Nihilith MTG Card

Future Sight (FUT)
2007-05-04 - Number 72

Nihilith - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate (CLB)

Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate (CLB)
2022-06-10 - Number 765

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Rare
Type	Creature — Horror
Abilities	Fear,Suspend
Power	4
Toughness	4

Key Takeaways

Nihilith excels in gaining card advantage through its unblockable nature and ability to manipulate time counters.
Strategic players benefit from Nihilith by planning resource allocation, making it an unpredictable threat.
Instant speed counter removal is a game-changer, granting a dynamic approach to swing matches.

Text of card

Fear Suspend 7— Whenever a card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, if Nihilith is suspended, you may remove a time counter from Nihilith.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nihilith enters the battlefield with time counters on it, which tick down each turn. Moreover, if an opponent has cards leaving their graveyard, you may remove a time counter, hastening its arrival. Once on the battlefield, its fear ability makes it unblockable by most creatures, effectively ensuring consistent damage and potential victory.

Resource Acceleration: Although Nihilith itself doesn’t directly provide resource acceleration, its suspend characteristic offers strategic planning. By suspending Nihilith for a meager one black mana, you can allocate resources elsewhere while knowing a potent threat will emerge in due course.

Instant Speed: The capacity to remove time counters from Nihilith instantly when an opponent’s card leaves their graveyard can significantly alter the pacing of the game. This ability to interact on your opponent’s turn adds a layer of complexity and can catch opponents off guard, swinging the momentum in your favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Nihilith card mandates the discard of another card as part of its casting cost, which could deplete your hand, leaving you with fewer options as the game progresses.

Specific Mana Cost: Nihilith’s mana cost requires black mana, making it less versatile. This restricts its inclusion primarily to mono-black or multi-color decks with a strong black mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Nihilith comes with a significant mana cost. Comparable creatures offer either more compelling abilities or stats for a similar or lower investment, potentially providing better value.

Reasons to Include Nihilith in Your Collection

Versatility: Nihilith’s flexible casting conditions allow it to be deployed in various deck types, particularly those utilizing graveyard strategies or needing a robust finisher.

Combo Potential: This card synergizes with graveyard manipulation, enabling powerful combinations with mechanics like cycling or flashback to achieve an earlier and impactful board presence.

Meta-Relevance: In environments heavy with suspend cards or those that frequently cycle cards to the graveyard, Nihilith’s fear ability and potential for rapid deployment make it a strong contender, capable of swinging games in your favor.

How to Beat

Nihilith presents a unique challenge on the battlefield with its formidable mechanic that allows it to come into play much sooner if certain conditions are met. The key strategy to undermine Nihilith is to limit the number of suspended cards an opponent possesses. Without suspended cards, Nihilith loses its agility and becomes much slower to cast, providing players with more time to prepare or deploy countermeasures.

Control decks excel in setting the pace of the match and are particularly effective against Nihilith. Utilizing counterspells to prevent the opponent from suspending cards or casting Nihilith at all can be a game changer. A well-timed removal spell can also do wonders once Nihilith hits the table. Additionally, graveyard disruption techniques can be employed to deny the recasting of Nihilith from the graveyard, ensuring that once it is dealt with, it stays out of the game.

Ultimately, flexibility and foresight are crucial in circumventing the strengths of Nihilith. By employing these strategies, players can significantly diminish the impact of Nihilith and maintain dominance in their MTG matches.

Cards like Nihilith

Nihilith makes a striking impression on players seeking impactful creatures in MTG. In essence, it shares traits with creatures like Eater of Days – both have the potential to hit the battlefield earlier than their mana cost would typically allow. Nihilith uses the suspend mechanic, relying on time counters and an opponent’s card being sent to the graveyard to enter the fray earlier. Eater of Days, while not using suspend, also has a setback tied to its early arrival by granting opponents two extra turns.

Another creature casting its shadow in this space is Phyrexian Negator, which, much like Nihilith, offers a formidable presence for a lower cost at the risk of potential downside – the loss of your permanents when it takes damage. While Nihilith’s caveat is tied to the suspend condition and graveyard interaction, the Negator’s is linked directly to its combat resilience. Furthermore, we have Leveler, a creature that eliminates the player’s library upon entering the battlefield. This presents a unique risk/reward scenario akin to Nihilith’s game-changing early appearance from suspend.

All in all, Nihilith secures a niche spot among MTG’s creatures, appealing for its early-game potential and its synergetic design with graveyard-focused strategies, setting it apart in the realms of risky, yet rewarding creature play.

Cards similar to Nihilith by color, type and mana cost

Chittering Harvester - MTG Card versions

Crossway Troublemakers - MTG Card versions

Geth, Lord of the Vault - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nihilith MTG card by a specific set like Future Sight and Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, 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 Nihilith and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Nihilith Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2007-05-04 and 2022-06-10. Illustrated by Dave Allsop.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2007-05-04	Future Sight	FUT		72	2003	Normal	Black	Dave Allsop
2	2022-06-10	Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate	CLB		765	2015	Normal	Black	Dave Allsop

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nihilith has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2007-05-01	If a token is put into an opponent's graveyard from the battlefield, or a copy of a spell is put into an opponent's graveyard from the stack, Nihilith's ability will not trigger, because the ability references “a card.”
2021-06-18	A creature cast using suspend will enter the battlefield with haste. It will have haste until another player gains control of it. (In some rare cases, another player may gain control of the creature spell itself. If this happens, the creature won't enter the battlefield with haste.)
2021-06-18	As the second triggered ability resolves, you must cast the card if able. You must do so even if it requires targets and the only legal targets are ones that you really don't want to target. Timing permissions based on the card's type are ignored.
2021-06-18	Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up.
2021-06-18	Exiling a card with suspend isn't casting that card. This action doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to.
2021-06-18	If an effect refers to a “suspended card,” that means a card that (1) has suspend, (2) is in exile, and (3) has one or more time counters on it.
2021-06-18	If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18	If the first triggered ability of suspend (the one that removes time counters) is countered, no time counter is removed. The ability will trigger again at the beginning of the card's owner's next upkeep.
2021-06-18	If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can't be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it's no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If the spell requires any targets, those targets are chosen when the spell is finally cast, not when it's exiled.
2021-06-18	If you can't cast the card, perhaps because there are no legal targets available, it remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it's no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” such as with suspend, you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those if you want to cast the card.
2021-06-18	Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it's on the stack).
2021-06-18	The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn't paid.
2021-06-18	When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn't matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it.
2021-06-18	You are never forced to activate mana abilities to pay costs, so if there is a mandatory additional mana cost (such as from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben), you can decline to activate mana abilities to pay for it and hence fail to cast the suspended card, leaving it in exile.
2021-06-18	You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage's ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time.