifth Edition (5ED)
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Energy Flux - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
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Intruder Alarm - Eighth Edition (8ED)
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Shifting Sky - Planeshift (PLS)
Threads of Disloyalty - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Pemmin's Aura - Scourge (SCG)
Rhystic Study - Wilds of Eldraine: Enchanting Tales (WOT)
Memory Erosion - Commander Anthology Volume II (CM2)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Monastery Siege MTG card by a specific set like Fate Reforged and Fate Reforged, 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 Monastery Siege and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Monastery Siege Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2015-01-23 and 2017-08-25. Illustrated by Mark Winters.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12015-01-23Fate ReforgedFRF 43★2015normalblackMark Winters
22015-01-23Fate ReforgedFRF 432015normalblackMark Winters
32017-08-25Commander 2017C17 882015normalblackMark Winters

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Monastery Siege has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2014-11-24 Each Siege will have one of the two listed abilities, depending on your choice as it enters the battlefield.
2014-11-24 Each of the last two abilities is linked to the first ability. They each refer only to the choice made as a result of the first ability. If a permanent enters the battlefield as a copy of one of the Sieges, its controller will make a new choice for that Siege. Which ability the copy has won’t depend on the choice made for the original permanent.
2014-11-24 The words “Khans” and “Dragons” are anchor words, connecting your choice to the appropriate ability. Anchor words are a new rules concept. “
-nchor word] —
-bility]” means “As long as you chose
-nchor word] as this permanent entered the battlefield, this permanent has
-bility].” Notably, the anchor word “Dragons” has no connection to the creature type Dragon.
2014-11-24 The “Dragons” ability adds per spell, not per target. It won’t cause a spell to cost more than more to cast, even if that spell targets you and a permanent you control or more than one permanent you control.
2014-11-24 The “Khans” ability happens after you draw the card you normally draw during your draw step. That card and the additional card will be in your hand when you have to discard a card.

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