MTG Bestow is a powerful mechanic that allows you to temporarily attach an aura to a creature, granting it the aura’s abilities and power/toughness boost. This can be a game-changing effect, as it allows you to buff your creatures with powerful auras that would normally be unplayable. Additionally, Bestow creatures can be cast as auras, making them incredibly versatile and difficult to deal with.
One of the key advantages of Bestow is that it allows you to bypass the normal restrictions on auras. Auras can only be attached to creatures, and they are typically very specific about which types of creatures they can be attached to. Bestow creatures, on the other hand, can be attached to any creature, regardless of its type or color. This makes them incredibly versatile, as they can be used to buff any creature in your deck.
Another advantage of Bestow is that it allows you to cast auras as creatures. This can be a major advantage in certain situations. For example, if your opponent has a creature with a powerful ability, you can cast a Bestow creature as an aura to neutralize that ability. Additionally, Bestow creatures can be used to block creatures, making them a valuable defensive tool. Overall, Bestow is a powerful and versatile mechanic that can be used to great effect in MTG.
Unveiling the Power of Bestow in Magic: The Gathering
What is Bestow?
Bestow is a unique keyword ability introduced in Magic: The Gathering’s Theros block. It allows players to cast certain enchantment creatures as either creatures or enchantments. When cast as creatures, these cards enter the battlefield as normal creatures. However, if a player chooses to cast them as enchantments, they enter as auras attached to target creatures or permanents.
Casting a bestow creature as an enchantment offers several advantages. First, it grants the target creature additional abilities or stats. Second, the enchantment cannot be targeted by removal spells or abilities, as it is considered part of the target permanent.
Examples of Bestow Creatures
The Theros block introduced several notable bestow creatures, including:
| Creature Name | Bestowed Ability |
|---|---|
| Nyx-Fleece Ram | Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. |
| Lagonna-Band Elder | Target creature gains hexproof and trample. |
| Ephara’s Shield | Target creature gains flying and vigilance. |
Enhancing Creatures with Bestow Auras
Emancipation from Restrictions
Bestow auras offer unparalleled flexibility by breaking the conventional bonds of enchantments. Unlike typical auras that are exclusively tied to specific creature types, bestow auras can be attached to any creature on the battlefield, regardless of its characteristics or subtype. This emancipates players from the constraints imposed by creature type synergies, allowing them to tailor their enchantments to the specific needs of the moment.
Elevating Abilities and Stats
Bestow auras not only enhance creatures’ abilities but also provide significant stat boosts. By granting abilities like flying, vigilance, or hexproof, they can elevate the performance of even the most mundane creatures. Additionally, they can augment stats like power, toughness, or vigilance, transforming ordinary soldiers into formidable threats. This versatility makes bestow auras invaluable tools for both offensive and defensive strategies.
Heightened Synergy: A Case of Two
The synergy between bestow auras and creatures with relevant abilities can be devastating. For instance, attaching a bestow aura that grants vigilance to a creature with Trample can create a terrifying offensive juggernaut. Similarly, bestowing an aura that provides Hexproof upon a creature with Deathtouch can render it virtually untouchable while decimating opponents’ creatures. The possibilities for creative combinations are endless, empowering players to craft their own unique and devastating strategies.
| Creature Ability | Bestow Aura Ability |
|---|---|
| Trample | Vigilance |
| Deathtouch | Hexproof |
| First Strike | Unblockable |
Combo Potential of Bestow and Creature Buffs
Creature Buffs and Their Effects
One of the core benefits of Bestow is its synergy with creature buffs. When an Aura with Bestow is bestowed upon a creature, it retains its value as an Aura and additionally provides buffs to the creature. This can create potent combos that enhance the creature’s stats, abilities, or protection.
Stacking Multiple Auras
Bestow allows multiple Auras to be bestowed upon a single creature, stacking their effects. This can lead to significant stat boosts, such as granting a creature double strike or trample. Moreover, by combining Auras with different effects, you can tailor a creature to specific combat scenarios.
Card Draw and Mana Advantage
Certain Auras with Bestow grant benefits such as card draw or mana ramp. These Auras provide additional value while enhancing the creature’s capabilities. By bestowing these Auras, you can gain an advantage in resources and tempo, allowing you to outplay your opponents.
Removable Buffs
It’s important to note that Auras are generally removable. Spells such as enchantment removal and creature removal can strip them from the creature, potentially disrupting your combo. Therefore, it’s crucial to protect your Auras with countermagic or other defensive measures.
| Aura | Effect |
|---|---|
| Rancor | Grants +2/+0, trample, and hexproof |
| Unflinching Courage | Grants indestructible until end of turn |
| Ephara’s Enlightenment | Whenever the creature attacks, you draw a card |
| Leyline of Vitality | Prevents all one-damage effects on the creature |
Bestow as a Defensive Tool: Protecting Creatures
Bestow is a versatile mechanic that can be used in a variety of ways to protect your creatures. Here are some of the most common ways to use bestow as a defensive tool:
1. Protecting Key Creatures
One of the best ways to use bestow is to protect key creatures that are essential to your game plan. By bestowing an aura onto a creature, you can give it additional abilities or stats, making it more difficult for your opponent to remove it.
