Hallow MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Released	2004-02-06
Set symbol
Set name	Darksteel
Set code	DST
Number	4
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Alex Horley-Orlandelli

Key Takeaways

Hallow excels in providing card advantage against multicolored spells and sustaining player life totals.
The card’s flexibility at instant speed allows for crucial damage prevention and game tempo swings.
Despite its niche benefits, Hallow’s specific mana and higher cost could limit its practical application.

Text of card

Prevent all damage target spell would deal this turn. You gain life equal to the damage prevented this way.

"Bend with the storm, then reply in kind."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Hallow offers the potential for significant card advantage by preventing damage from a multicolored spell, which can be crucial in maintaining a lead in drawn-out, grindy matches or gaining the upper hand in a tight contest against multicolored decks.

Resource Acceleration: As Hallow converts prevented damage into life gain, it indirectly supports resource acceleration by ensuring you maintain a safe life total, allowing you more turns and thus more resources to secure your win condition.

Instant Speed: The ability to play Hallow at instant speed gives players the flexibility to react efficiently to opponents’ threats, especially during high-stakes turns where damage prevention can swing the tempo of the game in your favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Hallow card demands that players discard another card to activate its effect. This trade-off can deplete your hand, leaving you at a disadvantage, especially when your options are already limited.

Specific Mana Cost: Hallow requires white mana for casting, which restricts its integration into multicolor decks that may struggle with mana consistency. This limitation can hamper deck flexibility and strategic diversity.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Weighing in at two white mana, it is more costly than alternative cards offering similar protection or lifegain benefits. Its higher mana demand can impede your gameplay by consuming valuable resources that might be put to better use with more versatile or impactful cards.

Reasons to Include Hallow in Your Collection

Versatility: Hallow offers players the ability to turn any harm from spells into a source of life, an effect that can be integrated successfully into a variety of deck archetypes ranging from control to life-gain. Its low mana cost makes it easy to incorporate into gameplay at critical moments.

Combo Potential: With its unique ability to convert damage into health, Hallow interacts seamlessly with strategies that involve damaging spells or self-harm for a bigger payoff, like powerful card draw effects or enabling high risk-high reward plays without the downside.

Meta-Relevance: Hallow remains a strategic sideboard card in matchups where burn spells or direct damage are prevalent. Its presence can shift the tide in your favor by negating the damage and giving you a lifeline, making it a smart inclusion for adapting to various competitive environments.

How to beat

Hallow is an intriguing card in the MTG universe, known for its ability to turn the tables on opponents who rely on noncreature spells for damage. With Hallow, any spell that would deal damage to you instead causes you to gain that much life – a potential game changer in many matchups. To effectively counteract Hallow, players can employ a strategy that pivots away from damage-dealing spells and leans into overwhelming the battlefield with creatures.

Considering alternatives such as enchantment removal or cards that prevent lifegain can be crucial in dismantling the advantages Hallow presents. Look towards spells like Naturalize or Disenchant to remove Hallow outright, or stifle lifegain with the likes of Tainted Remedy. In essence, adapting your strategy to circumvent Hallow’s lifegain ability is key. You might also focus on winning conditions that don’t involve damage, such as milling your opponent’s deck or employing poison counters through infect creatures.

Navigating against Hallow requires a blend of foresight and adaptation. By utilizing enchantment removal and altering your victory approach, you can effectively neutralize Hallow’s influence on the game and maintain the upper hand in your MTG duels.

Cards like Hallow

In Magic: The Gathering, Hallow stands as an interesting tool in the arsenal of life-gaining spells. Comparable to Riot Control, Hallow offers life gain based on the damage a spell would deal. Riot Control, however, provides a blanket of protection by preventing all damage that would be dealt to you that turn. Hallow’s uniqueness lies in its ability to turn an opponent’s spell into a sudden surge of life, potentially a large amount depending on the spell being countered.

Another relative spell in MTG is Luminesce. Luminesce prevents damage from red or black creatures for the turn, a narrower focus compared to Hallow’s capacity to interact with any damage-dealing spell. Similarly, Honorable Passage is a comparable card that redirects damage from a source to that source’s controller and then provides life gain equal to the damage prevented. Yet, it targets only a single source, unlike Hallow’s broader application to an entire spell’s effect.

To sum up, Hallow offers strategic flexibility in life gain and damage prevention within the MTG card pool. Its ability to convert spells that deal damage into straightforward life gain places it uniquely among cards with parallel functionalities, providing players with a distinct edge in games where every point of life can make a difference.

Cards similar to Hallow by color, type and mana cost

Swords to Plowshares - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Hallow MTG card by a specific set like Darksteel, 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 Hallow and other MTG cards: