Forced Worship MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant

Key Takeaways

  1. It ensures control over opponents’ threats without the need for creature removal.
  2. Flexibility to cast at instant speed offers surprise tactics and tempo gains.
  3. Strategically demanding, requiring careful consideration of hand size and mana.

Text of card

Enchant creature Enchanted creature can't attack. : Return Forced Worship to its owner's hand.

Imprisonment teaches revenge. Hobbling teaches resignation.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Forced Worship provides a practical approach to disrupting your opponent’s game plan. While it doesn’t directly allow you to draw more cards, it effectively nullifies a potential threat on the board, maintaining the balance of power and ensuring your resources are not drained too quickly.

Resource Acceleration: While Forced Worship itself does not accelerate your resources directly, it aids in resource conservation by allowing your existing creatures and spells to be more effective, ensuring your mana and other resources are used for impactful plays.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Forced Worship at instant speed provides a significant strategic advantage. This means you can adapt to your opponent’s actions in real-time, making the decision to deploy it optimally during their turn, potentially catching them off-guard and providing a tempo shift in your favor.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To make the most of Forced Worship, players must be prepared to part with another card from their hand. This could be tricky when hand size is already compromised, leading to potential strategic setbacks.

Specific Mana Cost: Forced Worship demands a precise mana arrangement to cast, which may not always align with a deck’s mana base. This could result in the card being a dead draw in situations where the necessary mana isn’t available.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an investment of a few mana points required to play Forced Worship, it’s essential to weigh this cost against other cards that might provide similar or better effects with less of a mana commitment. This high cost could slow down game progression, especially in fast-paced matches.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Forced Worship can seamlessly adapt to various deck styles, offering a reliable means of temporarily disabling the most threatening creatures your opponents control without the need to permanently remove them from the board.

Combo Potential: In decks that exploit enchantment synergies, Forced Worship not only serves its primary function but also acts as a catalyst for powerful enchantment-based combos, potentially unlocking new levels of strategy.

Meta-Relevance: If creature-heavy decks are dominating the current scene, Forced Worship’s ability to neutralize key creatures can level the playing field, making it an essential tool in the ever-evolving meta.


How to Beat Forced Worship

Forced Worship is one of those cards that can turn the tides by locking down a vital creature, preventing it from attacking or blocking. The enchantment isn’t the end of the world, though, as it leaves various avenues open for players to liberate their creatures from this binding spell. One of the most straightforward solutions is to deploy enchantment removal spells. Cards like Disenchant or Naturalize provide a quick and easy way to get rid of unwanted enchantments like Forced Worship, restoring your creature’s capabilities.

Another tactical move is to employ bounce effects to return the affected creature to your hand, thereby removing all enchantments attached to it. Think of spells like Unsummon or Into the Roil which can temporarily sidestep the issue while you build a better board state. Of course, there’s always the option to embrace Forced Worship as a resource management tool by using the enchanted creature for abilities that aren’t hindered by the card, such as tap abilities or those triggered upon the creature dying. Adjusting your strategy to include versatile responses to enchantments ensures that Forced Worship won’t halt your path to victory.


Cards like Forced Worship

Forced Worship is a unique piece of the enchant creature card suite in Magic: The Gathering. It closely resembles cards like Pacifism in its ability to neutralize threatening creatures by preventing them from attacking or blocking. Yet Forced Worship has its own twist, allowing the creature’s controller to pay a certain amount of mana to remove the enchantment. This presents a strategic choice and an additional hurdle not found in Pacifism, which has no such escape clause.

When considering alternatives, Claustrophobia comes to mind. This enchantment also disables a creature but by tapping it, and it does not untap during its controller’s untap phase, effectively removing the creature from combat scenarios. Unlike Forced Worship, Claustrophobia does not offer a way out for the affected creature, locking it down for the duration of its stay on the battlefield. Another one in the family of control enchantments is Sleep Paralysis. It addresses the immediate threat by tapping the creature upon entering and ensuring it remains tapped, similar to Claustrophobia, but with a higher mana cost.

Evaluating the choices, Forced Worship proves to be a flexible and tactical enchantment, leveraging the balance between disabling enemy creatures and allowing for mana-based negotiation, which can influence gameplay decisions significantly.

Pacifism - MTG Card versions
Claustrophobia - MTG Card versions
Sleep Paralysis - MTG Card versions
Pacifism - Mirage (MIR)
Claustrophobia - Innistrad (ISD)
Sleep Paralysis - Shadows over Innistrad (SOI)

Cards similar to Forced Worship by color, type and mana cost

Blessing - MTG Card versions
Circle of Protection: Red - MTG Card versions
Circle of Protection: Black - MTG Card versions
Island Sanctuary - MTG Card versions
Circle of Protection: White - MTG Card versions
Crusade - MTG Card versions
Circle of Protection: Blue - MTG Card versions
Hallowed Ground - MTG Card versions
Circle of Protection: Artifacts - MTG Card versions
Energy Storm - MTG Card versions
Ward of Lights - MTG Card versions
Gossamer Chains - MTG Card versions
I'm Rubber, You're Glue - MTG Card versions
Absolute Grace - MTG Card versions
Serenity - MTG Card versions
Mageta's Boon - MTG Card versions
Seal of Cleansing - MTG Card versions
Absolute Law - MTG Card versions
Sacred Ground - MTG Card versions
Pacifism - MTG Card versions
Blessing - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Circle of Protection: Red - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Circle of Protection: Black - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Island Sanctuary - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Circle of Protection: White - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Crusade - Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret (DDF)
Circle of Protection: Blue - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Hallowed Ground - Ice Age (ICE)
Circle of Protection: Artifacts - Renaissance (REN)
Energy Storm - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
Ward of Lights - Mirage (MIR)
Gossamer Chains - Visions (VIS)
I'm Rubber, You're Glue - Unglued (UGL)
Absolute Grace - Urza's Saga (USG)
Serenity - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Mageta's Boon - Prophecy (PCY)
Seal of Cleansing - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Absolute Law - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Sacred Ground - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Pacifism - Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic (DDC)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Forced Worship MTG card by a specific set like New Phyrexia and Jumpstart, 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 Forced Worship and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Forced Worship Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2011-05-13 and 2022-12-02. Illustrated by Karl Kopinski.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12011-05-13New PhyrexiaNPH 112003normalblackKarl Kopinski
22020-07-17JumpstartJMP 1042015normalblackKarl Kopinski
32022-12-02Jumpstart 2022J22 1852015normalblackKarl Kopinski

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Forced Worship has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2011-06-01 Forced Worship’s activated ability may only be activated if Forced Worship is on the battlefield. If it’s no longer on the battlefield when the ability resolves, the ability has no effect.

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