Oblivion Crown MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Enchant, Flash
Released	2007-05-04
Set symbol
Set name	Future Sight
Set code	FUT
Number	73
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Kev Walker

Key Takeaways

Boost your creatures with Oblivion Crown by turning excess cards into immediate power on the battlefield.
Strategize around your graveyard, enabling powerful plays by giving Oblivion Crown’s discard ability multiple purposes.
Surprise and adapt with Oblivion Crown’s flash ability to outmaneuver and overcome your opponents.

Guide to Flash card ability

Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.

Text of card

Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.) Enchant creature Enchanted creature has "Discard a card: This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Equipping Oblivion Crown to a creature can enhance card functionality, as you may discard a card to provide a creature with +1/+1 until end of turn. This allows for advantageous utilization of unwanted cards in your hand, providing a tactical edge in gameplay.

Resource Acceleration: This card synergizes well with graveyard strategies, accelerating your resources by effectively utilizing the graveyard as an extension of your hand. By discarding a card, you not only power up your creature but also set up potential plays from the graveyard, depending on the mechanics of the other cards in your deck.

Instant Speed: As Oblivion Crown has flash, it allows for surprise plays and strategic depth. Being able to equip at instant speed offers flexibility, enabling you to adapt your tactics on the fly and catch your opponent off guard by boosting your creature’s power during combat or in response to an opponent’s actions.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Oblivion Crown forces you to discard a card as part of its ability activation. This mechanic can be counterproductive when you’re clawing for card advantage or if your hand is nearly empty, leaving you at a potential resource deficit.

Specific Mana Cost: Oblivion Crown demands a solid inclusion of black mana in your deck, with its casting cost and ability both requiring black. This can be restrictive as it necessitates a specific mana base, potentially complicating your deck’s color stability and overall mana curve.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana and an activation cost that is additional to the card you must discard, this investment can seem steep. In the evolving landscape of MTG, players may find other enchantment options that offer more value or lower-cost alternatives to fit within their deck strategies more efficiently.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Oblivion Crown offers a dynamic option for decks that are designed around the graveyard. Since it can be attached to any creature and confers the ability to discard cards to boost that creature’s power, it is particularly useful in strategies that capitalize on discarding cards as a resource or enable reanimation tactics.

Combo Potential: This enchantment can work wonders in tandem with creatures that benefit from having cards in the graveyard. Whether it’s powering up a creature with a high toughness to turn it into a formidable force, or enabling graveyard synergies, Oblivion Crown can be an unsuspecting but critical piece in many powerful combos.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where graveyard strategies are prevalent, Oblivion Crown can be an unexpected but effective tool. As players constantly adapt to the shifting meta, having access to versatile and synergistic cards like Oblivion Crown can provide an edge in deck building and gameplay.

How to beat

Oblivion Crown is a unique aura in Magic: The Gathering, providing players with the ability to discard a card to give a creature +1/+1 until end of turn. To effectively counter this, it’s crucial to manage the crown bearer. Removing creatures through spells like Path to Exile or using abilities that strip away auras will diminish the threat significantly. Control strategies can ensure Oblivion Crown never becomes a problem; countermagic and discard effects are particularly potent against it.

Another strategy lies in minimizing the utility of the discard mechanic. Cards such as Grafdigger’s Cage can prevent graveyard synergies, reducing the benefit a player might gain from stocking their graveyard. Moreover, instant speed removal during combat can disrupt the enhanced combat math, potentially creating unfavorable trades for the Oblivion Crown user.

Tackling Oblivion Crown boils down to anticipation and interference. By staying one step ahead and employing disruption or removal at the right moment, you can neutralize this card’s impact and maintain control over the game. Remember, removal at instant speed is your ally against auras like Oblivion Crown, maintaining the balance in your favor.

Cards like Oblivion Crown

Oblivion Crown stands out in the realm of creature enchantments within Magic: The Gathering. It finds its relatives in cards like Dragon Fangs and Dragon Wings, which similarly provide niche enhancements to creatures. What makes Oblivion Crown unique is the flexibility it grants the enchanted creature, allowing the controller to discard a card and give the creature +1/+1 until end of turn – a robust tool in graveyard-centric strategies.

Similarly, Dragon Fangs confers a constant +1/+1 and trample if the enchanted creature is green, but it lacks the tactical maneuverability of Oblivion Crown. There’s no option to increase power at a moment’s notice. Contrastingly, Dragon Wings bestows flying, offering evasion rather than brute force. Another peer is Nighthowler, which can become immensely powerful in the right deck, offering a potentially massive boost to a creature’s power and toughness based on graveyard size, though it doesn’t have the discard synergy.

Evaluating these alternative enchantments highlights Oblivion Crown’s potential. It superbly synergizes with decks designed to leverage the graveyard, providing an immediate and repeatable power increase that can turn the tides of combat in favor of the controller.

Cards similar to Oblivion Crown by color, type and mana cost

Chains of Mephistopheles - MTG Card versions

Tribute to Horobi // Echo of Death's Wail - MTG Card versions

Aphemia, the Cacophony - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Oblivion Crown MTG card by a specific set like Future Sight, 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 Oblivion Crown and other MTG cards: