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Moxonomy

Ixalan's Binding

Enchantment3 generic manaWhite mana

Oblivion Ring established the template: an enchantment that pockets a permanent and gives it back when the enchantment dies. The wrinkle this design adds is the second line, and it is the part that changes how the card plays. Exiling a permanent is reactive; barring opponents from casting anything sharing the exiled card's name is preventive, and it does more work than it looks against decks built on redundancy. Hit one copy of a four-of and the other three become dead cards in hand, uncastable until the binding leaves the battlefield. Against a singleton bomb the name clause is a dead rider, but against the format's most repetitive threats it doubles as a soft lock. The targeting is also unusually permissive for white removal: any nonland permanent an opponent controls, so it answers planeswalkers, artifacts, enchantments, and creatures from the same slot, without the creature-only blind spot that limits cards like Pacifism. It also arrives on the modern single-duration template, "until this enchantment leaves the battlefield," which folds the exile and the return into one continuous effect rather than the two separate triggers older O-Ring variants used; there is no stack trick here for permanently stranding the exiled permanent. What every O-Ring variant surrenders in exchange is durability: it is an enchantment, so disenchant effects hand the exiled permanent (and the name lock) straight back. What you are buying is a clean catch-all that punishes the opponent for playing four of anything.

Ixalan's Binding (plst)
PLST · #XLN-17uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.28
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield. Your opponents can't cast spells with the same name as the exiled card.
Legalities

Format Status

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

Other printings

1 set
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