Culling Drone MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Eldrazi Drone |
| Abilities | Devoid,Ingest |
| Released | 2015-10-02 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Battle for Zendikar |
| Set code | BFZ |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 91 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Alejandro Mirabal |
Key Takeaways
- Yields card advantage via its ingest, disrupting opponent strategies by exiling their library’s top card.
- Enables synergies with Eldrazi, leveraging exiled cards to accelerate one’s game plan effectively.
- At two mana, allows for instant-speed play, offering players tactical decision-making flexibility.
Text of card
Devoid (This card has no color.) Ingest (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles the top card of his or her library.)
Silence rules Bala Ged, broken only by the skittering of Eldrazi.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Culling Drone’s presence on the battlefield has the potential to yield card advantage. Its ingest ability lets you exile the top card of your opponent’s library whenever it deals combat damage to a player, subtly depriving them of resources and potentially disrupting their strategy.
Resource Acceleration: While the Culling Drone itself doesn’t directly offer resource acceleration, it synergizes well with other Eldrazi and processor cards that can leverage exiled cards for various benefits, effectively accelerating your game plan.
Instant Speed: Though the Culling Drone operates at sorcery speed, its two mana cost allows you to keep mana available for instant-speed interactions. This lets you make tactical decisions on when to develop your board or hold back for opportune plays against your opponent.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Culling Drone’s effectiveness is predicated on the ingest mechanic, often requiring you to exile an opponent’s library card which isn’t always guaranteed, thus not providing consistent benefits.
Specific Mana Cost: This creature demands color-specific mana (one colorless and one black), which can be restrictive for decks that are not aligned with or heavily featuring black mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Culling Drone’s mana cost is moderate, other two-mana creatures may offer immediate impact or more desirable abilities, potentially making it a less attractive option in a tightly constructed deck.
Reasons to Include Culling Drone in Your Collection
Versatility: Culling Drone offers flexibility for decks that capitalize on colorless creatures or the Ingest mechanic, setting the stage for various Eldrazi strategies or enabling synergies with exile effects.
Combo Potential: As part of the Ingest lineup, this creature can fuel processors or work in tandem with cards that benefit from opponents having exiled cards, paving the way for numerous clever combos.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where smaller creatures dominate the battlefield, Culling Drone can be a relevant early-game threat that disrupts your opponent’s game plan while setting up for more powerful Eldrazi spells later on.
How to beat
Culling Drone is a creature card that can be quite the pest for many players in Magic: The Gathering. This creature from the Battle for Zendikar set falls under the Eldrazi genus, known for its “Ingest” ability, which exiles the top card of a player’s library whenever it deals combat damage to a player. To efficiently combat this, a strategic approach might involve thwarting its ability to deal damage in the first place.
Countering Culling Drone early on with removal spells is a simple yet effective tactic. As it is a two-mana cost creature, spells that deal with small threats or those that can stifle enemy creatures, like Pacifism or Shock, can do the job without delay. Building a strong defense is another approach – using creatures with high toughness or those with reach can block and remove Culling Drone from combat without much fuss. Additionally, continuously keeping cards like Negate or Essence Scatter in hand ensures you keep such threats at bay before they plague your game.
Addressing Culling Drone is about anticipating the encounter and being ready. By utilizing a combination of creature management and strategic control, it becomes manageable to keep Culling Drone’s invasive ways in check, maintaining the integrity of your deck and your path to victory.
Cards like Culling Drone
Culling Drone is another intriguing creature in the vast universe of Magic: The Gathering. Sitting at a mana value of two, it parallels other two-cost creatures such as Carrier Thrall. Like Culling Drone, Carrier Thrall brings a little more to the table upon departure by providing a 1/1 Eldrazi Scion that can be sacrificed for mana. Culling Drone, however, differentiates itself by providing additional offense as a 2/2 base creature, which can be significant in the early gameplay.
Another comparandum is Vile Aggregate. While it has the same ingest ability as Culling Drone, this creature’s power scales with the number of colorless creatures you control, paving the way for potentially massive attacks. On the flip side, it doesn’t share the same consistency in power that Culling Drone offers. Blisterpod is one more card worth mentioning in relation to Culling Drone, offering the same advantage as Carrier Thrall post-removal, it trades the ingest mechanic for immediate board presence after its demise.
Each card holds its merit, with Culling Drone being a solid choice for players wanting steady and early offensive presence in their decks. However, selecting the right card will ultimately depend on the deck’s overarching strategy and the roles each creature needs to fulfill.
Cards similar to Culling Drone by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Culling Drone MTG card by a specific set like Battle for Zendikar, 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 Culling Drone and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Culling Drone has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Culling Drone card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2015-08-25 | A card with devoid is just colorless. It’s not colorless and the colors of mana in its mana cost. |
| 2015-08-25 | Cards with devoid use frames that are variations of the transparent frame traditionally used for Eldrazi. The top part of the card features some color over a background based on the texture of the hedrons that once imprisoned the Eldrazi. This coloration is intended to aid deckbuilding and game play. |
| 2015-08-25 | Devoid works in all zones, not just on the battlefield. |
| 2015-08-25 | If a card loses devoid, it will still be colorless. This is because effects that change an object’s color (like the one created by devoid) are considered before the object loses devoid. |
| 2015-08-25 | If the player has no cards in their library when the ingest ability resolves, nothing happens. That player won’t lose the game (until they have to draw a card from an empty library). |
| 2015-08-25 | Other cards and abilities can give a card with devoid color. If that happens, it’s just the new color, not that color and colorless. |
| 2015-08-25 | The card exiled by the ingest ability is exiled face up. |
