This seems like the kind of thing they would print in Homelands.
PhyrexianFailure
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(5 votes)
Already one of the lowest rated cards on gatherer... WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE< I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!
Chamale
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(7 votes)
Really cool flavour.
Really bad card.
It has a little bit of utility - that enemy Plague Stinger stops poisoning you, or you can protect your own Birds of Paradise or Silver Myr from a ping. This unlikely usefulness, but interesting flavour, leads me to give it 2/5 stars.
healingbolt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
an aura can't get worse.
1maketoilets
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It could atleast be until EOT instant or equipment with some additional bonus or just being able to play it as instant. But this is really weak.
raadface
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(13 votes)
it's for when fighting's gone bad"
more like when designs gone bad :p
BALDOF
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well... Considering you "double" the power pump when casted on infectors... this may be somewhat useful to bring down infectors in limited... Still... wouldn't put it in a deck unless I was low on cards.
"just filling up the set requirements here guys, don't worry about me."
VINCRISTIANO
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Mirran should start use black magic against Phyrexia... lolz
Mightyass
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"well on one side, equipments are by themselves better than auras, so to make them more equal, why dont we let equipment come with a free creature? What? Auras are still imba? Well, we have to make them really sucky, then." seriously R&D, why?
MrBarrelRoll
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(30 votes)
It's hard to imagine the Mirrans losing when they had secret weapons like this waiting in the wings.
EvilCartographer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This seems like another card that is a really great fit with the flavor of the block (okay, Phrexia won, so now Mirrodin is just fighting to not be completely taken over and is getting desperate to survive), but brings nothing particularly helpful to the actual game. I guess that is fine, if they wanted to engineer more cards/mechanics to fit the story than the game (Phrexian mana, I'm looking at you. And I am hating you.) but I can't really think of a particularly good use for this.
PEVE_O
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(7 votes)
easy to see why the mirrans lost
rinoh20
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
you people have it wrong. use it on your opponetns plague stings and blighted agents.
"Kara lay there like a slug. It was her only defense."
NoobOfLore
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
-1/+2, maybe? Then it would have been slightly helpful. Either that, or a cantrip, or flash. Or, two of those, even.
danth78
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card combos like crazy with Chimney Imp.
KoFFreaK
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think wizards finally understood what trolling means, and they wanted to test it out on the comment section of this card, specifically.
SoulShatterer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Its an alright late pick in a draft. Just barely though. I actually used one of these DEFENSIVELY on my own creature, just to stave off recieving that 10'th poison counter.
Youlose20life
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Going in my main deck with Untaidake. Sweet combo.
If I were Phyrexia and had to see terrible spells like this cast by my opponents I'd want to break them down into their component parts to try to make something more useful too.
What a simple and elegant design. Every core set needs reprint of this
Guest328481109
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(14 votes)
Defensive Stance: when giving a creature +0/+1 is simply too powerful.
kaiteng
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
It is surprisingly useful against pesky small creatures in Limited i.e. Blighted Agent, Vault Skirge etc.
Studoku
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(9 votes)
The effect of this card isn't quite big enough to be useful. Most glasses have a base larger than the width of this card so, unless you use more than one (or perhaps combo it with Evil Presence), part of the glass touches the table anyway and still end up with some of the ring.
To summarise, much worse than a proper coaster. Doesn't even deserve evaluation as a card.
AngelPhoenix
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Yeaaaaah, I realize wizards can't make EVERY single card they print amazing and super useful but this is just...why?
Needs flash, and the Phyrexian mana symbol to be even remotely useful and flavorful. It's like kaiteng said, it's more useful against your opponents creatures than on your own and that's...really dumb for a spell like this.
RowanKeltizar
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card is simply terrible... the best you can hope for is to cast it on your opponents infecters.
Vinifera7
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
If the numbers were switched you could at least kill one-toughness guys. Or, if it cantripped it might almost be playable.
The only time I see this being played is as a very marginal sideboard in limited against one-power infect guys like Blighted Agent, Plague Stinger, Priests of Norn, etc..
Cheza
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Good to stabilize your gaming table. There should be a law to prevent WotC to purposely produce such a pollution.
Should have been a blue card for cmc0 or a cantrip.
Wulfsten
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
An utterly pointless card, and they knew this full well when they made it. What lazy design.
This should have been a cantrip and had a -3/+3 effect, to make it useful against the opponent's creatures as well. Then maybe we're talking.
Vedalken_Arbiter
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Why couldn't this have given -3/+3?
WokeUpDead
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I... I might draft a basic land in front of this.
Why isn't it an Instant if it only grants -1/+1?
If it's an enchantment, why isn't the effect more drastic to at least make it GIL?
Why does this make Disorient look like a good card?
Why?
