Mourner's Shield MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact
Abilities	Imprint
Released	2003-10-02
Set symbol
Set name	Mirrodin
Set code	MRD
Number	209
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Carl Critchlow

Key Takeaways

Mourner’s Shield’s imprint ability offers indirect card advantage by countering opponent strategies.
The shield’s instant speed use adds flexibility and threat response in game dynamics.
Demands careful resource management due to its discard activation clause and specific mana cost.

Text of card

Imprint When Mourner's Shield comes into play, you may remove target card in a graveyard from the game. (The removed card is imprinted on this artifact.) , : Prevent all damage that would be dealt this turn by a source of your choice that shares a color with the imprinted card.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mourner’s Shield’s imprint ability can effectively neutralize key cards in an opponent’s deck, potentially offering indirect card advantage by limiting their ability to execute their strategy.

Resource Acceleration: While the shield itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, being a potentially reusable form of disruption can free up other cards and mana in your hand, allowing for more efficient use of your resources throughout the game.

Instant Speed: The ability to use Mourner’s Shield at instant speed provides a crucial benefit, allowing you to respond to threats as they appear and offering flexibility to adapt to the dynamic landscape of an MTG match.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Mourner’s Shield demands a discard from your hand to activate its imprint ability. This can put you at a disadvantage, particularly in late game scenarios where resources are crucial and each card in hand counts.

Specific Mana Cost: This artifact requires a precise blend of mana to cast — two generic and two white. This specificity can limit its integration into decks that aren’t heavily white, potentially causing it to sit unused in your hand or hindering the development of a multi-colored deck strategy.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four, Mourner’s Shield may be considered costly given the scope of its impact. In the fast-paced environment of MTG, where efficiency is key, investing four mana in an artifact that doesn’t immediately alter the board state might leave a player at a competitive disadvantage.

Reasons to Include Mourner’s Shield in Your Collection

Versatility: Mourner’s Shield can adapt to multiple playstyles given its flexible prevention ability. It can be used to protect against specific threats or simply bolster your defense in a pinch.

Combo Potential: As an artifact, it meshes well with decks built around synergies with artifacts. It can be part of a combo to repeatedly prevent damage or interact with cards that care about protection effects.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta-game heavily influenced by decks that rely on certain types of damage or effects, Mourner’s Shield could be a strategic inclusion to counter those prevalent strategies, thereby increasing your win-rate against common archetypes.

How to beat

Mourner’s Shield is an intriguing artifact that offers a unique protective element in Magic: The Gathering. It has the ability to turn certain detrimental spells and effects into a strength by converting damage into life gain. This could compare to other protective spells like True Believer, which grants shroud to its controller, effectively nullifying targeting spells or abilities. However, Mourner’s Shield stands out with its mana activation flexibility and potential to significantly impact your life total positively. The key to getting around Mourner’s Shield is to prioritize non-damage based removal or hand disruption strategies.

Considering alternative strategies, you could look into cards like Unmake or Path to Exile for efficient removal that bypasses the shield’s protection. These cards offer unconditional exiling at a low cost, rendering the shield irrelevant. Meanwhile, hand disruption tactics like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek can preemptively remove the shield from your opponent’s hand before it becomes a factor on the battlefield. By not relying on damage to deal with threats, you neutralize the advantage Mourner’s Shield offers to your opponent.

In summary, defeating a card like Mourner’s Shield demands thoughtful deck construction and play decisions in Magic: The Gathering. Direct damage should be accompanied by or replaced with creature-centric strategies or spell-based removal and hand disruption to ensure the shield’s life-gaining capacity doesn’t turn the tide against you.

Cards like Mourner's Shield

Mourner’s Shield is an intriguing artifact in the MTG landscape, offering a unique damage prevention ability. Its parallels with cards such as Darksteel Pendant are evident, given both serve as indestructible artifacts. However, Mourner’s Shield provides an additional layer of protection by potentially preventing all damage that would be dealt to you this turn.

Looking closely at Prismatic Strands, another MTG card with a comparable effect, we see that it also prevents damage, but it does so in a color-specific manner and requires a tapping creature for its flashback ability. Mourner’s Shield doesn’t have this color limitation and the activation cost can be paid with any type of mana. Then there’s the Ivory Mask, which is similar in its protective function by granting you shroud, but it lacks the direct damage prevention aspect that defines Mourner’s Shield.

To sum up, within the realm of damage prevention and protection in MTG, Mourner’s Shield stands out with its versatility and the formidable capacity to shield a player completely during a turn, cementing its place as a robust option among its counterparts.

Cards similar to Mourner's Shield by color, type and mana cost

Krark-Clan Ironworks - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mourner's Shield MTG card by a specific set like Mirrodin, 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 Mourner's Shield and other MTG cards: