Moving on, let’s talk about Elves! Suffice to say that Containment Priest is a really strong hoser against this deck. Not only does it stop the little green men from tutoring their best creatures right out of their deck with Green Sun’s Zenith, but it can also hit their mana production as well.

Dryad Arbor is an unusual card, in that it’s a creature card, but because it’s a land, it can never be cast (only played as a land drop, or put onto the battlefield in other ways). Because Containment Priest applies to all nontoken creatures, regardless of what other types they may have, this means that no matter what means you may try to put the Arbor onto the battlefield, Containment Priest will exile it. Land drop? It’s entering directly from the hand without being cast. Exile. Fetchland? Entering directly from the library. Exile. Zenith for 0? Exile!

An additional wrinkle for those who play in tournaments is that if you put Dryad Arbor onto the battlefield using one of the above methods, making that choice was a legal play, but putting it into the wrong zone was not. In that case, the Arbor will be moved to the correct zone (the exile zone), and you won’t get to take your choice back. You can’t be too careful when Priests are around!

Today’s Rules Tip written by Jen Wong