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Moxonomy

Unlikely Aid

Instant1 generic manaBlack mana

Two spells stapled into one instant, and the pricing reflects a deliberate refusal to specialize. Indestructible until end of turn is combat insurance and board-wipe insurance both: it turns off lethal damage from any source (a burn spell, a fight or ping effect, a chump-blocking attacker, a Wrath of God) as well as every "destroy" effect. The +2/+0 rider means that protection also swings the race, so a defensive card doubles as an aggressive one. Black rarely gets clean indestructibility: its usual answers to death are recursion and drain, which makes this an unusual grant of a keyword the color does not natively keep around. The tension is that neither half is quite premium. The buff is small enough that it will not win a race alone, and indestructibility does nothing against exile, sacrifice, or bounce, which are exactly the answers black's opponents most often reach for. What two mana buys is a reactive window at instant speed: ambush an attacker, blank a favorable block, hold a committed creature through a wrath, or shrug off a targeted burn spell. This sits in the tradition of black tricks that ask the caster to leave mana up and read the board rather than commit proactively.

Unlikely Aid (war)
WAR · #109common
Pricing
Normal: $0.10
Foil: $0.35
Oracle Text

Rules text

Target creature gets +2/+0 and gains indestructible until end of turn. (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it.)
Legalities

Format Status

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

Other printings

2 sets
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