Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Gift of Tusks and the Subtle Dance of Enchantments and Artifacts

If you’ve ever marveled at how blue control can complicate a board with a single, elegant instant, Gift of Tusks is a perfect study in micro-interaction 🧙‍♂️. Released in Oath of the Gatewatch (OGW) as an uncommon instant, this {U} gem punches above its weight by bending a creature’s identity for a turn. It’s simple on the surface—target creature loses all abilities and becomes a green Elephant 3/3—but the implications ripple through how we think about enchantments, artifacts, and tempo plays in multiplayer and pure 1v1 mirrors 🔥. The card’s flavor text, “It’s an experience you'll never forget,” rings true for players who’ve watched a stubborn threat become harmless, pixelated, or hilariously bulky at the decisive moment 💎.

What Gift of Tusks actually does on the battlefield

Mana cost {U} makes this a snap for blue decks that want to pivot mid-combat or mid-rotation. Until end of turn, the targeted creature loses all abilities and becomes a green Elephant with base power and toughness 3/3. In practical terms, that creature loses any activated abilities it relies on, loses text-based tricks from static abilities, and gains a solid, single-sentence stat line—3/3 for a temporary color change to green. The effect is not a color-lock; it’s a temporary repackaging: the creature’s text is blanked, its color shifts to green, and its combat identity becomes a plain, hard-to-answer Elephant 🐘. It’s a reminder that in MTG, “becoming a different creature” can be more impactful than simply removing a creature from combat; it can neuter engines, escape triggers, and even complicate combat math in ways your opponent didn’t see coming.

Why this matters for enchantments and artifacts

• Enchantments on the target: If the creature is also enchanted by a blue aura that grants more control, or by a white aura that taps or buffs, Gift of Tusks doesn’t remove those enchantments. The aura remains attached, continuing to shape the creature’s presence within the rules of enchanting. Yet the blanked creature can no longer use or toggle any abilities those enchantments grant—so the board state can shift from a threatening engine to a harmless 3/3 with a little extra glow from auras that still apply 🧪.
• Artifacts and Equipment: Artifacts that grant activated abilities or that boost power through equip costs aren’t erased by Gift of Tusks. The instrument remains on the field, while the creature underneath becomes a 3/3 Elephant. That means you can pair Gift of Tusks with a potent piece of equipment to turn a dangerous threat into a naked attacker, or you can protect a token while it’s being silenced just long enough to swing for lethal damage in a single swing. It’s a small trick with outsized tempo potential ⚔️.
• Shroud, Hexproof, and target limitations: Because Gift of Tusks targets a creature, any creature with Shroud or Hexproof can’t be targeted by it. This is where You must read the room: Gift of Tusks excels against non-protected threats, and you’ll often see it pitched in posturing matchups where the opponent’s creatures are prime to be blanked just long enough to swing with a different threat or to buy a turn to align more disruption. Timing is everything; a misplay can give your foe a clean answer instead of a quiet, tricksy moment 🧭.
• Color-shift nuance: Turning a creature green in the middle of a blue-on-blue confrontation also has strategic resonance. Green Elephants lack the original creature’s blue identity and any color-specific tricks tied to it, which can factor into how your opponent plans for blocking, removal, or potential mass removal that targets color-coded threats. It’s a tiny color-shift that changes how both players think about the next attack or block 💚.

Strategies and practical play patterns

Gift of Tusks shines in tempo-focused decks that want to disrupt an opposing board without expending a lot of mana. It’s a one-mana tempo play that can swing draws, force awkward blocks, or open up a late-game win condition when you’ve set up a clean attack path. For instance, forcing a big attacker to become a safe 3/3 Elephant can leave an in-motion artifact or enchantment to finish the job, especially when you’ve got a follow-up play to capitalize on the temporary silence. The card’s ability to blank a creature’s abilities also means you can stall a critical trigger, such as a creature’s enters-the-battlefield effect, a double-strike setup, or an antisynergy text box—creating a window to reset the board on your terms 🧭.

The OGW-era artwork by Kev Walker captures a moment of playful chaos that mirrors the card’s utility: a quick twist that makes a creature forget its own tricks and remember to be a straightforward 3/3. If you’re a lore nerd, you’ll appreciate how this card embodies blue’s love for control and information exploitation, while the funky green elephant nods to color-shift humor that the OGW block enjoyed 🍃🧩.

Collector value and foil presence

Gift of Tusks is an uncommon from a modern-era set, with a nonfoil price hovering around a few coin adds, and foil variants a touch more for collectors who enjoy the tactile sheen of foil on a card that ages gracefully. The set’s history as a piece of the broader OGW narrative—exploring the Gatewatch’s early battles against the Eldrazi—adds a dash of nostalgia for veterans and a sense of discovery for newer players building OGW-based casual or cube environments. The card’s limited print run and the evergreen utility of a one-mana counterplay ensure it remains a comfortable pick for curious decks that lean into disruption and tempo 🧙‍♂️🔥.

Flavor, design, and a quick note on the art

The phrase “It's an experience you'll never forget” sits neatly with a card that can flip the script on a tense board state with a single cast. Kev Walker’s art for Gift of Tusks adds a playful tone to a moment that could otherwise spiral into a tense stalemate, reminding players that even blue’s strategic precision can lead to moments of lighthearted misdirection in the world of the Gatewatch and its many tales 🎨.

For readers curious about the broader landscape of enchantments and artifacts, the following reads from our network offer a spectrum of perspectives—from NFT stats to flat digital textures and beyond. They’re great waypoints on the journey through how the digital and physical worlds intersect with strategy and art.

More from our network

• https://crypto-acolytes.xyz/blog/post/nft-stats-vietnam-special-operation-arms-from-noyfb-black-ops-badge-collection-collection/
• https://rusty-articles.xyz/tmp_xb6q1gv/a62961d1.html
• https://diamond-static.zero-static.xyz/d77e9f2a.html
• https://transparent-paper.shop/blog/post/mastering-light-and-shadow-on-flat-digital-textures/
• https://transparent-paper.shop/blog/post/estimating-absolute-brightness-from-dr3-data-for-a-distant-blue-star/