2. Preventing Combat Damage
Bestow can also be used to prevent combat damage. By bestowing an aura that grants protection or indestructible onto a creature, you can make it immune to damage from certain sources. This can be especially useful against decks that rely on combat damage to win.
3. Gaining Life
Some bestow auras grant their recipient the ability to gain life. This can be a valuable tool for stabilizing your life total and preventing yourself from losing the game.
4. Removing Threats
Bestow can also be used to remove threats from the battlefield. By bestowing an aura that grants abilities such as destroy or exile onto a creature, you can quickly and easily remove problematic cards from the game.
5. Making Your Creatures More Resilient
There are many different bestow auras that can grant your creatures a wide range of abilities. This includes abilities that increase their power or toughness, give them evasion, or make them harder to remove. By bestowing the right aura onto the right creature, you can tailor your defenses to the specific threats you are facing.
| Aura | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ethereal Armor | Grants protection from black and from red |
| Giant Growth | Increases the creature’s power and toughness by +3/+3 |
| Unflinching Courage | Grants the creature indestructible |
| Heroic Intervention | Prevents the next 5 damage that would be dealt to the creature |
| Sigarda’s Aid | Makes the creature a 3/3 creature in addition to its other types and abilities |
Using Bestow for Temporary Creature Removal
Bestow’s versatile nature can be leveraged to temporarily remove creatures from the battlefield, disrupting your opponent’s plans.
1. Preventing Blocks
By bestowing an Aura with bestow onto your creature, you can give it protection from creatures, effectively preventing them from blocking.
2. Removing Menace or Deathtouch
Certain Auras, like Unflinching Courage or Riveteer’s Charm, grant your creature protection from certain creature types or abilities. This can neutralize threats like Menace or Deathtouch.
3. Granting Hexproof
Auras with bestow, such as Privileged Position or Gleam of Authority, provide hexproof to your creature. This prevents your opponent from targeting it with spells or abilities.
4. Neutralizing Abilities
Auras like Arrest or Detention Sphere can remove the abilities of creatures, effectively disabling them.
5. Blocking Triggers
By bestowing an Aura onto a creature just before it enters the battlefield, you can prevent certain triggers that would occur upon its arrival.
6. Creating Ethereal Illusions
Auras with the Ethereal Illusion subtype, like Ephemeral Shield, can be bestowed onto your creature to create a token copy of it. This illusion is a valid target for removal spells, diverting attention from your actual creature.
| Aura | Effect |
|---|---|
| Unflinching Courage | Protection from Dragons |
| Riveteer’s Charm | Protection from Artifacts or Enchantments |
| Privileged Position | Hexproof |
| Arrest | Remove all abilities |
| Detention Sphere | Remove all abilities and prevent casting of spells with the same name |
| Ephemeral Shield | Creates an Ethereal Illusion token |
Creative Deck Building with Bestow Enchantments
Understanding Bestow
Bestow is a unique mechanic in Magic: The Gathering that allows you to cast enchantments as creatures with equal power and toughness, paying the creature cost or the enchantment cost. This versatility opens up a wide range of creative deck building possibilities.
Choosing the Right Bestow Cards
When building a deck with bestow enchantments, it’s crucial to select cards that have strong abilities and can impact the game in various ways. Consider enchantments that provide additional keywords, pump abilities, or disruption effects.
Balancing Creature and Enchantment Needs
One important aspect of bestow deck building is balancing the creature and enchantment requirements of the cards. Make sure you have enough creatures to activate Bestow and sufficient enchantments to support your strategy.
Creature-Centric Approach
This approach focuses on casting bestow creatures early and overwhelming your opponents with an army of enchanted creatures. Include cards that provide additional combat benefits, such as Trample or First Strike.
Enchantment-Focused Approach
This approach aims to use bestow cards as enchantments, focusing on their long-term effects. Include cards that draw cards, enhance mana production, or provide removal abilities.
Hybrid Approach
This approach combines elements of both the creature-centric and enchantment-focused approaches. Use bestow cards in both creature and enchantment forms, adapting to the game situation.
Considering Different Creatures
When choosing creatures for your bestow deck, consider their abilities and synergy with your overall strategy. Creatures with relevant keywords, such as Flash or Prowess, can enhance your game plan.
Utilizing Equipment and Auras
Equipment and Auras can provide additional buffs to your bestow creatures. Consider including cards that grant Indestructible, Lifelink, or other beneficial abilities to maximize the impact of your bestowed enchantments.
Notable Bestow Cards and Their Impact on the Game
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion has become one of the most influential bestow cards due to its powerful abilities. When bestowed, it grants the creature +3/+3, vigilance, and lifelink. This combination of stats and abilities makes it an excellent attacker and defender, providing significant value on both offense and defense.
