Auras. They're in every Magic set, all the way back to the very beginning. They had a different type line in Alpha (Enchant Creature, for example), but they were close enough to modern day auras that they have all been changed via errata to be auras. They are one of the most evocative card types in the game - who doesn't look buffing their creatures or de-buffing their opponents'? A new player can probably make a reasonable guess at what an enchantment does, if they have any prior knowledge of fantasy tropes.

A Troubled Past

There are a lot of types of aura. There are auras for every permanent type, and many, many sub-categories within, such as "enchant artifact creature" or "enchant mountain." There are even curses that allow you to enchant a player and several even weirder cases: shout-out to Spellweaver Volute.

This is usually where I quote the relevant rules text but I'm not going to do that for auras because there are too many relevant sections in the rulebook. Many of the rules only apply to specific aura types, and we don't have the word count to go into all of them. The thing is, though, they don't usually play out in a way that is as complicated as this disclaimer makes them appear. The vast majority of them are either buffs for your own creature or nerfs to an opponent's creature - simple enough.

But positive auras run into a lot of problems inherent to their mechanics. Even the good ones offer your opponent the easiest two-for-one of their life. The way auras work - enchanting a permanent that is already in play - opens them up to a lot of unfortunate situations. Your opponent can remove your permanent in response. Even if you resolve the aura, another player can destroy the permanent it's attached to on their own turn. Or, you could just not have that type of permanent available to begin with. Auras are a horrible thing to top-deck after a sweeper and often just weren't worth the risk in serious play.

It's Not All Bad!

Removal effects on auras have had a happier history. Pacifism is the classic example, of course, but there is a long list of enchantment-based removal spells throughout Magic. The pitfalls of putting an aura on your opponent's creature are much more limited in scope. Either they have a Naturalize effect or a sacrifice outlet or that's about it, if we ignore corner cases like untapping creatures hit by things like Trapped in Summoner's Sanctum.

What has changed in recent years, though, is that there are often positive auras that are good. A lot of the time, these are mostly Limited-focused, but that's not always the case and occasionally they are really good. Tacking on "when this enters, draw a card" goes a long way to negating the card disadvantage of having your enchanted creature killed, something that has become much more common in recent years. You still have to pick your spot, because if your creature dies in response it's a disaster, but at least you have some say in how much of a disaster it is.

We also get cards nowadays that play offense and defense. Sheltered by Ghosts sees Standard play right now, giving your creature a small buff while simultaneously removing an opponent creature entirely. The risk of having your creature removed is still there, but the pay-off is better than something like Ethereal Armor.

Then there was Hexproof. I wrote about this mechanic in a previous overview article, but it bares reiterating that these two mechanics really are best friends. It feels a lot better to throw your powerful aura on a creature when you can be almost certain it won't be killed in response.

Even without hexproof, which is use much more sparingly nowadays, there is the fact that WOTC just prints playable auras a lot more often in modern Magic. In current Standard, we have things like Demonic Ruckus and in Commander there is an entire archetype named Voltron, built around auras (and equipment). Splinter Twin puts up occasional performances in Modern since its unbanning and Enchantress is still a deck some people play in Legacy.

In Conclusion

Right now, Auras are perhaps in the best state they've ever been in. They remain a flavorful, enticing card type but they also get the in-game power level to match, from time-to-time. They are still a high-risk investment (in mana and cards), but at least the risk is sometimes worth taking these days. They are applicable in a wide array of situations from the mundane to the downright weird and, with Ward largely replacing Hexproof, auras get to be good without being overbearing.

One thing I only got to mention briefly here is that, as the years go by, we get more cards that interact favorably with auras. We've had Argothian Enchantress for a long time, but Sythis, Harvest's Hand and Optimistic Scavenger show that there is plenty of room for new creatures that synergize with auras (and enchantments generally) to this day.