Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist MTG Card


Malevolent Hermit disrupts opponents and protects strategies with its counter-spell ability. Its transformation to Benevolent Geist makes your noncreature spells uncounterable, enhancing their impact. Instant speed sacrifice allows strategic control over the game’s flow, even during an opponent’s turn.
Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Human Wizard
Abilities Disturb,Transform
Power 2
Toughness 1

Text of card

, Sacrifice Malevolent Hermit: Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays . Disturb (You may cast this card from your graveyard transformed for its disturb cost.)


Cards like Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist

The enigmatic Malevolent Hermit brings a unique dynamic to blue control strategies in MTG. Side by side with similar creatures such as Nimble Obstructionist or Cursecatcher, the Hermit offers slightly different benefits. While the Obstructionist can also counter a spell or ability, it doesn’t have the capacity to be Unearthed, unlike our Hermit. This unearth ability allows players to subtly infuse their game with a surprise spell counter and a potent transformed creature.

Moreover, the Hermit has a peer in the card Judge’s Familiar. Both cards require a single blue mana to counter spells unless their caster pays additional mana. However, Judge’s Familiar does this once and has a flying ability while the Hermit can repeatedly protect your interests until it transforms into Benevolent Geist. The transformation not only heightens the spell protection with a blanket effect on noncreature spells but also offers a powerful offensive tool.

Factoring in utility and flexibility, Malevolent Hermit holds its ground in MTG competitive and casual blue decks. Its dual nature providing both an early game deterrent and a mid-game threat elevates it in the realm of blue creature spells and establishes a distinctive niche for itself.

Nimble Obstructionist - MTG Card versions
Cursecatcher - MTG Card versions
Judge's Familiar - MTG Card versions
Nimble Obstructionist - MTG Card versions
Cursecatcher - MTG Card versions
Judge's Familiar - MTG Card versions

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Giant Albatross - MTG Card versions
Phantasmal Sphere - MTG Card versions
Skyshroud Condor - MTG Card versions
School of Piranha - MTG Card versions
Coral Merfolk - MTG Card versions
Wu Light Cavalry - MTG Card versions
Sea Eagle - MTG Card versions
Overtaker - MTG Card versions
Hazy Homunculus - MTG Card versions
Darting Merfolk - MTG Card versions
Thought Eater - MTG Card versions
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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Malevolent Hermit provides a valuable boost to your hand by letting you negate a noncreature spell unless its controller pays three extra mana. This not only disrupts your opponent’s game plan but could also effectively protect your own strategy, maintaining your advantage.

Resource Acceleration: When transformed into Benevolent Geist, the Hermit allows your noncreature spells to be uncounterable, offering an indirect form of acceleration by ensuring your key spells resolve. This keeps your game pace ahead without the worry of interruption or the need for additional counterspell protection.

Instant Speed: The ability to sacrifice Malevolent Hermit at instant speed offers the flexibility to respond to an opponent’s actions. Even outside your turn, you can dictate the flow of the game, making it a strategic tool for control decks that thrive on instant speed interaction.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Contemplating the Malevolent Hermit card’s abilities, there’s a necessity to pay attention to its requirement for transforming. Unfortunately, the card mandates a self-discarding action, which can be quite detrimental. When your hand is scarce in options, letting go of a potentially useful card can hinder your chances of prevailing in the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Deck building requires careful consideration of mana sources, and this card presents a potential hurdle. The Malevolent Hermit needs a precise mana combination to be cast — two blue mana symbols. This specificity restricts its integration into multi-colored decks and possibly denies it a spot in strategies not heavily focused on blue mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Analyzing the overall utility versus the mana investment, the Malevolent Hermit may come off as a costly commitment. While its starting cost is moderate, its disturbed cost is steep, sitting at four mana, which can be quite taxing in a game where every mana point counts. Other cards might provide similar or even enhanced benefits with a less rigorous mana demand, potentially overshadowing the hermit’s value on the board.


