Card Talk 10

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the tenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Hanna's Custody

Hmmmm . . . Hanna's Custody. A rare white enchantment from Tempest.

Tempest was released in 1997, before rarity was indicated by the color of the set symbol (that started with Exodus in 1998). This was before mythic rares, too (those started in Shards of Alara in 2008). So 'rare' was the top of the line—supposedly the most powerful cards. This card, though, can be purchased for ~$2.11, which (due to its age and the fact that it hasn't been reprinted) indicates that it is not overly powerful. One things players learn in Magic: the rarity on its own does not guarantee value.

Hanna's Custody is an enchantment—one of eight card types in Magic. (The others are land, creature, artifact, planeswalker, battle, instant, and sorcery, as I discuss more here.) This enchantment in particular protects artifacts, another card type. 

Enchantments are permanents, meaning they stay on the battlefield once cast. Six of the eight card types in Magic are permanents; only instants and sorceries are not (they are cast, their effect resolved, and they go to the graveyard). 

The ability on this card was eventually given a keyword: Shroud. The official rules text for Shroud:

“This permanent or player can’t be the target of spells or abilities.”

Though the concept of shroud has been around since Legends (1994), the keyword didn't start until Future Sight (2007). Here are the cards with the Shroud concept (keyword or not), though this search picks up a few cards with shroud in the card name but not in ability. 

Shroud has some downside—you cannot target your own permanent, either. So the more valuable hexproof keyword was introduced in Magic 2012 (released in 2011). Hexproof's rules text, with my highlight added:

“This permanent or player can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.”

The benefit of this should be obvious: you can cast spells on your own creature, but your opponent cannot. As a result, hexproof has largely supplanted shroud due to its increased utility; Here are the cards with the hexproof concept. (The only new cards that have shroud are in Modern Horizons sets, I think.)