Kingpin's Pet MTG Card
2013-02-01 - Number 173
2020-09-26 - Number GTC-173
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Thrull |
| Abilities | Extort,Flying |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 2 |
Key Takeaways
- Extort enables Kingpin’s Pet to incrementally shift life totals, enhancing resource management during play.
- Instant speed activation provides flexibility and unexpected plays to outmaneuver opponents.
- Despite its mana cost and color restrictions, it’s a versatile card for extort-focused strategies.
Text of card
Flying Extort (Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay {WB}. If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life.)
"Debt and death sound so similar, and thrulls are so hard of hearing. Mistakes are inevitable." —Milana, Orzhov prelate
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Kingpin’s Pet excels at leveraging its extort ability to eke out advantage turn after turn. Each spell cast can potentially shrink an opponent’s life total while bolstering your own, contributing to a subtle but impactful swing in resources.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing mana or tokens, this card incentivizes wise mana usage by rewarding the player for keeping extra resources on hand. This ensures you are prepared to utilize its ability each time you cast another spell, pacing the way for a steady resource acceleration.
Instant Speed: The extort ability can be triggered at instant speed, opening up strategic plays during your opponent’s turn. This grants flexibility and surprise, allowing you to respond to an opponent’s threats or bolster your defenses while still reaping the rewards of a drained opponent.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Kingpin’s Pet demands a card discard for unleashing its full potential, risking the depletion of your hand when you could be caught on the back foot seeking critical plays.
Specific Mana Cost: With a mana cost that necessitates both black and white, the card’s flexibility is hampered. This requirement can be challenging, especially in a deck not dedicated to Orzhov synergy or lacking a reliable mana base.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Kingpin’s Pet offers the extort ability — which can bolster your life total while whittling down your opponent’s — its casting cost might be deemed steep for its stats. Seasoned players might opt for creatures that provide more immediate board impact or have lower casting requirements.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Kingpin’s Pet can effortlessly slide into a plethora of decks, many that revolve around life gain strategies or the extort mechanic, giving you a significant advantage during the game.
Combo Potential: This card manifests its true power when combined with other cards that thrive on life-draining mechanics, allowing for a consistent chipping away at your opponent’s life total while bolstering your own.
Meta-Relevance: With a shifting MTG battleground that often sees creature-based combat and incremental life exchanges, Kingpin’s Pet holds its ground as a credible threat, making it a prudent choice for deckbuilders looking to exploit the meta’s tendencies.
How to beat
Kingpin’s Pet can be a persistent nuisance on the battlefield with its extort ability, allowing players to chip away at opponents’ life totals while bolstering their own. The key to overcoming this flying fiend is to remove it before it can leverage its ability or to limit its effectiveness with strategic plays. Cards like Shock or Lightning Bolt can efficiently dispatch Kingpin’s Pet due to its modest toughness. Additionally, utilizing removal spells that bypass its flying attribute, such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile, ensures that this Orzhov creature doesn’t stick around to drain your resources.
Tackling the broader strategy behind Kingpin’s Pet means interrupting the synergy within the extort mechanic. Countering or preventing life gain is essential; thus, cards like Tainted Remedy or Erebos, God of the Dead can sabotage your opponent’s strategy effectively. If Kingpin’s Pet is part of a larger extort-based deck, board wipes such as Wrath of God or Damnation can reset the playing field and reduce the likelihood of an overwhelming extort chain.
Ultimately, maintaining control and choosing the right moment to strike will render Kingpin’s Pet far less threatening. Adapt your deck to include efficient removal and life gain counters and watch as the once-formidable pet cowers at the might of your prepared deck.
Cards like Kingpin's Pet
Kingpin’s Pet is a unique creature card that graces the battlefields of Magic: The Gathering. It shares some similarities with cards like Tithe Drinker in terms of the extort mechanic, enabling you to bleed opponents for resources as you cast spells. While Kingpin’s Pet has flying, giving it aerial superiority, Tithe Drinker lacks this ability but compensates with lifelink, directly bolstering your life total instead.
Examining Vampire Nighthawk, another creature inherently valued for versatility, reveals a creature that offers a different set of advantages. Though it doesn’t possess extort, Nighthawk brings a trifecta of keywords: flying, deathtouch, and lifelink, shaping it as a formidable defender and a threatening attacker in the game. In contrast, Kingpin’s Pet focuses on the extort ability to potentially sway the game’s resource balance in your favor through repeated use.
Ultimately, studying similar cards illustrates Kingpin’s Pet’s potential in a strategy built around the extort mechanic specifically tailored to incrementally drain opponents, whereas other creatures might offer more direct combat benefits or alternative utility on the battlefield.
Cards similar to Kingpin's Pet by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Kingpin's Pet MTG card by a specific set like Gatecrash and The List, 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 Kingpin's Pet and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Kingpin's Pet Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2013-02-01 and 2013-02-01. Illustrated by Mark Zug.
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Kingpin's Pet has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Kingpin's Pet card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2013-04-15 | The amount of life you gain from extort is based on the total amount of life lost, not necessarily the number of opponents you have. For example, if your opponent’s life total can’t change (perhaps because that player controls Platinum Emperion), you won’t gain any life. |
| 2013-04-15 | The extort ability doesn’t target any player. |
| 2013-04-15 | You may pay {W/B} a maximum of one time for each extort triggered ability. You decide whether to pay when the ability resolves. |