Reasons to Include Malevolent Hermit in Your Collection

Versatility: Malevolent Hermit offers dual utility both as an early-game disruptor and a late-game threat when transformed. Its ability to counter noncreature spells gives decks an edge against control strategies, while the back side, Benevolent Geist, provides a power boost to your spells.

Combo Potential: This card slots into spell-heavy decks with ease. When the hermit flips, it can significantly amplify the damage or effects of your instants and sorceries, making it a tactical addition to combo decks.

Meta-Relevance: Given its capacity to counter key spells and enhance your own spell-slinging, Malevolent Hermit holds its own in a meta that’s heavy on instants and sorceries. It’s also a resilient threat, returning from the graveyard as a spirit after you’ve used its counter ability, staying relevant in various phases of the game.


How to beat

Malevolent Hermit presents a challenge in MTG matchups, offering players the ability to counter noncreature spells by sacrificing itself. This ability shines in protecting your own spells from counters or disrupting your opponent’s plays. Yet, every card has its vulnerabilities, and Malevolent Hermit is no exception. To overcome this tricky card, direct removal spells are effective as they bypass the Hermit’s countermagic capabilities. It’s also beneficial to apply pressure using creature-based strategies, which the Hermit cannot directly counter.

Once transformed into Benevolent Geist, the Hermit loses its countering ability, but noncreature spells you cast cannot be countered. In this form, the focus should be on leveraging high-impact creature spells that can outmatch the Geist in combat, or employing board wipes to reset the playing field. Timing is essential; choosing to deploy these removals when the opponent lacks the resources to activate Hermit’s ability can be the key to turning the tides in your favor.

Ultimately, understanding when to remove Malevolent Hermit or to push through with creature-based aggression greatly increases your chances of neutralizing its influence on the game. Flexibility in strategy and maintaining a diverse spell repertoire will ensure you are well-equipped to beat Malevolent Hermit in MTG.


BurnMana Recommendations

With the insights on Malevolent Hermit’s dual nature and its strategic uses in MTG, your gameplay can significantly benefit from integrating this versatile card. Whether enhancing your control deck’s resilience or amplifying your instants and sorceries, the Hermit can be a game-changer. Consider its strengths against control strategies and think about how its cons might affect your deck-building choices. Looking to deepen your understanding of synergy and deck optimization or want to discover more about countering the game’s most challenging cards? Dive deeper into the world of MTG with us, where every card is a building block to victory and every strategy is worth exploring.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Promos, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by Daarken.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 939502015TransformBlackDaarken
22021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight Hunt PromosPMID 61s2015TransformBlackDaarken
32021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight HuntMID 612015TransformBlackDaarken
42021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight HuntMID 3362015TransformBlackDaarken
52022-01-28Innistrad: Double FeatureDBL 612015TransformBlackDaarken

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2021-09-24 "Disturb
-ost]" means "You may cast this card transformed from your graveyard by paying
-ost] rather than its mana cost."
2021-09-24 A spell cast this way enters the battlefield with its back face up.
2021-09-24 Disturb is found only on the front faces of some double-faced cards.
2021-09-24 If you copy a permanent spell cast this way (perhaps with a card like Double Major), the copy becomes a token that's a copy of the card's back face, even though it isn't itself a double-faced card.
2021-09-24 The back face of each card with disturb has an ability that instructs its controller to exile if it would be put into a graveyard from anywhere. This includes going to the graveyard from the stack, so if the spell is countered after you cast it using the disturb ability, it will be put into exile.
2021-09-24 To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a disturb cost) you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of a spell cast using disturb is determined by the mana cost on the front face of the card, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was. (This is a special rule that applies only to transforming double faced-cards, including ones with disturb.)
2021-09-24 When you cast a spell using a card's disturb ability, the card is put onto the stack with its back face up. The resulting spell has all the characteristics of that face.