Gorging Vulture MTG Card

Gorging Vulture enables strategic self-milling, enhancing graveyard synergy and setting up future plays. Its entrance triggers life gain, subtly boosting survivability against aggressive decks in MTG. Instant impact of Gorging Vulture mimics instant-speed benefits, disrupting opponent plans effectively.
Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Bird
Abilities Flying,Mill
Power 2
Toughness 2

Text of card

Flying When Gorging Vulture enters the battlefield, put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard. You gain 1 life for each creature card put into your graveyard this way.

Cards like Gorging Vulture

Gorging Vulture is an intriguing creature card in the realm of Magic: The Gathering, sharing features with other graveyard-manipulating flyers. One close relative is Sultai Scavenger, which also benefits from the graveyard by gaining value through Delve, reducing its casting cost as you exile cards from your graveyard. Moreover, Wayward Servant earns an honorable mention, although not a flyer, it exploits the graveyard for incremental life drain advantages whenever a zombie enters the battlefield.

Then there is Crow of Dark Tidings, which, akin to Gorging Vulture, helps stock the graveyard. While both creatures put cards into the graveyard upon entering the battlefield, Crow of Dark Tidings also does so when it dies, providing an additional trigger for decks looking to exploit such effects. Pilfering Imp offers flexibility, allowing graveyard setup through its sacrifice ability or functioning as a hand disruption tool against opponents.

Comparing these cards, Gorging Vulture may not have the direct impact of disruption like Pilfering Imp, but it shines in its capability to contribute to graveyard strategies while also providing an aerial blocker or attacker. Each creature has its niche, yet Gorging Vulture establishes a presence that’s tough to overlook for any deck that benefits from self-mill and life gain.

Sultai Scavenger - MTG Card versions
Wayward Servant - MTG Card versions
Crow of Dark Tidings - MTG Card versions
Pilfering Imp - MTG Card versions
Sultai Scavenger - MTG Card versions
Wayward Servant - MTG Card versions
Crow of Dark Tidings - MTG Card versions
Pilfering Imp - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When Gorging Vulture enters the battlefield, it immediately mills four cards from your library into your graveyard. This action can strategically place crucial cards into your graveyard, a technique often exploited in decks that capitalize on graveyard synergy. It not only sifts through the deck to potentially draw into better cards but also sets up advantageous plays for future turns.

Resource Acceleration: Each creature milled this way inches you forward by granting you one life, subtly but effectively accelerating your resource pool. This life gain may seem small but can be pivotal in matchups where staving off aggressive opponents buys you the time you need to set up your board and execute your strategy.

Instant Speed: While Gorging Vulture itself isn’t an instant, the immediate impact it has on the game state once it lands on the battlefield mimics the advantages of instant-speed interaction. You don’t have to wait for a sorcery-speed window to start executing your strategy, which can be crucial in outpacing opponents or disrupting their plans.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Gorging Vulture necessitates putting cards from the top of your library into your graveyard, which may inadvertently discard key pieces you need for your strategy or combo setups.

Specific Mana Cost: This creature card demands a precise mana combination to cast, one colorless and one black mana, potentially limiting its inclusion to decks with a strong black mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of two mana for a 2/2 flyer, some players may find it less appealing compared to other cards at the same cost that provide more immediate board impact or value.

Reasons to Include Gorging Vulture in Your Collection

Versatility: Gorging Vulture provides an interesting angle for graveyard-based strategies, fitting well in black or multicolor decks aiming to utilize their graveyards as an extended resource. It serves as a key player in decks where creatures like to leap in and out of the graveyard.

Combo Potential: When Gorging Vulture enters the battlefield, milling cards can set up potential synergies with cards that benefit from having creatures in the graveyard. Think of it as the piece that connects your strategic puzzle by getting the right cards into your graveyard to later exploit with reanimation spells or abilities.

Meta-Relevance: With metagames often swaying towards graveyard strategies, a card like Gorging Vulture can be a sleeper hit, gaining life and setting up your deck mechanics subtly but effectively. It’s especially relevant in matches where managing your life total and graveyard is crucial to outlasting opponents.

How to beat

Gorging Vulture is a crafty creature card that introduces a self-milling dynamic to the game, placing the top four cards of your library into your graveyard upon entering the battlefield. This can power up graveyard-based strategies but also opens a window to turn the situation in your favor. Against the Vulture, gravitate towards cards that can exile or shuffle graveyards back into the library, hindering your opponent’s strategy and reducing the benefits of their creature’s ability.

Cards like Tormod’s Crypt provide a quick and mana-efficient response to immediately neutralize the graveyard threat by exiling all cards from an opponent’s graveyard at no cost. Leyline of the Void can offer a more preventative measure, exiling cards as they hit the graveyard, ensuring the impact of Gorging Vulture’s ability is negated completely. Alternatively, introducing graveyard shuffling cards such as Feldon’s Cane or Perpetual Timepiece allows you to reset the graveyard, thereby mitigating the potency of cards that thrive on a well-stocked graveyard.

By strategically incorporating these countermeasures, you tackle not just Gorging Vulture but also the broader spectrum of graveyard-centric decks potentially lurking within your MTG meta.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Gorging Vulture MTG card by a specific set like Core Set 2020 and Jumpstart 2022, 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 Gorging Vulture and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Gorging Vulture Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2019-07-12 and 2024-02-23. Illustrated by Caio Monteiro.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12019-07-12Core Set 2020M20 1022015NormalBlackCaio Monteiro
22022-12-02Jumpstart 2022J22 4202015NormalBlackCaio Monteiro
32024-02-23Ravnica: Clue EditionCLU 1122015NormalBlackCaio Monteiro

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Gorging Vulture has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal