Hallowed Ground MTG Card
1995-06-03 - Number 29
1996-05-02 - Number ml29
2007-09-10 - Number 14
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Enchantment |
Key Takeaways
- Hallowed Ground recovers key noncreatures, offering gameplay resilience and repeated utility plays.
- Requires white card discard, presents mana-specific activation that may limit deck diversity.
- Despite alternatives, its unique land protection and combo potential make it a notable card.
Text of card
o Woo W Return target non-snow-covered land you control to owner's hand.
"On this site where Kjeld's blood was spilled, let none raise a fist or deny a beggar." —Halvor Arenson, Kjeldoran Priest
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Hallowed Ground returns your noncreature permanents to your hand, potentially saving crucial cards from destruction and giving you the opportunity to replay them for additional benefit.
Resource Acceleration: By safeguarding your land cards, Hallowed Ground can indirectly contribute to resource acceleration, ensuring you have the mana you need to cast spells without interruption.
Instant Speed: This card can be activated at instant speed, providing flexibility to respond to your opponent’s actions and protect your investments on the battlefield when it’s most critical.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Hallowed Ground provides a utility to return non-creature permanents to your hand, it requires the discard of a white card in your hand to activate this ability. This can lead to a tough decision in crucial moments where hand management is key, especially if holding onto valuable white spells is a strategic necessity.
Specific Mana Cost: Hallowed Ground’s activation is not just a simple colorless tap away. It demands white mana, which could make it a tad too specific for multi-colored decks, or for those looking to maintain mana diversity for a range of spells in their play sequence. Its restrictive mana requirement can hinder your deck’s flexibility during gameplay.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The initial investment to get Hallowed Ground onto the battlefield is not insubstantial—two mana, including one from the plains. In the games’ vast library, there are alternatives that could either protect your permanents for a similar or lower cost, or manage the battlefield in more proactive ways, making the expenditure for Hallowed Ground seem steep in fast-paced or mana-efficient match-ups.
Reasons to Include Hallowed Ground in Your Collection
Versatility: Hallowed Ground provides a unique function that can be beneficial in various deck builds. Its ability to return creatures to your hand protects your investment and can disrupt opponent strategies that rely on board wipes.
Combo Potential: It pairs well with cards that have significant enter-the-battlefield effects or with deck themes built around graveyard strategies, setting up potential combos by recurring creatures for repeated value.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta where land destruction or control decks propagate, Hallowed Ground ensures your key creatures have a layer of protection, making it an astute choice against prevalent strategies.
How to Beat Hallowed Ground
Hallowed Ground is a unique enchantment in Magic: The Gathering that offers durability and resilience for players’ lands. It returns the affected lands back to the owner’s hand whenever they would be put into the graveyard, ensuring a form of protection against land destruction strategies. Even though it seems formidable, there are strategies to successfully maneuver around Hallowed Ground’s defenses.
To effectively counteract Hallowed Ground, one might consider using non-destructive land control cards such as Blood Moon or Spreading Seas to neutralize your opponent’s lands without triggering Hallowed Ground’s ability—these convert lands into basic types or Islands, respectively, without destroying them. Another tactic is employing abilities that force players to sacrifice lands, like the aptly named card Rain of Tears. Since sacrifice is not destruction, Hallowed Ground doesn’t provide its usual protective measure. Direct player targeting strategies with discard effects like Thoughtseize can also be pivotal in ensuring Hallowed Ground never sees play, disrupting the game plan right from the hand.
Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each card in Magic: The Gathering is crucial. With the right sideboard cards and a strategic approach, even seemingly resilient enchantments like Hallowed Ground can be effectively handled.
Cards like Hallowed Ground
Hallowed Ground stands as a unique piece within the enchantment array of Magic: The Gathering. It draws parallels with other land protection spells, yet carries its own distinct advantage. Sheltering Light, for example, offers indestructibility but limits its shielding to a single target and just for a turn. Hallowed Ground, contrarily, provides ongoing protection to all your plains without constraining you to one-use scenarios or specific timing.
Moving towards a card like Sacred Ground, there’s a noticeable overlap. Both enchantments focus on defending lands, but Sacred Ground casts a wider net, safeguarding against all land targeting, not just your plains. Compared to Hallowed Ground, it requires no additional cost to trigger its effect, which could make it a more versatile inclusion in decks that stress land preservation.
In sum, Hallowed Ground finds its niche among enchantments designed for land defense in Magic: The Gathering. Its capacity to return plains to their owner’s hand, time and again, gives decks a resilience against strategies that aim to unsettle mana bases. This enduring defense is what sets Hallowed Ground apart in strategic deck building.
Cards similar to Hallowed Ground by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Hallowed Ground MTG card by a specific set like Ice Age and Pro Tour Collector Set, 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 Hallowed Ground 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 Magic products
Printings
The Hallowed Ground Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 1995-06-03 and 2007-09-10. Illustrated by Douglas Shuler.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1995-06-03 | Ice Age | ICE | 29 | 1993 | normal | black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 2 | 1996-05-02 | Pro Tour Collector Set | PTC | ml29 | 1993 | normal | gold | Douglas Shuler | |
| 3 | 2007-09-10 | Masters Edition | ME1 | 14 | 1997 | normal | black | Douglas Shuler |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Hallowed Ground has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
