Nissa's Encouragement MTG Card

Nissa's Encouragement - Hour of Devastation

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery
Released	2017-07-14
Set symbol
Set name	Hour of Devastation
Set code	HOU
Number	203
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Tommy Arnold

Key Takeaways

Boosts card advantage by allowing searches for three specific cards, crucial for deck consistency.
Accelerates mana development, enabling faster execution of strategies and better board control.
Offers indirect instant speed play advantages through the cards it helps to gather.

Text of card

Search your library and graveyard for a card named Forest, a card named Brambleweft Behemoth, and a card named Nissa, Genesis Mage. Reveal those cards, put them into your hand, then shuffle your library.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When played, Nissa’s Encouragement searches for up to three specific cards, adding them to your hand and therefore significantly boosting your card advantage. This is especially powerful as it narrows down the cards you draw to key components of your deck.

Resource Acceleration: By helping you to find a land card, Nissa’s Encouragement can facilitate your mana development. This kind of resource acceleration is invaluable for pushing forward your game plan and executing strategies earlier than normally possible.

Instant Speed: While Nissa’s Encouragement is not at instant speed, the cards it helps you gather may be, which indirectly adds flexibility to your gameplay. Having access to instant speed interactions via the search functionality of Nissa’s Encouragement keeps your opponents guessing and on their toes.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Nissa’s Encouragement requires you to have a specific card in your hand or deck to fully utilize its benefit, which can be a hindrance if you’re unable to meet this condition.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a precise combination of green mana, potentially limiting its integration in multi-colored decks that might struggle with mana flexibility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Needing five mana to cast, there are alternative cards available that might enable you to fetch lands or creatures at a lower cost, offering a similar level of board state improvement without such a steep investment.

Reasons to Include Nissa’s Encouragement in Your Collection

Versatility: Nissa’s Encouragement allows players to search their library for up to three specific cards—Nissa planeswalker, a land, and a creature with the forestwalk ability—providing a straightforward way to assemble powerful combinations or key pieces of your deck strategy.

Combo Potential: By fetching a Nissa planeswalker, you can set up synergies with forestwalk creatures or exploit land-related abilities. This card opens the floor to numerous interactions and combo enablers vital for maintaining board presence or turning the tides of the game.

Meta-Relevance: With its ability to tutor essential components, Nissa’s Encouragement can adapt to various meta shifts, ensuring that key pieces are consistently accessible to confront the prevailing deck archetypes you’re likely to encounter.

How to beat

Nissa’s Encouragement is a unique Magic: The Gathering card that searches for a land card, a Nissa planeswalker card, and another card from your deck with Nissa in its name and puts them into your hand. Its ability to tutor specific cards makes it a valuable asset in decks featuring Nissa as a pivotal component. To counter this card, efficient deck management is critical. Consider running disruption spells that can target the player’s hand, such as Thoughtseize or Duress, to remove Nissa’s Encouragement before it can be cast.

Another strategy is to employ graveyard hate cards like Relic of Progenitus or Scavenging Ooze to mitigate the advantages of fetching cards with Nissa’s Encouragement. If the card has already been played, focus on denying the landfall triggers or handling the planeswalker swiftly with direct removal spells or creature attacks. As with any powerful tutor card, the key is to anticipate the play and have a response ready, maintaining pressure on your opponent and disrupting their game plan as much as possible.

In games where card advantage can shift the balance, tackling the enabling pieces like Nissa’s Encouragement directly often yields the best results. Understanding deck archetypes that utilize this card will also prepare you for an efficient counter-strategy during gameplay.

Cards like Nissa's Encouragement

Nissa’s Encouragement stands out as a unique tutor card in Magic: The Gathering. It shares similarities with cards like Sylvan Scrying, which allows players to search for a specific land card. Yet, Nissa’s Encouragement goes beyond by enabling the player to not just fetch a land but specifically a Forest card, which can then be put into play, alongside searching for a Nissa planeswalker card and a creature card with the Forestwalk ability or a spell with a Forest-related effect.

If we look at Grow from the Ashes, we see another card with land-fetching capabilities. Although it also ramps your mana by putting land cards onto the battlefield, unlike Nissa’s Encouragement, it lacks the specificity and additional tutor elements. Hunting Wilds is another comparable card, with the kicker cost providing the option to untap the fetched Forest cards, but again missing the additional tutor benefits that embody Nissa’s Encouragement.

Overall, Nissa’s Encouragement provides a tailored advantage for decks that capitalize on Forest-type synergies and Nissa planeswalkers, setting it apart from other ramp and tutor spells in the game.

Cards similar to Nissa's Encouragement by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nissa's Encouragement MTG card by a specific set like Hour of Devastation, 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 Nissa's Encouragement and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nissa's Encouragement has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2017-07-14	Nissa’s Encouragement can’t be used to find a card with the land type Forest that isn’t also named Forest (such as Sheltered Thicket from the Amonkhet set).
2017-07-14	You can find any or all of the cards listed with Nissa’s Encouragement. You could even find none, but that wouldn’t be very encouraging.