Bonds of Mortality in EDH
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Feb. 9, 2016, 9:50 a.m. by DarkHero
How do you guys feel about Bonds of Mortality in EDH? Seems pretty versatile for just 2 mana, being able to take out God, Eldrazi, ect., but does it warrant a spot in a 100 card build?
Quail I suppose I would agree, the best response I can think of to that is that in theory Bonds of Mortality would hang around being an enchantment, ideally providing more use throughout the game. And really it would also stop artifacts like Swiftfoot Boots. But in saying that specifically saying "Hexproof" actually hurts because it won't effect things like Asceticism or Lightning Greaves, which are fairly common.
February 9, 2016 10:16 a.m.
Yeah I think the biggest weakness it has is not hitting Greaves. For that one specific reason I don't think it's worth the slot unless you're playing against someone with Geist of Saint Traft, Narset, Enlightened Master, Thrun, the Last Troll, etc. And even then your anti-hexproof package should probably be like Glaring Spotlight, Arcane Lighthouse, Council's Judgment.
February 9, 2016 10:22 a.m.
Narset, Enlightened Master is actually fairly rampant in my group :( lol. but yea i agree. Good talk.
February 9, 2016 10:26 a.m.
griffstick says... #6
Absolutely. ..this is gonna be an edh staple. This is a must include in a mono green deck.
February 9, 2016 10:49 a.m.
@DarkHero - This thing hits Asceticism. Hexproof didn't exist until 2011, a year after SOM was released. It's been errataed.
February 9, 2016 10:58 a.m.
I think it's well worth running. It's an Enchantment which means it stays on the field, it's effect one costs 
to activate, it's awesome. Both Hexproof and Indestructible can be problems to deal with.
A lot of Token decks run Eldrazi Monument which can prove problematic. Or just the removal of an Indestructible blocker is amazing.
I am personally a big fan of the card.
February 9, 2016 12:01 p.m.
CastleSiege says... #9
Bonds of Mortality is one of the best EDH cards to come out of OGW. Anyone saying it doesn't warrant a spot because it doesn't turn off Lightning Greaves is wrong. Take a look at all these cards it shuts down:
- All 15 gods from the Theros block
- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- Narset, Enlightened Master
- Thrun, the Last Troll
- Geist of Saint Traft
- Zurgo Helmsmasher
- Swiftfoot Boots
- Asceticism
- Eldrazi Monument
- Glaring Spotlight
- Privileged Position
- Darksteel Forge (only applies to artifact creatures)
- Archetype of Endurance
And these are only what I could think of off the top of my head. All of these cards see heavy EDH play. I feel as if there are more than enough cards that Bonds of Mortality shuts downs to warrant its inclusion in most green decks. Granted, it does depend on your playgroup as well.
February 9, 2016 12:24 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #10
For me, I think it depends less on what it shuts down and more on what it enables. If you're running a lot of spot removal/board wipes, then this complements your strategy extremely well. If you have zero ways to target/destroy creatures (most mono green decks), then this is basically a cantrip for 
.
February 9, 2016 12:43 p.m.
It's EDH; you can use it politically too. "I don't have a removal spell for that (insert dangerous threat). I can use this to shut off its protection if you, (temporary ally), have a removal spell handy."
February 9, 2016 2:18 p.m.
@ DarkHero - I play Prophetic Prism just for it's color filtering and card draw which provides synergy with Venser, the Sojourner. I would say if you are playing 
with a minor emphasis on blinking permanents and things like Mind Control then this card is amazing.
Other than that it's good in 
builds I think because those tend to have lots of targeted removal and/or bounce.
You really don't want to play it in mono colored .
February 9, 2016 2:56 p.m.
This thing has no place in high-level play. Almost all of the commonly used spot removal exiles and the emphasis on counters pretty much guaranteed decks can deal with hexproof before it resolves.
February 9, 2016 3:01 p.m.
As I stated before, this doesn't even remove gods most of the time. It will only remove them if they are animated, and even after that you'll still need to use removal on them.
This card isn't that great. It doesn't give you much advantage in a game and it's pretty weak countermagic. There's better ways of dealing with Hexproof.
February 9, 2016 6:05 p.m.
Despot0811 says... #15
I swear this card was made to kill my artifact deck. But I don't have a quick question about the stack on this one. For example let's say Darksteel Colossus + Darksteel Forge . Would Bonds of Mortality cancel out both indestructible effects or just Darksteel Colossus's indestructible ability?
Thanks in advance!
February 17, 2016 8:38 p.m.
1/22/2016 The last ability causes creatures your opponents control to lose hexproof and indestructible as it resolves. Effects that cause those creatures to gain those abilities after that point will work normally.
From what that tells me, you can give them Indestructible after the fact. You could do a Darksteel Forge + Vedalken Orrery .
702.12c Multiple instances of indestructible on the same permanent are redundant.
By looking at the rule for Indestructible, if both Darksteel Colossus and Darksteel Forge are already on the battlefield then your Colossus could be killed normally.
I could be wrong as I am not a judge or rules expert but by looking at the rulings I believe Darksteel Colossus would lose Indestructible until End of Turn if Darksteel Forge is already on the battlefield when Bonds of Mortality ability resolves.
February 17, 2016 9:01 p.m.
Despot0811 says... #17
No, I'm almost positive that your right. That's what I was afraid of obviously that combo wasn't intended to go together. You brought up an interesting point though, I could probably just return it my hand and then back to the battlefield with Master Transmuter. Embarrassingly I wasn't looking at it along those terms.
February 17, 2016 10:32 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #18
If you're not seeing a lot of hexproof or indestructible things it's basically useless. That said, as a Lazav, Dimir Mastermind player? This is very much a target for a counterspell.
Quail says... #2
Likely depends on your playgroup. Hexproof isn't too abundant in my group (I probably play it the most) but one of my friends runs a ton of gods. That being said though, you would only make the God be able to lose indestructible if it's devotion is met. I personally prefer using Unravel the Aether for my God removal, especially because it can hit Artifacts.
February 9, 2016 10:03 a.m.