Many new players to the game of Magic become instantly mesmerized
by creature enchantments. On the surface they seem extremely powerful.
A player can drop a 1/1 creature on the first turn and then beef it up it up
each round with enchantments. By drawing the right cards you could have
a 10/10 creature by turn three and win the game by turn five if the
opponent can't block it. Sound’s great, right?
Unfortunately, this is a bad strategy. In Magic there are so many
creature removal spells that it makes playing enchantments on creatures
almost worthless (unless it has hexproof). In fact, enchantments set you
up for a massive card disadvantage.
Imagine you have a creature that is enchanted with Skeletal Grimace,
Lightning Talons and Bonds of Faith. Combined abilities would give this
creature a nice +6/4-3 boost. However, all it takes is for your opponent to
cast one Dreadbore, an instant that destroys target creature or
planeswalker, and they've killed four of your cards in exchange for one of
theirs. Talk about a card disadvantage!
Self-beneficial creature enchantments are not valuable without a
creature in play, leaving them useless in your hand if you don't have a
creature to put them on. So, skip these types of enchantments unless you
are building a hexproof deck where your creatures cannot be so easily
killed.
Now, this is not to say that all creature enchantment cards are a
waste. Just the self-beneficial ones. Detrimental enchant creature cards
can be veiy useful in a deck, such as Arrest, which renders enchanted
creature unable to attack, block and activate any of its abilities, and Dead
Weight, which causes enchanted creature to get -2/-2, can be veiy
powerful cards to play.
Just remember that creature enchantments should be approached
with extreme caution. Unless you're getting a veiy powerful trade-off for
the effect, try and avoid using them. They*11 end up costing you cards and
losing cards means lost opportunities. This will result in fewer chances to
win the game.
Please send email to [email protected] if you have any questions.