Righteous Aura MTG Card

Visions (VIS)
1997-02-03 - Number 20

Righteous Aura - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)

Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
1999-10-04 - Number 45

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment

Key Takeaways

Activating Righteous Aura saves creatures and mana, indirectly boosting resource and card advantage for players.
Its instant speed activation gives a strategic edge, providing defense unpredictability against opponent attacks.
While powerful, Righteous Aura’s specific mana and discard requirements can limit its use in certain situations.

Text of card

o W, Pay 2 life: Prevent all damage to you from any one source.

"Good is not a 'thing.' You can neither touch nor own it. No, Good is a vision we all share and strive to make real." —Asmira, Holy Avenger

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Righteous Aura doesn’t directly let you draw cards, but it can be a key piece in maintaining board presence. Instead of losing valuable creatures to damage, you can pay a small life cost to protect them, effectively keeping your card advantage intact.

Resource Acceleration: While not a traditional resource acceleration card, Righteous Aura can help you save the mana you would otherwise spend on casting creatures again. This saved mana can be used to play other spells, which indirectly accelerates your resource availability.

Instant Speed: The ability to activate Righteous Aura at instant speed provides a significant tactical advantage. You can wait until the very last moment, such as during the declare damage step, to decide whether to use its effect, keeping opponents guessing and potentially misallocating resources during their turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: With a requirement to discard a card for its activation, Righteous Aura can put you at a disadvantage when your hand is already depleted.

Specific Mana Cost: Righteous Aura’s cost is color-specific, needing both white mana and generic mana, potentially limiting its integration in multicolored decks where mana can be scarce.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Requiring a total of two mana for activation, it can be cumbersome compared to other protection options, leading to inefficiencies in mana management throughout the game.

Reasons to Include Righteous Aura in Your Collection

Versatility: Righteous Aura offers a unique blend of defensive utility, fitting seamlessly into decks that prioritize life preservation. Its ability to reduce damage to a mere 2 life-points for a small mana cost and the payment of 2 life makes it adaptable against a variety of threats.

Combo Potential: This card holds potential for combos in decks that manipulate life totals for strategic advantages, such as in conjunction with cards that have benefits for losing life or that trigger when life is paid as a cost.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where players encounter high-powered, aggressive strategies, Righteous Aura can be a game-changer. Its capacity to negate potentially game-ending damage for a minimal investment keeps it relevant, particularly against decks that aim to win through non-combat damage or commander damage.

How to beat Righteous Aura

Righteous Aura is a unique enchantment card in Magic: The Gathering that can significantly alter combat dynamics by allowing players to pay a small cost to reduce damage from a single source. To overcome this defensive strategy, it’s vital to employ cards or abilities that can either bypass the damage reduction or eliminate enchantments from the battlefield.

Consider using direct enchantment removal spells such as Disenchant or Naturalize that can destroy Righteous Aura outright, freeing your path to deal unmitigated damage. Additionally, cards that deal damage to multiple sources, such as Earthquake or Pyroclasm, can overwhelm the Aura’s ability by presenting more threats than can be mitigated with its activation cost.

Lastly, implementing strategies that focus on non-damage-based win conditions, like mill or alternative win-con cards, can also effectively circumvent Righteous Aura’s protection. This approach sidesteps the need to deal damage entirely, thus rendering the enchantment’s ability irrelevant to the game’s outcome.

Cards like Righteous Aura

Righteous Aura is an interesting option for players seeking damage prevention tools in Magic: The Gathering. It stands out with an ability that lets you prevent damage from a source by paying a small cost of two life and one mana. This mimics the likes of Circle of Protection: Red that also presents a way to prevent damage but targets red sources specifically and requires mana expenditure as opposed to life points.

Moving along to another card, we find Story Circle, which is versatile allowing you to choose the color of the sources from which you want to prevent damage. Both Righteous Aura and Story Circle offer defensive strategies although with different costs and setups. Ethereal Haze takes another approach, preventing all damage that would be dealt by creatures for a turn. While it’s just a one-time use compared to the repeatable nature of Righteous Aura, it provides blanket protection without a life cost.

In essence, Righteous Aura provides a sustainable and resourceful way to manipulate combat outcomes and game tempo, making it a valuable card for those looking to control the pace and maintain longevity in the game.

Circle of Protection: Red - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Righteous Aura MTG card by a specific set like Visions and Mercadian Masques, 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 Righteous Aura and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Righteous Aura Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1997-02-03 and 1999-10-04. Illustrated by 2 different artists.