Kryptnyt
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(7 votes)
You counteract dat Skullclamp, D stance.
eskan
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Use on a creature with 0 power to only get benefits.
1U Enchantment, Aura Flash Enchanted creature gets +0/+7 and "Whenever enchanted creature attacks, return Defensive Stance to your hand."
then it may look nice...
NuckChorris
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(6 votes)
This is so bad it's used more on opponents creatures than their own. Feedback for any developers or Wizards employee reading this: Please reduce the power level on cards like these for drafts. In my friend group, after our first draft this became a first pick card because the -1 part is unfair, especially for Blue. It made Vault Skirge and virtually every one power creature in the set useless. In fact, by our third draft many of us gave up having an early game. This card still ended up being a bit too powerful because people would put these on their own already high-toughness creatures like Ogre Menial and wall creatures all day. I had a game in a draft where noone took damge until turn 9, and that was just because of a Vapor Snag. First combat damge didn't happen until turn 13, which was a Spined Thopter with one of these on it. Well anyway, please hear this: REDUCE THE POWER LEVEL ON AURAS LIKE THIS THAT HAVE MULTIPLE USES. This card also breaks the color pie, because blue shouldn't have anything that changes stats.
TherealphatMatt
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Got this in my first pack. I mean my first MtG pack ever.
Even THEN I knew something was fishy, and I'm not talking about the merfolk.
Salient
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(13 votes)
"It isn't for fighting."
You can say that again. No, don't say the second sentence you said. Just repeat the first over and over.
GhostSomethingables
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I have a shiny one of these and it looks super-cool. Slightly outside the box of what blue can usually do, though clearly in flavor for the color.
DacenOctavio
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Horrible design nightmares aside, I really like the art, and want to see this artist do a full-art Neurok Commando.
kiseki
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This was designed to be a bad card. Tom LaPile explains why in the link below (sub periods for the "(dot)"s ): http://www(dot)wizards(dot)com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/164
"...Limited play needs to remain fun over time, and to achieve that, we would like the power levels of each color in each format to be balanced. This often leads to some conversations in meetings that would look strange to outsiders. We had several of these during New Phyrexia development. In particular, there was a meeting when both blue and black were doing much better than we wanted in our playtests. Lead developer Aaron Forsythe decreed that we needed a weak blue card and a weak black card. None of us came up with a blue card that was weak enough, so Aaron created Defensive Stance to fill the hole... I wouldn't be surprised if you drafted full Scars of Mirrodin block several times without having played either Evil Presence or Defensive Stance, but I guarantee that those cards being the right power level for the set contributed to the fun you had."
longwinded
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
So Tom has actually come out said that this is bad by design to water down NPH blue in limited, which was slightly too strong in testing. Mission accomplished.
Still, I can't help but feel this would be serviceable if it were -1/+2 instead. For comparison: * Holy Strength -- common {W} +1/+2 Aura at 2.5 stars * Unholy Strength -- common {B} +2/+1 Aura at 3 stars (bonus to power being seen as slightly better than to toughness) * Riot Spikes -- common {(B/R)} +2/-1 Aura at 2.5 stars * Web, Carapace, and Street Savvy, all {G} +0/+2 + perk Auras at 2.5-3 stars. * Defensive Stance -- common {U} -1/+1 Aura at 1 star Yeah, I'd say that -1/+2 would have probably been more color-comparable.
It is kind of interesting though, in that it's almost the most sub-optimal card one can design. If it were just +0/+1 it would be so bad that you would be obliged to at least have a "free spell" rider -- cantrip, slowtrip, untap a land, phyrexian mana, alternate cost, 0 CMC, etc. -- to justify spending a card slot on it. That would actually make the card a little more interesting. An aura granting just +1/+1 for C would be less interesting, but then it would also be slightly better. Defensive Stance has just enough flexibility in it's almost non-existent effect that it gives the card a reason to exist without other riders that could run the risk of making it more interesting. Not just a bad card: a perfectly bad card.
Vandarringa
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Perfect turn-1 response to Stromkirk Noble though...
badmalloc
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Might as well make a blank card with flavor text "Last pick."
MyrBattlecube
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(10 votes)
That's quite the skintight suit she's got there. I bet it feels like she's wearing nothing at all. Nothing at all. Nothing at all!
Melanchior
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's a simple solution to many small problems. I think 0 manacost and uncommon would have been cooler though. It's also good to have when you're forced to discard something.
jfre81
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A bit of a reach even, but it has a bit of synergy Aura Gnarlid in . Defensive Stance on their blocker(s) could both pump up the Gnarlid and make a creature unable to block it. Even that's not worth the space in your deck.
Dolorosa
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When would I want this? WHY would I want this? To make it so that when I block something, instead of them both dying, they just negate each other out? This card is like paying to elongate the problem, just so you don't ever lose your precious creature, rather than just saying "*** it man, just kill the bastard. Do whatever it takes!"
