Nyxborn Shieldmate MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment Creature — Human Soldier
Abilities	Bestow
Released	2014-02-07
Set symbol
Set name	Born of the Gods
Set code	BNG
Power	1
Toughness	2
Number	21
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Eric Deschamps

Key Takeaways

Nyxborn Shieldmate offers card advantage through enchantment synergies, enhancing overall deck strategy.
Its cost-effective nature and bestow mechanic provide flexible strategic options for players.
Despite mana limitations, Shieldmate’s versatility makes it a worthy addition to enchantment-themed decks.

Text of card

Bestow (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.) Enchanted creature gets +1/+2.

In Meletis, the walls have ears. In Akros, they have blades.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nyxborn Shieldmate stands out as it can contribute effectively to card advantage in the proper deck. When utilized with enchantment synergies, it can become a card that replaces itself by empowering other cards or drawing from enchantment-related effects.

Resource Acceleration: While this card doesn’t directly accelerate resources in the conventional sense, it does offer a cost-effective way to bolster your battlefield presence. Its low casting cost can lead to quicker development of your game strategy, allowing you to allocate resources elsewhere.

Instant Speed: While Nyxborn Shieldmate doesn’t operate at instant speed itself, its bestow mechanic offers flexibility that can be compared to the strategic advantages of instant speed spells. It provides the option to either cast it as a creature or attach it to another as an Aura, adapting to the dynamic needs of the game as they arise.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Nyxborn Shieldmate doesn’t directly ask for a card to be discarded, it’s worth noting that as a Bestow card, there may be an indirect discard-like effect. If the creature it’s bestowed upon is removed before Nyxborn Shieldmate becomes a creature itself, it can feel like a card and mana loss.

Specific Mana Cost: Nyxborn Shieldmate requires white mana not just to cast, but also to utilize its Bestow mechanic. This requirement can potentially restrict the card’s integration into multicolor decks that may not have a consistent source of white mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a Bestow cost that is significantly higher than its casting cost, Nyxborn Shieldmate can be seen as mana-intensive, especially when compared to other creatures or enchantments that might provide a similar or better bonus for less mana.

Reasons to Include Nyxborn Shieldmate in Your Collection

Versatility: Nyxborn Shieldmate shines with its flexibility, easily fitting into a multitude of decks, especially those looking to strengthen their creature lineup or enhance enchantment synergies.

Combo Potential: As an enchantment creature, it brings added value to interactions with cards that trigger off enchantments or creatures, enriching both auras-based and heroic strategies.

Meta-Relevance: Given its cost-effective nature and heroic enabling qualities, Nyxborn Shieldmate can be particularly useful in a metagame that favors enchantment-based decks or requires low-cost creatures for fast-paced plays.

How to beat

Nyxborn Shieldmate may not be the flashiest card in a Magic: The Gathering match, but it can provide subtle advantages to your opposition. This enchantment creature sports bestow, a mechanic that allows you to use it as a creature or as an aura to enhance another creature. When faced with your opponent’s boosted creatures, your strategy to counteract them hinges on efficient removal spells or abilities that can handle both enchanted and enchanting creatures.

Direct damage spells like Shock or Lightning Strike can be game-changers by removing the enchanted creäture before the enchantment takes effect. Alternatively, board wipes such as Wrath of God or Doomskar can reset the playing field, dealing with multiple threats at once. If the Shieldmate has already bestowed its boon, enchantment removal like Disenchant can sever the bond, weakening your adversary’s forces. To ensure you stay ahead, keep removal spells handy, prioritize threats, and disrupt your opponent’s plays with precision.

Improvise, adapt, and manage your resources wisely. By doing so, you’ll undermine the strength Nyxborn Shieldmate brings to the table and turn the tide of the duel in your favor.

Cards like Nyxborn Shieldmate

Nyxborn Shieldmate is an enchantment creature that brings a unique blend of abilities to the table in MTG. Its close kin, Kithkin Armor, offers similar defensive utility by providing a toughness boost, minus the enchantment creature aspect that the Shieldmate has. While it doesn’t give as much of a power increase as Nyxborn Shieldmate, it has the notable feature of granting evasion through the depiction of flying. An even closer comparison could be drawn with Mortal Obstinacy, an enchantment offering the ability to grow your creatures while also dealing with your opponents’ enchantments.

Observant Alseid stands out as another enchantment creature with Vigilance that shares the same mana cost as Nyxborn Shieldmate. However, it lends a greater power and toughness boost, yet lacks the flexibility provided by Shieldmate’s Bestow ability, which allows it to double as an Aura. Hopeful Eidolon is another contender in this space, offering lifelink instead of first strike, which can be a deciding factor in a tight match where every point of life matters.

In the grand scheme of MTG, Nyxborn Shieldmate holds its own among enchantment creatures, providing a strategic blend of power increase, defensive capabilities, and that unique flexibility, making it an asset in various gameplay scenarios.

Cards similar to Nyxborn Shieldmate by color, type and mana cost

Mask of Law and Grace - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nyxborn Shieldmate MTG card by a specific set like Born of the Gods, 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 Nyxborn Shieldmate and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nyxborn Shieldmate has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2013-09-15	An Aura that becomes a creature is no longer put into its owner’s graveyard as a state-based action. Rather, it becomes unattached and remains on the battlefield as long as it’s a creature. While it’s a creature, it can’t be attached to another permanent or player. An Aura that’s not attached to a legal permanent or player as defined by its enchant ability and also isn’t a creature will be put into its owner’s graveyard as a state-based action.
2013-09-15	Auras attached to a creature don’t become tapped when the creature becomes tapped. Except in some rare cases, an Aura with bestow remains untapped when it becomes unattached and becomes a creature.
2013-09-15	If a permanent with bestow enters the battlefield by any method other than being cast, it will be an enchantment creature. You can’t choose to pay the bestow cost and have it become an Aura.
2013-09-15	On the stack, a spell with bestow is either a creature spell or an Aura spell. It’s never both, although it’s an enchantment spell in either case.
2013-09-15	Unlike other Aura spells, an Aura spell with bestow isn’t countered if its target is illegal as it begins to resolve. Rather, the effect making it an Aura spell ends, it loses enchant creature, it returns to being an enchantment creature spell, and it resolves and enters the battlefield as an enchantment creature.
2013-09-15	Unlike other Auras, an Aura with bestow isn’t put into its owner’s graveyard if it becomes unattached. Rather, the effect making it an Aura ends, it loses enchant creature, and it remains on the battlefield as an enchantment creature. It can attack (and its abilities can be activated, if it has any) on the turn it becomes unattached if it’s been under your control continuously, even as an Aura, since your most recent turn began.
2013-09-15	You don’t choose whether the spell is going to be an Aura spell or not until the spell is already on the stack. Abilities that affect when you can cast a spell, such as flash, will apply to the spell after you’ve made this choice. For example, an effect that said you can cast creature spells as though they have flash won’t allow you to cast a creature card with bestow as an Aura spell anytime you could cast an instant, but one that said you can cast Aura spells as though they have flash will.