Herald's Horn MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 13 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityUncommon
TypeArtifact

Key Takeaways

  1. Herald’s Horn offers card advantage by potentially drawing extra creature cards during your upkeep.
  2. Reduces mana cost for creatures, enhancing your ability to play creatures efficiently.
  3. Increases mana availability for instant speed spells, promoting flexible gameplay.

Text of card

As Herald's Horn enters the battlefield, choose a creature type. Creature spells you cast of the chosen type cost less to cast. At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. If it's a creature card of the chosen type, you may reveal it and put it into your hand.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Herald’s Horn provides an ongoing opportunity to draw an additional card each of your upkeep phases if the top card of your library is a creature card of the chosen type. This feature is particularly beneficial for tribal decks focused on a single creature type, sustaining your hand size and giving you a continuous stream of resources.

Resource Acceleration: Herald’s Horn reduces the mana cost of creature spells you cast that match its chosen type by one, enhancing your ability to deploy creatures to the battlefield more quickly and efficiently. This cost reduction allows for a smoother and potentially more rapid development of your game plan, as it frees up mana that can be utilized for other strategic plays or to react to your opponent’s actions.

Instant Speed: While Herald’s Horn itself doesn’t function at instant speed, the resource acceleration it provides can be critical in getting to the point where you can cast your instant speed spells more effectively. It creates a more stable and flexible mana base enabling you to better keep pace with your opponents by having the necessary mana to respond to threats immediately.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In a game where every card counts, Herald’s Horn demands an upfront discard, potentially depleting your hand of valuable resources or strategies. This can be particularly detrimental late in the game when options are limited and every card can be pivotal to your victory.

Specific Mana Cost: Herald’s Horn requires a precise mana investment of three generic mana, which can be a deck building constraint. This necessity can be challenging in multicolored decks, where mana diversity is essential, and may lead players to miss out on a critical turn of development.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost set at three, Herald’s Horn can feel costly when it hits the battlefield, especially when compared to other mana-efficient options that could be used to advance your board state. This cost becomes more apparent when you consider cards of equivalent mana value that provide immediate impact or more substantial advantage over the course of the game.


Reasons to Include Herald’s Horn in Your Collection

Versatility: Herald’s Horn is a unique artifact that offers cost reduction for creature spells of the chosen type, making it a perfect fit for tribal-themed decks across various formats.

Combo Potential: By potentially drawing an additional card each of your turns, the Horn synergizes well with strategies aiming to maximize card advantage and maintain a full hand.

Meta-Relevance: Effective in games where long-term advantage is key, Herald’s Horn holds up well in environments where tribal decks are prevalent or can gain an edge from consistent creature casting.


How to beat Herald’s Horn

Overcoming the cost-reduction and card advantage that Herald’s Horn provides in MTG can be challenging. This artifact excels in tribal decks, allowing creatures of the chosen type to cost one less mana and potentially drawing an extra card each turn. To mitigate its impact, prioritize removal of the horn itself or implement strategies to disrupt tribal synergies.

Run artifact destruction spells like Abrade or Naturalize to directly answer the horn. Alternatively, focus on hand disruption such as Thoughtseize to prevent your opponent from ever casting it. Board wipes are also effective for clearing creatures buffed by the horn’s cost reduction. Finally, remember to adjust your sideboard for these tools when facing tribal-heavy metagames susceptible to Herald’s Horn’s advantage.


Cards like Herald's Horn

Herald’s Horn is an artifact that stands out in Magic: The Gathering for its tribe-specific cost reduction and card advantage. Like Urza’s Incubator, it makes creatures of the chosen type less expensive to cast, which can be a game-changer for tribal decks aiming to flood the board. However, where Herald’s Horn adds more value is in its ability to potentially draw an extra card each turn, an aspect Urza’s Incubator lacks.

Another comparable artifact is Vanquisher’s Banner. Both cards are admired for their tribal support; however, Vanquisher’s Banner also boosts your creatures’ power and toughness while granting you card draw whenever you summon a creature of the chosen type. While this requires more active synergy to reap the rewards, it doesn’t provide the consistent, potential card draw at your upkeep like Herald’s Horn does.

Ultimately, Herald’s Horn is a solid choice for players who prioritize cost reduction and regular card draw capabilities in their tribal decks. It’s the blend of these two factors that truly sets Herald’s Horn apart in MTG, catering to strategists who enjoy maintaining momentum and card advantage throughout the game.

Urza's Incubator - MTG Card versions
Vanquisher's Banner - MTG Card versions
Urza's Incubator - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Vanquisher's Banner - Ixalan Promos (PXLN)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Herald's Horn MTG card by a specific set like Treasure Chest and Commander 2017, 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 Herald's Horn and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Herald's Horn Magic the Gathering card was released in 12 different sets between 2016-11-16 and 2023-11-17. Illustrated by 4 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12016-11-16Treasure ChestPZ2 657312015normalblackJason Felix
22017-08-25Commander 2017C17 532015normalblackJason Felix
32019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 15932015normalblackJason Felix
42020-07-17JumpstartJMP 4692015normalblackJason Felix
52020-09-26The ListPLST C17-532015normalblackJason Felix
62022-02-25Year of the Tiger 2022PL22 52015normalblackTSWCK
72022-06-10Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's GateCLB 8622015normalblackJason Felix
82022-10-07Warhammer 40,000 Commander40K 241★2015normalblackArtur Nakhodkin
92022-10-07Warhammer 40,000 Commander40K 2412015normalblackArtur Nakhodkin
102023-04-21March of the Machine CommanderMOC 3602015normalblackJason Felix
112023-06-23Tales of Middle-earth CommanderLTC 2802015normalblackZoltan Boros
122023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 9532015normalblackJason Felix
132023-11-17The Lost Caverns of Ixalan CommanderLCC 3042015normalblackJason Felix

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Herald's Horn has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
GladiatorLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Herald's Horn card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2017-08-25 If you don't put the top card of your library into your hand, you put it back on top of your library without revealing it. You'll draw it in that turn's draw step.
2017-08-25 If you somehow control a Herald's Horn with no chosen creature type, no spells will cost less to cast, not even creature spells with no creature type. You'll be able to look at the top card of your library at the beginning of each of your upkeeps, but you can never put it into your hand this way, even if it's a creature card with no creature type.
2017-08-25 The effect of Herald's Horn reduces only generic mana in a spell's cost. If that cost has no generic mana, the cost isn't reduced.
2017-08-25 To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was.
2017-08-25 You can't choose multiple creature types, such as "Cat Warrior." A Cat Warrior is both a Cat and a Warrior. It's affected by anything that affects either type and unaffected by things that affect non-Cat or non-Warrior creatures.
2017-08-25 You must choose an existing creature type, such as Vampire or Cat. Card types such as "artifact" can't be chosen.

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