Saxophonist
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(9 votes)
"It isn't for playing. It's for when your playing's gone bad."
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you to take away 1 power from there 1 drop attacker this could be used for that. It does not get rid of their card, and you just spent a card to give them -1/+1
If you need an additional toughness this card will do that. Most game situations its irrelevant and unless you play with the same people over and over, its impossible to predict that you will need exactly 1 toughness at sorcery speed.
Overall i would say this card is extremely situational, and only a few situations would it even be somewhat viable, and theirs a ton of things way way better for those situations in standard. If they would have given it draw a card, then it would be allot better. It would just be a 1cmc cycling with minor combat flexibility.
Averyck
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
going in my splicer deck. I mean, hell, they're a bunch of 1/1 splicers who power up my golems. The LAST thing I want is them dying to a gut shot. Of course, since gut shot is insta-speed, it still might happen. BUT YOU NEVER KNOW.
dalt7
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Good call jfre81. I think you are right! They made this card to work with Aura Gnarlid. Still, what a lame card this is.
MasterOfEtherlum
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
It Isn't For Fighting, It's For When The Fighting's Gone Bad
Yeah, It's Gone REALLY REALLY Bad If You're Playing This Card LOL
tcollins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well, it is pretty useless, on the plus side, -1/+1 is much better if you're enchanting an opposing creature with infect in limited. Still though, terrible card for {U}
Brushwagg
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(7 votes)
Gives Doran +1/+1. 5/5
Hunted0Lesser
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I'm sticking this in my Bruna, Light of Alabaster EDH to see whether anyone takes me seriously after playing it. One of the lowest ratings on Gatherer.
Pigfish99
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
if it was a -1/+3 then this would be better... otherwise, crap.
seriously, I know Wizards didn't want to make the mirrians win, but c'mon, this is ****ing insulting.
yousquiddinme
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know a card is terrible when the first thing you think when you see it is "Well, I like the flavor."
lebou04
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
how can that be of ANY help???
crap... 'nuff said!
d43c
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Back when me and friends first started playing this card was always used on my tormented sould. ALWAYS. Everyone considered him OP, Times have changed lol
Manite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's easy to overlook that this can enchant an opponent's creature to reduce its power. And in a block with infect, every point of power matters. That said, this could have been better. Being a defensive stance, it should probably have granted an ability similar to Fog Bank or Guard Gomazoa, ideally preventing combat damage dealt to and dealt by enchanted creature. But in that case, it would likely have become uncommon, messing up the rarity distribution. A larger stat adjustment like -3/+3 would probably have been preferable.
breenm
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know that awful feeling, when you open a booster back and this is in it... I was the next victim. But seriously, this is a very poor card. It's not even great at weakening your opponents creatures because it doesn't even have flash. If this was at instant speed with a cantrip, it may have just been forgivable.
Ferlord
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"So I noticed that the Phyrexians have taken control of your plane. Since I'm such an outstanding fellow, I give you my secret weapon"
"Oh really? That's strange. Maybe it only works on millennia-old dragons like me. Oh well, good luck with those praetors!"
Demonic_Math_Tutor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not even a cantrip. What a waste of a card.
Aquillion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Apparently, the story behind this card's creation was that they thought blue had been too powerful in recent sets, and wanted to weaken it a bit; so when they saw there was an opening, they inserted a particularly weak blue card.
I think they overshot the mark, though. I can understand the need for weaker cards, but this is just so bad it's almost physically painful to look at it.
eddned
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Vapor Snag, widely playable in old standard, 80 votes. This 180 votes.
Raexs
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Uhh, Doran, anyone? Splash blue into BGW for this and you've got... still a horrible, horrible card.
I can't think of a single reason to run this card in any deck, including limited. Its effect is so marginal that it is effectively useless. It wouldn't seem uncouth to simply fill that card slot with just a basic land over this.
So, basically, for that reason, 5/5. Love it.
konokono
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You can at least win with Razor Boomerang and Wood Elemental
SirLibraryEater
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I *almost* considered drafting this once. Once.
car2n
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A two-point swing in power/toughness FOR ONE BLUE?!?!?
meh.
RunedServitor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Give it Flash and make it cantrip and you've got a decent card. It still wouldn't get played, though.
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not only does this need Flash to rise to the echelons of merely bad, flavour-wise it SHOULD have flash. It's a stance that you take on suddenly in combat when shit gets real, why is it sorcery speed? D:
doitpow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
idea for this card flash -1/+1 0: return defensive stance to your hand
PhantomDust
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
All in all, it just adds another brick to your wall.
Comments (87)
This seems like the kind of thing they would print in Homelands.
Really bad card.
It has a little bit of utility - that enemy Plague Stinger stops poisoning you, or you can protect your own Birds of Paradise or Silver Myr from a ping. This unlikely usefulness, but interesting flavour, leads me to give it 2/5 stars.
more like when designs gone bad :p
Compare to Eel Umbra
+1/+1
Totem armour
Flash
Now thats defensive
seriously R&D, why?
Or, two of those, even.
But it doesn't
1/5
To summarise, much worse than a proper coaster. Doesn't even deserve evaluation as a card.
Needs flash, and the Phyrexian mana symbol to be even remotely useful and flavorful. It's like kaiteng said, it's more useful against your opponents creatures than on your own and that's...really dumb for a spell like this.
The only time I see this being played is as a very marginal sideboard in limited against one-power infect guys like Blighted Agent, Plague Stinger, Priests of Norn, etc..
Should have been a blue card for cmc0 or a cantrip.
This should have been a cantrip and had a -3/+3 effect, to make it useful against the opponent's creatures as well. Then maybe we're talking.
Why isn't it an Instant if it only grants -1/+1?
If it's an enchantment, why isn't the effect more drastic to at least make it GIL?
Why does this make Disorient look like a good card?
Why?
1U
Enchantment, Aura
Flash
Enchanted creature gets +0/+7 and "Whenever enchanted creature attacks, return Defensive Stance to your hand."
then it may look nice...
Even THEN I knew something was fishy, and I'm not talking about the merfolk.
You can say that again. No, don't say the second sentence you said. Just repeat the first over and over.
http://www(dot)wizards(dot)com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/164
"...Limited play needs to remain fun over time, and to achieve that, we would like the power levels of each color in each format to be balanced.
This often leads to some conversations in meetings that would look strange to outsiders. We had several of these during New Phyrexia development. In particular, there was a meeting when both blue and black were doing much better than we wanted in our playtests. Lead developer Aaron Forsythe decreed that we needed a weak blue card and a weak black card. None of us came up with a blue card that was weak enough, so Aaron created Defensive Stance to fill the hole...
I wouldn't be surprised if you drafted full Scars of Mirrodin block several times without having played either Evil Presence or Defensive Stance, but I guarantee that those cards being the right power level for the set contributed to the fun you had."
Still, I can't help but feel this would be serviceable if it were -1/+2 instead. For comparison:
* Holy Strength -- common {W} +1/+2 Aura at 2.5 stars
* Unholy Strength -- common {B} +2/+1 Aura at 3 stars (bonus to power being seen as slightly better than to toughness)
* Riot Spikes -- common {(B/R)} +2/-1 Aura at 2.5 stars
* Web, Carapace, and Street Savvy, all {G} +0/+2 + perk Auras at 2.5-3 stars.
* Defensive Stance -- common {U} -1/+1 Aura at 1 star
Yeah, I'd say that -1/+2 would have probably been more color-comparable.
It is kind of interesting though, in that it's almost the most sub-optimal card one can design. If it were just +0/+1 it would be so bad that you would be obliged to at least have a "free spell" rider -- cantrip, slowtrip, untap a land, phyrexian mana, alternate cost, 0 CMC, etc. -- to justify spending a card slot on it. That would actually make the card a little more interesting. An aura granting just +1/+1 for C would be less interesting, but then it would also be slightly better. Defensive Stance has just enough flexibility in it's almost non-existent effect that it gives the card a reason to exist without other riders that could run the risk of making it more interesting. Not just a bad card: a perfectly bad card.
Nothing at all.
Nothing at all!
If you need an additional toughness this card will do that. Most game situations its irrelevant and unless you play with the same people over and over, its impossible to predict that you will need exactly 1 toughness at sorcery speed.
Overall i would say this card is extremely situational, and only a few situations would it even be somewhat viable, and theirs a ton of things way way better for those situations in standard. If they would have given it draw a card, then it would be allot better. It would just be a 1cmc cycling with minor combat flexibility.
Yeah, It's Gone REALLY REALLY Bad If You're Playing This Card LOL
seriously, I know Wizards didn't want to make the mirrians win, but c'mon, this is ****ing insulting.
crap... 'nuff said!
"Nicol Bolas, this doesn't really do anything."
"Oh really? That's strange. Maybe it only works on millennia-old dragons like me. Oh well, good luck with those praetors!"
I think they overshot the mark, though. I can understand the need for weaker cards, but this is just so bad it's almost physically painful to look at it.
Splash blue into BGW for this and you've got... still a horrible, horrible card.
I can't think of a single reason to run this card in any deck, including limited. Its effect is so marginal that it is effectively useless. It wouldn't seem uncouth to simply fill that card slot with just a basic land over this.
So, basically, for that reason, 5/5. Love it.
Once.
meh.
flash
-1/+1
0: return defensive stance to your hand