MTG Keywords: Enchant
Magic the Gathering is a complex game (and that’s why we love it). These MTG Keywords articles will help you make sense of the 150+ keywords you’ll find on Magic cards. These articles are designed for players just starting out with Magic, and are hopefully useful primers for more experienced players too.
We’ve got some great examples of cards that use the Enchant keyword, from http://mtg.gamepedia.com/Enchant. These cards go from pretty simple to OMGwut, taking us through several examples of this intriguing keyword.
First, some background. An enchantment is an ongoing magical effect, as opposed to temporary or one-time effects given by instants or sorceries. When you play an enchantment, it remains on the battlefield and is considered a permanent. It can be targeted by other spells and abilities that affect permanents, and indeed there are a few cards that can specifically target enchantments.
Important! The enchant keyword specifically applies to to enchantments with the subtype ‘Aura’. Basically, all this means is that we’ll be enchanting something. Or, if you prefer, casting a ‘sticky’ spell on an existing permanent (so a land, creature, artifact, etc.)
Right, just to make things super confusing, most of the cards you see below were printed before the enchant keyword was, in effect, moved to its familiar location in the rules text box.
Holy Strength, for example says “Enchant Creature”, whereas as the official, up-to-date (errata-d or oracle text) describes this card as an Enchantment — Aura. We’ve put the up-to-date text beneath the card image so you can compare the wording.
“Why?!” I hear you cry. Well, given this series of articles is aimed at casual players and newcomers, we may be moving a helluva lot too fast for most. However, getting used to the idea that rules text, particularly on old cards, can be updated with newer text, is part and parcel of knowing and loving MTG.
Let’s work through each of these.
Holy Strength — {W}
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+2.
Simple, right? This gives a creature a power and toughness boost — as long as the aura is attached.
Conquer — {3}{R}{R}
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant land
You control enchanted land.
Ok, this is interesting. If you’re not into playing modern or legacy formats, then this card might strike you as a bit odd. Why would I pay five mana to control a land? Utility lands are big news in the ‘eternal’ i.e., non-rotating formats (UrzaTron, Skred Red) and this card probably had some applications in limited when it was printed.
Warp Artifact — {B}{B}
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant artifact
At the beginning of the upkeep of enchanted artifact’s controller, Warp Artifact deals 1 damage to that player.
This is a classic example of a black card, offering a cheap but insidiously powerful effect if left unchecked. But so far, these have been pretty easy to follow, right? Buckle up, we’re going to blue.
Power Leak — {1}{U}
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant enchantmentAt the beginning of the upkeep of enchanted enchantment’s controller, that player may pay any amount of mana. Power Leak deals 2 damage to that player. Prevent X of that damage, where X is the amount of mana that player paid this way.
OK, what.
First, we have to enchant an enchantment, which is just all sorts of confusing. Second, we have the card’s effect — our enchantment will deal 2 damage to the controller of the enchantment we’ve targeted, unless they pay mana to stop the damage happening. Wooo! That’s spicy and confusing! Classic blue!
Animate Dead {1}{B}
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature card in a graveyard
When Animate Dead enters the battlefield, if it’s on the battlefield, it loses “enchant creature card in a graveyard” and gains “enchant creature put onto the battlefield with Animate Dead.” Return enchanted creature card to the battlefield under your control and attach Animate Dead to it. When Animate Dead leaves the battlefield, that creature’s controller sacrifices it.
Enchanted creature gets -1/-0.
Lastly, we’re going back to black. And oh my goodness, this one hurts. Look at that wording!
We can simplify: bring something back from your graveyard to the battlefield under your control. Awesome, right? Not just your graveyard, ANY graveyard! The downside is that this creature under your control gets -1 power and is sacrificed if Animate Dead is destroyed.
To be honest if you’re reanimating any of these cards below:
Then I don’t think you particularly mind about the -1 power. I’ve included Ulamog here because you want to be careful which fatties you’re reanimating. Sure you’re getting a 10/10 indestructible, but you don’t get to use Ulamog’s cast trigger — because you didn’t cast it!
Phew, well enchant is certainly one of the more open ended keywords we’ve covered so far on ScryFox! I hope we’ve given you an idea of where enchant came from and how to use them.
Let’s finish with some example of recent enchantment auras you may have seen:
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