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Moxonomy

Custody Battle

Enchantment — Aura1 generic manaRed mana

The donation card that taxes whoever holds the creature, not the giver. The Aura grants its rider to the enchanted creature itself, so the play is to staple it onto an opponent's beater: now they own a creature that defects to one of their opponents every upkeep unless they sacrifice a land to keep it. It is a recurring Strip Mine clock disguised as a body, where the controller pays in permanents rather than mana, and the choice is grim either way. Keep the creature and bleed your manabase one land at a time; refuse the cost and hand it across the table. Crucially the price is land sacrifice, not a mana payment, so tapping out offers no escape and the toll lands even when every source is committed elsewhere. The inversion of the usual aura math is the whole point: you are not weakening the creature, you are turning ownership into an obligation that drains the holder. The clever line is to attach it to something an opponent already prizes, then let the upkeep tax grind their lands or pry the creature loose. That fragile equilibrium, where control of the creature is always one declined land-drop from changing hands, is what keeps a two-mana effect that can both remove a threat and mana-screw its owner from being broken outright.

Custody Battle (ons)
ONS · #197uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $1.53
Foil: $4.86
Oracle Text

Rules text

Enchant creature Enchanted creature has "At the beginning of your upkeep, target opponent gains control of this creature unless you sacrifice a land."
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
N/A
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
Legal
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
Legal
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
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