Vicious Hunger MTG Card

Nemesis (NEM)
2000-02-14 - Number 74

Eighth Edition (8ED)
2003-07-28 - Number 171★

Eighth Edition (8ED)
2003-07-28 - Number 171

Vicious Hunger - Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. Liliana (GVL)

Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. Liliana (GVL)
2014-12-05 - Number 50

Card sets	Released in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery

Key Takeaways

Vicious Hunger offers removal plus life gain, invaluable for momentum and card advantage.
Instant speed allows for versatile disruption and strategic mana efficiency in-game.
Demands black mana commitment, which may limit deck-building flexibility.

Text of card

Vicious Hunger deals 2 damage to target creature. You gain 2 life.

"Blood is foul, the flesh dross. My ascendance thirsts for life itself." —Crovax

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Vicious Hunger provides a dual benefit of removing a creature while also giving you life gain. This two-for-one deal can swing the momentum of a match, providing crucial card advantage against your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: Though not directly impacting resources like mana, the life gained from Vicious Hunger can be considered a form of resource acceleration. The added life increases your staying power, indirectly enabling more aggressive plays or use of life-total-related resources.

Instant Speed: As an instant, Vicious Hunger offers the flexibility to disrupt your opponent’s strategy on their turn. The ability to remove a threat as it arises, especially in combat, makes it a versatile tool in any player’s arsenal. It also allows for more strategic planning and efficient use of mana each round.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Vicious Hunger necessitates a substantial sacrifice from your hand, compelling you to discard, which can lead to a detrimental loss of hand advantage particularly when your resources are stretched thin.

Specific Mana Cost: The card requires a commitment to black mana, restricting its integration solely within black or compatible multicolor decks, potentially limiting your deck-building options.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that may be deemed steep for its life-draining effect, especially when compared to other removal spells in the format, Vicious Hunger can potentially slow down your momentum in the early to mid-game phases.

Reasons to Include Vicious Hunger in Your Collection

Versatility: Vicious Hunger offers a dual benefit by not only dealing damage to creatures but also providing crucial life gain. This card can be a valuable tool in decks that aim to stabilize against faster opponents or those that capitalize on life total as a resource.

Combo Potential: Its ability to remove key creatures while boosting your life total can synergize with strategies that trigger on life gain or loss of life, making it a cog in various combo engines or as part of a more extensive control scheme.

Meta-Relevance: With creature-heavy decks often dominating play, Vicious Hunger can serve as an efficient answer. It’s particularly effective in environments where small to mid-size creatures are prevalent, allowing for pivotal swings in board state and life totals.

How to beat

Vicious Hunger presents a dual threat in Magic the Gathering, offering both life gain and creature destruction. This makes it a formidable card, especially in the early to mid-game. To navigate against it, a strategic approach is necessary. For instance, creature protection spells or abilities can be invaluable. Spells like Gods Willing or creatures with hexproof can effectively negate the impact of Vicious Hunger by preventing the targeting of your key creatures.

Moreover, redirecting the damage to less critical creatures or creating token creatures that can absorb the hit may be a viable tactic to minimize the loss. Additionally, managing your life total above its critical removal range can make the life-stealing aspect less impactful. Cards that provide large amounts of life gain can offset the advantage gained by your opponent and keep you in the game longer.

Ultimately, understanding your deck’s strengths and weaknesses, along with keen awareness of timing, are crucial in outmaneuvering the effects of Vicious Hunger. Incorporating instant-speed responses and maintaining board state diversity can significantly diminish the advantage this card would otherwise confer to your adversary.

Cards like Vicious Hunger

Vicious Hunger stands out in the pantheon of creature removal options available in Magic: The Gathering. This card distinguishes itself by not only destroying a creature but also providing crucial life gain, a valuable advantage compared to other removal spells. Take Doom Blade, for example; it efficiently eliminates non-black creatures at a lower mana cost but without the added benefit of the life gain that Vicious Hunger offers.

Comparing to Moment of Craving, we find a similar dual functionality – removal and life gain. However, Moment of Craving targets only smaller creatures with its -2/-2 effect, whereas Vicious Hunger can take down larger threats due to its fixed damage amount. Murder is another classic removal, with the power to destroy any creature at instant speed, surpassing Vicious Hunger in flexibility, yet it lacks the life gain synergy.

A comprehensive examination reveals that Vicious Hunger has an irreplaceable role for those decks looking to stabilize through creature control and increment life totals. The balance between damage dealt and life gained positions this card as a survival tool in prolonged matches where each life point could be the margin between victory and defeat.

Cards similar to Vicious Hunger by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Vicious Hunger MTG card by a specific set like Nemesis and Eighth Edition, 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 Vicious Hunger and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Vicious Hunger Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2000-02-14 and 2014-12-05. Illustrated by Massimilano Frezzato.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2000-02-14	Nemesis	NEM	74	1997	Normal	Black	Massimilano Frezzato
2	2003-07-28	Eighth Edition	8ED	171★	2003	Normal	Black	Massimilano Frezzato
3	2003-07-28	Eighth Edition	8ED	171	2003	Normal	White	Massimilano Frezzato
4	2014-12-05	Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. Liliana	GVL	50	2015	Normal	Black	Massimilano Frezzato