Introduced in 2014’s Theros set, bestow is aMagic: The Gatheringmechanic that allows creatures to quite literally bestow their abilities onto another creature. These enchantment creatures carry some rules baggage and vary in terms of power, but the mechanic blends flavor and function quite well. Bestow creatures feel unique, and represent the world of Theros perfectly.
Despite the mechanical complexity of bestow, the cards with this ability were originally all quite simple. Just a stat buff here and a keyword there, but ultimately fairly straightforward. Enter Modern Horizons 3, which ratcheted the complexity up a notch, making an already complicated mechanic even more difficult to parse out.
How Does Bestow Work In MTG?
Bestow is an alternate casting cost that appears on a subset of enchantment creatures. A bestow creature can be cast as normal, orits bestow cost allows you to cast it as an Aura spelltargeting a creature. When bestowed on another creature, the enchanted creature gains the abilities that the bestow creature normally has.
Normally, when an enchanted creatures leaves the battlefield, Auras attached to it will go to the graveyard as a state-based action. However, when a bestowed creature leaves play,the permanent with bestow will remain on the battlefieldas its normal creature version.
The same is true if a creature is removed from play while a bestow spellis on the stack targeting it. A normal Aura would ‘fizzle’ and go to the graveyard if its target is no longer present or valid when it resolves. However, a bestow spell cast as an aurawill simply go back to being a creature if its target is removedout from underneath it.
One tricky rules interaction involves copying bestow cards that are enchanting another creature, perhaps with an effect like the one on Three Dog, Galaxy News DJ. When you create a copy of a bestow permanent,the token you create will be the original creature version of that card, not an aura attached to anything. Bestow cards are only Auras if you cast them for their bestow cost.
What Happens If You Bestow An Opponent’s Creature?
Some bestow creatures grant negative effects to the enchanted creature, which is clearly a signyou should be putting them on opposing creatures, not your own. You’re more than welcome to bestow an opponent’s creature, and there isn’t much of a downside to doing so.
The important thing to remember is that when you cast an Aura,you are the controller of that permanent,no matter whose creature it enchanted. If you put a Trickster’s Elk on an opposing creature to shrink it down to a 3/3, and then the creature dies later on, you are the one left with the original 3/3 Elk on the battlefield, not your opponent.
Bestow’s History In MTG
Bestow was a mechanic that debuted in 2014’s Theros set and its two following sub-sets. The plane of Theros was based on Greek mythology, and heavily featured enchantments as a means of representing the plane’s attachment to faith, nature, and so on. Bestow was meant to representthe essence of nature bestowing its power to other creatures and beings.
Bestow made a brief cameo in Commander 2018on Kestia, the Cultivator, the backup commander forthe Adaptive Enchantment precon. Kestia was flavored as a minor character from Theros, and works synergistically with other bestow creatures, however small that category of cards might be.
The mechanic was notably absent from 2020’s Theros Beyond Death, the Standard-set return to the plane that introduced the mechanic.It did, however, make a return in 2024’s Modern Horizons 3, where it was used on several designs throughout that set.
Combos And Strategies Using Bestow
Sincebestow creatures are essentially modal cards, they slot into a fair number of different strategies. The best home will obviously be any deck that cares about them being enchantments.Perhaps an actual Enchantress deck, but also delirium decks or ones led by Atraxa, Grand Unifier, who encourages playing a diverse set of card types.
Voltron decks are the clear next home, since most bestow creatures offer a sizable buff to the target they’re enchanting. They actually play double-duty here; one of the problems with Voltron decks is that they don’t operate if you can’t stick a creature in play.Bestow creatures that were Auras stick around after most board wipes, giving you something to further equip or enchant.
Best Bestow Cards
Chromanticore
Chromanticore’sfar from competitive, but it’s wildly funto playin a five-color deck. Decks like Ramos, Dragon Engine and Omnath, Locus of All can put it to good use, and it was definitely a dream worth living in Born of the Gods Limited, where it first saw print.
Detective’s Phoenix
Hailing from Modern Horizons 3, Detective’s Phoenix combines a few interesting mechanics together, using bestow andcollect evidenceto put a unique spin on a Phoenix creature.It’s a fine beater on its own, but makes anything else it enchants a must-kill threat.
Eidolon Of Countless Battles
Voltron decks are interested in anything that grants the effect that Eidolon of Countless Battles has. Cast as an aura,Eidolon could easily give +5/+5 or greater to the enchanted creature, and it pops out as an equally-sized threat if the enchanted creature loses the battle.
Kestia, The Cultivator
Kestia is the only legendary creature with bestow. There’s not quite enough coherence between different bestow cards to make a fully-functional ‘Bestow’ deck, but Kestia comes close to tying everything together, while already beinga perfectly fine payoff for running a bunch of auras.
Springheart Nantuko
Springheart Nantuko has one of the strangest effects, granting the creature it bestows the ability to duplicate itselfwith a landfall trigger. It’s all a bit clunky, but immensely powerful if you pull it off, and at the very worstthe Nantuko can start creating 1/1 tokens if it’s sitting on board by itself.
Trickster’s Elk
Trickster’s Elk looks like a meme, since it’s clearly a callback tothe overpowered Oko, Thief of Crownsplaneswalker. It’s still pretty effective in Commander though, where it can downgrade a huge problem, ortake a commander mostly out of commission. Better yet, you’ll be left with the Trickster’s Elk when the enchanted creature eventually leaves play.