Aetherling
Aetherling is a unique bestow creature with flying. When bestowed, it grants the creature protection from colored spells, allowing it to evade damage from most sources. The protection also extends to the base creature, making this an excellent countermeasure against spell-heavy decks.
Aurelia, the Warleader
Aurelia, the Warleader is a legendary bestow creature that grants its host double strike. This ability allows the creature to deal double damage during its combat phase, making it a formidable offensive threat. Aurelia’s first strike also protects it from potential blocks, ensuring it can land devastating blows.
Banisher Priest
Banisher Priest is a versatile bestow creature that excels at disrupting opponents’ strategies. When bestowed, it grants the creature the ability to exile target creature. This powerful ability removes opposing creatures from the battlefield without destroying them, potentially neutralizing threats or stopping key combos.
Gladecover Scout
Gladecover Scout is a resilient bestow creature that focuses on evasion. When bestowed, it grants the creature hexproof and the ability to regenerate. This combination makes it incredibly difficult to remove from the battlefield, as it can tank damage and evade direct targeting.
Master of Waves
Master of Waves is a potent bestow creature that rewards creature-heavy strategies. When bestowed, it grants the creature the ability to create a 1/0 Merfolk token every time it attacks. This token production can quickly swarm the battlefield, providing a significant advantage in certain matchups.
Serra Angel
Serra Angel is a classic bestow creature that represents the iconic flying angel from Magic’s early days. When bestowed, it grants the creature +4/+4, flying, and vigilance. This combination of stats, abilities, and evasion makes Serra Angel a formidable threat in both competitive and casual formats.
Stratus Arch
Stratus Arch is a unique bestow creature that doesn’t actually bestow. Instead, it grants the creature spell mastery, reducing its casting cost by one mana for each noncreature spell cast that turn. This ability provides significant cost reduction, enabling faster and more impactful spellcasting.
Ulamog’s Crusher
Ulamog’s Crusher is a massive bestow creature that demands attention. When bestowed, it grants the creature +9/+9, trample, and annihilator 2. These devastating abilities allow it to dominate the battlefield, crushing opponents under its immense power.
The Evolution and Legacy of Bestow in Magic: The Gathering
Origin and Introduction
Bestow was introduced in the Theros block in 2013 as a unique mechanic that allowed creatures to become enchantments by returning to their owner’s hand.
Versatility and Complexity
Bestow cards offer a versatile blend of creature and enchantment abilities, making them strategic choices that can adapt to various situations.
Creature Synergy
Bestow creatures can benefit from the abilities of other creatures on the battlefield, synergizing well with tribal decks.
Enchantment Value
When bestowed, creatures transform into enchantments, gaining immunity to creature removal and providing long-term value.
Counterplay and Weaknesses
Bestow cards are vulnerable to enchantment removal and mass creature removal, requiring careful play and resource management.
Impact on Competitive Formats
Bestow has had a significant impact on competitive formats, creating new archetypes and strategies.
Modern and Legacy
Bestow found success in Modern and Legacy, particularly in enchantress decks that capitalize on its enchantment synergies.
Commander and Casual Play
Bestow has gained popularity in Commander and casual play, offering unique deck-building options and enhancing the variety of gameplay.
Recent Applications and Future Prospects
Bestow continues to be used in recent sets, including a notable resurgence in the Kaldheim block in 2021, suggesting its enduring potential.
Table: Bestow’s Impact in Different Formats
| Format | Impact |
|---|---|
| Standard | Moderate, influenced specific archetypes |
| Modern | Significant, enabled enchantress strategies |
| Legacy | Notable, strengthened enchantment-based decks |
| Commander | Popular, offered unique deck-building choices |
| Casual Play | Enhanced gameplay variety, encouraged creative strategies |
MTG Bestow: A Unique Mechanic
Bestow is a unique mechanic in Magic: The Gathering that allows you to cast a creature spell as an aura. This means that instead of entering the battlefield as a creature, it will attach itself to a creature you control, giving it a bonus. The creature it’s attached to is called the “bestowed creature.” This can be a powerful way to power up your creatures, or to protect them from removal.
Bestow spells are typically more expensive to cast than their non-bestow counterparts. However, they offer a significant advantage in that they can be cast at instant speed. This means that you can surprise your opponent with a creature boost or protection spell at any time.
People Also Ask About MTG Bestow
How does bestow work?
When you cast a bestow spell, you can choose to either cast it as a creature spell or as an aura spell. If you cast it as an aura spell, it will attach itself to a creature you control. The creature it’s attached to gets a bonus, and the bestow spell’s mana cost is reduced by the bestowed creature’s mana cost.
What happens if the bestowed creature dies?
If the bestowed creature dies, the bestow spell is put into your graveyard. You can’t cast it again, but you can cast other copies of it.
Can I bestow a creature on itself?
No, you cannot bestow a creature on itself. The creature you bestow it on must be a different creature.
