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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day
Daily Since November 2001!

Holy Strength
Image from Wizards.com

Holy Strength
M11

Reviewed August 25, 2010

Constructed: 2.00
Casual: 2.33
Limited: 2.70
Multiplayer: 2.00

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

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Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Holy Strength

Usually, having high power is more... well, powerful than having high toughness. Holy Strength is alright because it can allow a creature to tangle in combat with things that would otherwise kill it, and it can make it very hard for an opponent's attackers or burn spells to go the distance. But the card disadvantage and the smallness of the bonus it grants means that this card is most often just not worth a slot. If you want to pump up your creatures, better off with Armored Ascension or Mighty Leap.

Constructed- 1.5
Casual- 1.5
Limited- 1.75
Multiplayer- 1.5

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Holy Strength
 
Holy Strength and Unholy Strength are one of the things that Richard Garfield got absolutely right way back in 1993, and are two cards I personally wouldn't mind seeing in every core set - they just make too much sense, both on their own and as a pair. Like its dark counterpart that we reviewed last week, Holy Strength doesn't show up often in high-level constructed, but can have a significant impact, especially when attached to a creature like White Knight that's already hard to stop. The extra toughness boost is also notable, as it is just enough to protect the aforementioned Knight from Lightning Bolt and Kor Firewalker from Disfigure.
 
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 2/5
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Holy Strength which is White's opposite number to Black's Unholy strength and grants +1/+2 instead of +2/+1. 
The different may be subtle, but being more defensive instead of offensive limits the usefulness and aside from slightly helping the survival of a creature against damage is a pretty weak aura.  Add in the fact that auras as a whole are already risking a two for one card disadvantage and there is rarely a reason to play this outside of a dedicated Enchantress themed deck.
 
For Limited the lack of offensive punch is somewhat mitigated by the improved defensive option as the format is very combat oriented.  In color commons Elite Vanguard, Assault Griffin, and Stormfront Pegasus have a toughness one lower than their power so this can balance the scales to make them  a better match for bigger threats across the battlefield.  Additionally Goldenglow Moth and Palace Guard are excellent blockers that benefit from added toughness, so this works well with them or creatures with Vigilance such as Serra Angel and Sun Titan.  Normally this would be a very weak card, but the readily available creatures in the Limited format are well suited to take advantage of what Holy Strength does offer.  In Sealed it should be played when running White and a large enough base of creatures.  For Booster in can be drafted once the choices in the pack start getting past creatures with Flying as they should still offer a bigger advantage, but this can help keep them in play longer and deal a little more damage as well.
 
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3.0
Casual: 2.5


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