Pious InterdictionHow it works & interactions with other cards

What Pious Interdiction Does

Pious Interdiction is an Aura that attaches to a creature and prevents it from both attacking and blocking. Unlike some pacifism-style effects, it also features an 'enters-the-battlefield' trigger that grants you 2 life. This ensures that even if the creature is later sacrificed or the enchantment is destroyed, you have already gained a tangible benefit from casting the spell.

Resolving the Spell Step by Step

When you cast Pious Interdiction, you must choose a creature to target. As the spell resolves, it enters the battlefield attached to that creature. Once it is on the battlefield, its triggered ability goes on the stack, and you gain 2 life upon resolution. If the target creature becomes illegal before the spell resolves (for example, if it is sacrificed in response), Pious Interdiction will not enter the battlefield, and you will not gain the 2 life.

Common Mistakes

A common misconception is that you gain life regardless of whether the enchantment successfully enters the battlefield. Because the life gain is a triggered ability that happens 'When this Aura enters,' if the spell is countered or its target is removed, the ability never triggers. Additionally, remember that this card does not remove the creature's activated or passive abilities; it only restricts its ability to attack or block.

When to Play It

This card shines when your opponent has a single, large threat that is pressuring your life total. By enchanting their best creature, you stop their offensive and defensive capabilities simultaneously. It is particularly effective in slower control decks that value the incidental life gain to survive until they can resolve their own late-game win conditions.

Interaction examples

Neutralizing a Threat

You cast Pious Interdiction targeting an opponent's creature. Once it resolves, you gain 2 life immediately. The creature remains on the battlefield but can no longer be declared as an attacker or a blocker during any combat phase.

Combining Taxes and Lockdown

Ghostly Prison

With Ghostly Prison on the battlefield, your opponent must pay {2} to attack you with any creature. If they have one particularly large creature they are willing to pay for, you can use Pious Interdiction to shut that specific creature down entirely. Now, they must still pay for their other creatures to attack, while their best threat is stuck on the sidelines.

Stalling for Resources

Smothering Tithe

In a long game, you might have Smothering Tithe generating Treasure tokens every time your opponent draws. If they play a creature to try and pressure you before you can use those Treasures, Pious Interdiction can stop that creature and give you 2 life, buying you the necessary turns to accumulate wealth and cast your larger spells.