Cooperation MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Enchantment — Aura |
| Abilities | Enchant |
| Released | 1995-06-03 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Ice Age |
| Set code | ICE |
| Number | 18 |
| Frame | 1993 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Phil Foglio |
Key Takeaways
- Boosts card advantage and game longevity, giving players a strategic edge.
- Instant-speed ability provides flexibility and better timing in gameplay.
- Requires white mana, potentially limiting its use in certain decks.
Text of card
Target creature gains banding.
"The Elves train our healers, and we keep the Orcs at bay. Most Elvish bargains aren't as fair." —General Jarkeld, the Arctic Fox
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Cooperation, as a Magic the Gathering card, excels at providing card advantage. This is incredibly useful in longer games where keeping your hand filled with options can determine the outcome of a match.
Resource Acceleration: By enabling you to put additional lands into play, Cooperation ensures that you can access more mana earlier in the game. This allows players to execute more demanding plays and establish board presence faster than their opponents.
Instant Speed: Cooperation’s ability to be played at instant speed gives players the flexibility to react to their opponents’ actions. This strategic advantage means that you can wait for the most opportune moment to play the card, thereby maximizing its potential impact on the game.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: In using Cooperation, you’re often faced with the tough decision of discarding another card from your hand. This can hinder your game plan, particularly when you’re already dealing with a limited hand size, effectively reducing your overall options and resources.
Specific Mana Cost: Cooperation calls for a dedicated white mana in its casting cost. This requirement can impact the card’s versatility, as it fits primarily into white-centered or dual-colored decks. Players running multicolor decks with a light white mana base may find it challenging to cast this enchantment when needed.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Cooperation can provide a beneficial effect, its mana value might be relatively steep for the benefits it confers. In the current meta where efficiency is key, the card’s cost could be seen as somewhat prohibitive, especially when other cards might offer similar or better effects for a lower mana investment.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Cooperation is a card that can seamlessly integrate into various deck builds, particularly those that need a boost in creature control or seek to leverage enchantments.
Combo Potential: This card’s enchant creature ability opens up numerous combo possibilities by enabling you to tactically support your creatures or conspire with other enchantments to dominate the battlefield.
Meta-Relevance: Given its utility in supporting creatures and synergizing with enchantment-focused strategies, Cooperation remains relevant in diverse MTG playing environments, adapting to the ever-shifting meta with ease.
How to beat
Cooperation stands out as a unique Aura card in Magic: The Gathering, primarily for its ability to enchant lands and essentially transform them into creatures. While it looks tempting to join forces with a land and turn it into a surprise attacker or blocker, outsmarting Cooperation requires some strategic moves.
Firstly, land destruction becomes an unexpectedly powerful tool. Targeted removals like ‘Stone Rain’ or ‘Acidic Slime’ can now not only interfere with an opponent’s mana base but also eliminate their enchanted creature-land, effectively dispatching two threats at once. Next, consider the risk of enchantment removal. Spells such as ‘Disenchant’ or ‘Naturalize’ serve a double purpose by removing the Cooperation enchantment and leaving your adversary with a depleted board state.
Lastly, ‘Counterspell’ and ‘Negate’ are also effective strategies preventing the casting of Cooperation altogether. By prioritizing the control of key moments when your opponent is likely to cast their enchantment, you may avoid the multi-faceted threats Cooperation yields. By understanding and applying these tactics, players can neutralize the advantages of Cooperation and maintain control over the game.
Cards like Cooperation
Cooperation in Magic: The Gathering finds its niche within the enchantment spectrum of cards that focus on creature enhancement. Its kinship with another enchantment, Ardent Plea, is particularly evident as they both serve the role of buffing creatures. Where Cooperation allows a creature to band with others of your choice, Ardent Plea provides an exalted boost, enhancing the creature’s ability to fight solo. Both encourage different strategic approaches.
Another relative in this family of effects is the card Glorious Anthem. While Cooperation individualizes enhancement by allowing specific creatures to join forces, Glorious Anthem offers a more blanket approach—it boosts the power and toughness of all creatures you control. It lacks the tactical banding ability, but the overall power surge can’t be overlooked. Parallel to this effect we find Concerted Effort, which propagates certain abilities across creatures, another communal strategy, but with a broader skill-sharing scope than Cooperation’s singular bond formation.
Each of these cards, while unique in their own right, shares the ethos of collective strength, which is an enduringly potent theme in player decks. Considering its potential to tactically outmaneuver opponents, Cooperation definitely holds its ground in the realm of creature-enhancing enchantments.
Cards similar to Cooperation by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Cooperation MTG card by a specific set like Ice Age, 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 Cooperation and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Cooperation has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Cooperation card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-10-01 | A maximum of one nonbanding creature can join an attacking band no matter how many creatures with banding are in it. |
| 2008-10-01 | Creatures in the same band must all attack the same player or planeswalker. |
| 2008-10-01 | If a creature with banding attacks, it can team up with any number of other attacking creatures with banding (and up to one nonbanding creature) and attack as a unit called a “band.” The band can be blocked by any creature that could block a single creature in the band. Blocking any creature in a band blocks the entire band. If a creature with banding is blocked, the attacking player chooses how the blockers’ damage is assigned. |
| 2009-10-01 | If a creature in combat has banding, its controller assigns damage for creatures blocking or blocked by it. That player can ignore the damage assignment order when making this assignment. |
