Francisco, Fowl Marauder MTG Card

Card advantage ensures steady resource gain, making Francisco a key piece in dominating the game’s pace. Instant speed token generation with Francisco offers strategic depth and reaction potential during play. Despite Francisco’s power, its high mana cost and specific requirements demand careful deck construction.
Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Creature — Bird Pirate
Abilities Explore,Flying,Partner
Power 0
Toughness 1

Text of card

Flying Francisco, Fowl Marauder can't block. Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal damage to a player, Francisco explores. Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Francisco, Fowl Marauder shines by offering players a reliable way to amass card advantage. Each feather token generated represents a potential card draw, allowing you to steadily outpace your opponents with more resources to work with each turn.

Resource Acceleration: This feathered fiend is more than meets the eye, rewarding your aggression with treasure tokens. These tokens serve as both a form of mana ramp and resource acceleration, giving you the upper hand to cast more spells or activate abilities earlier than usual.

Instant Speed: The ability to create feather tokens at instant speed provides an edge in flexibility and timing. This ensures you can optimize your strategy without having to commit to a single course of action during your own turn, staying reactive and ready to disrupt your opponent’s plans.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: When you call upon Francisco, Fowl Marauder from your deck, you’ll find there’s a price to pay beyond mana. This bird demands a tribute in the form of discarding another card from your hand. In the heat of battle, discarding can feel like clipping your own wings, particularly when your hand is all you’ve got left.

Specific Mana Cost: Francisco may flock to those who indulge in the power of blue and black mana, but this specificity can ruffle some feathers. As such, the card’s stringent mana requirements can limit its versatility, requiring a deck tailored to meet its colorful appetite.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Even in the magical world where creatures of might and mystery abound, economy is key. With a casting cost that’s on the weightier side, Francisco, Fowl Marauder competes with a coop-full of other cards that might not hit as heavy on your mana pool. Savvy players often seek out options that offer similar advantages without the hefty cost, keeping their game flying high without the drag.

Reasons to Include Francisco, Fowl Marauder in Your Collection

Versatility: Francisco, Fowl Marauder boasts flexibility that makes it a compatible choice for numerous deck archetypes. Its presence is valuable in decks that thrive on creatures with flying or those that capitalize on sacrifice mechanics for benefit.

Combo Potential: As a card that benefits from other creatures’ departure, Francisco, Fowl Marauder can be pivotal in combos that rely on creature sacrifice. These synergies allow it to be both a powerful attacker and an enabler for potent plays.

Meta-Relevance: If token creatures and sacrifice strategies continue to hold their ground in the gameplay environment, incorporating Francisco, Fowl Marauder into your deck could provide you with a significant edge. It’s a creature that can potentially disrupt the board and offer advantages as the match progresses.

How to beat Francisco, Fowl Marauder

Overcoming Francisco, Fowl Marauder in Magic: The Gathering requires strategic deck building and a keen understanding of its mechanics. This potent card thrives in a deck centered around bird creatures and nailing down its weakness is crucial for successful play. Notably, Francisco, like other creature cards, is susceptible to removal spells. Efficient removal options such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile can dispatch Francisco before its abilities become a threat to your game plan.

Another viable strategy is to utilize counterspells, intercepting Francisco before it hits the battlefield. Cards like Counterspell or Mana Leak can provide an answer to its casting, ensuring that the marauder’s presence is short-lived. Alternatively, keeping the board clear of other birds can also diminish Francisco’s impact, as its strength lies in the company it keeps. Sweepers like Wrath of God or Blasphemous Act can deal with multiple creatures at once, undermining the tribal synergy that Francisco relies upon to dominate.

For those playing the long game, outpacing Francisco with card advantage and superior threats is a sound approach. Prioritizing draw spells and larger creatures can help tilt the balance in your favor. Ultimately, recognizing and responding to the strategies that Francisco enables will set you up for victory against this skyborne adversary.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Francisco, Fowl Marauder MTG card by a specific set like The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander, 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 Francisco, Fowl Marauder and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Francisco, Fowl Marauder Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2023-11-17 and 2023-11-17. Illustrated by Rudy Siswanto.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12023-11-17The Lost Caverns of Ixalan CommanderLCC 812015NormalBlackRudy Siswanto
22023-11-17The Lost Caverns of Ixalan CommanderLCC 492015NormalBlackRudy Siswanto

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Francisco, Fowl Marauder has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2023-11-10 An effect that checks whether you control your commander is satisfied if you control one or both of your two commanders.
2023-11-10 Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards (or 58 cards in a Commander Draft game) of your deck are shuffled to become your library.
2023-11-10 If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.
2023-11-10 If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.
2023-11-10 If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.
2023-11-10 If one or more Pirates you control deal damage to multiple players at once (for example, in combat, or with an ability such as that of Lightning-Rig Crew), Francisco, Fowl Marauder's ability triggers once for each of those players.
2023-11-10 If something refers to your commander while you have two commanders, it refers to one of them of your choice. If you are instructed to perform an action on your commander (e.g. put it from the command zone into your hand due to Command Beacon), you choose one of your commanders at the time the effect happens.
2023-11-10 If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can only include cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders' combined color identities.
2023-11-10 In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)
2023-11-10 Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
2023-11-10 Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won't have to pay an additional the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 damage from any one of them, not from both of them combined.
2023-11-10 Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.
2023-11-10 To have two commanders, both must have the partner ability as the game begins. Losing the ability during the game doesn't cause either to cease to be your commander.
2023-11-10 You can choose two commanders with partner that are the same color or colors. In Commander Draft, you can even choose two of the same commander with partner if you drafted them. If you do this, make sure you keep the number of times you've cast each from the command zone clear for "commander tax" purposes.