Carrion Imp MTG Card

The Imp provides strategic info by surveilling graveyards and often results in card advantage. It’s versatile, serving both offensive and defensive roles in creature-centric decks. While its cost is high, the Imp’s utility can justify its inclusion in specific strategies.
Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Imp
Abilities Flying
Power 2
Toughness 3

Text of card

Flying When Carrion Imp enters the battlefield, you may exile target creature card from a graveyard. If you do, you gain 2 life.

No scrap of nutrition goes to waste in the undercity.

Cards like Carrion Imp

Carrion Imp is a creature card in MTG that offers players utility beyond just being a flying body on the board. When it enters the battlefield, it provides its controller with the option to exile a creature card from any graveyard, which also grants you a bit of life. This can be compared to cards like Scavenging Ooze, which has a similar graveyard interaction. However, while the Ooze requires green mana and has a repeatable ability to exile cards and grow in size, Carrion Imp’s ability is a one-time event upon its entrance.

Morbid Opportunist is another card that provides value from creatures dying but does not interact with the graveyard as directly as Carrion Imp. It lets you draw a card instead of exiling — a different but potentially more immediately impactful benefit. Nighthawk Scavenger, too, flies and offers life gain but scales its power based on the number of card types in an opponent’s graveyard, representing a more aggressive option compared to the Imp’s more defensive exile effect.

Assessing the roles and effects of these similar creatures, Carrion Imp serves as a versatile card in any MTG deck that appreciates airborne threats coupled with incremental life gain and strategic graveyard control.

Scavenging Ooze - MTG Card versions
Morbid Opportunist - MTG Card versions
Nighthawk Scavenger - MTG Card versions
Scavenging Ooze - MTG Card versions
Morbid Opportunist - MTG Card versions
Nighthawk Scavenger - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Carrion Imp offers a strategic benefit by allowing a player to survey their opponent’s graveyard when it enters the battlefield. This lets the controller gain insight into the opponent’s potential strategies and, upon exiling a creature card, offers a subtle plus one in card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: While the Carrion Imp itself does not directly provide resource acceleration, it potentially disrupts the resource-acceleration plans of the opponent by removing key creature cards from their graveyard that could have been used for recursion or other graveyard-synergy purposes.

Instant Speed: Although Carrion Imp is a creature card and not played at instant speed, its flying ability grants it the versatility to be a defensive blocker during the opponent’s turn. This trait can unexpectedly protect your life total and other valuable assets on the board, mirroring the flexibility that instant speed spells offer in managing threats at crucial moments in the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Carrion Imp requires you to exile a creature card from a graveyard, which can be situational and not always achievable depending on the game state.

Specific Mana Cost: Carrion Imp’s casting cost demands both black and generic mana, which might restrict its playability to decks that can consistently produce black mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For a creature with only 2 power and 3 toughness, the four mana needed to cast this card could be considered steep, especially when there are other creatures at similar or less mana cost with more impactful abilities or stats.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Carrion Imp is a flexible addition to decks that capitalize on life gain and graveyard interaction, fitting seamlessly into black-centered, control, or midrange strategies.

Combo Potential: Its ability to exile a card from an opponent’s graveyard upon entering the battlefield pairs well with effects that punish opponents for missing cards in their graves or rewards you for exiling them.

Meta-Relevance: With a metagame that appreciates efficient creatures with additional utility, Carrion Imp offers a multifaceted approach to dealing with various threats, aligning well with decks that seek to disrupt opponent resources while developing board presence.

How to beat

Carrion Imp is a creature card that brings a bit of graveyard interaction to the battlefield. With its ability to exile a creature card from an opponent’s graveyard upon entering the battlefield, it provides a way to benefit from the demise of creatures in Magic: The Gathering. Additionally, the life gain element adds to its utility, making it a multi-faceted addition to black deck strategies.

When facing Carrion Imp, it’s essential to consider its two main features: graveyard disruption and life gain. Successfully navigating against this card requires a strategic approach. Consider using graveyard shuffling mechanics to ensure key creature cards are not vulnerable to exile. Graveyard-hate cards like Scavenging Ooze can effectively counter the Imp’s ability, denying the life gain and maintaining graveyard integrity. Flexibility in when to play creatures, potentially timing them to avoid the Imp’s trigger upon entering the battlefield, can also mitigate its impact.

Ultimately, understanding the dimensions of Carrion Imp’s abilities enables informed decision-making. Employing responsive strategies and maintaining control of graveyard dynamics are crucial in overcoming the advantage this card aims to provide its user.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Carrion Imp MTG card by a specific set like Ravnica Allegiance and Mystery Booster, 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 Carrion Imp and other MTG cards:

TCGPlayerBUY NOW
BurnMana is an official partner of TCGPlayer
Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Carrion Imp Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2019-01-25 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Kev Walker.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12019-01-25Ravnica AllegianceRNA 662015NormalBlackKev Walker
22019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 5932015NormalBlackKev Walker
32020-09-26The ListPLST RNA-662015NormalBlackKev Walker

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Carrion Imp has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal