Hezrou // Demonic Stench MTG Card

Hezrou // Demonic Stench - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	7
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant — Adventure
Released	2022-06-10
Set symbol
Set name	Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
Set code	CLB
Number	131
Frame	2015
Layout	Adventure
Border	Black
Illustred by	Brent Hollowell

Key Takeaways

Hezrou’s Demonic Stench is a game-changing ability, forcing opponents to sacrifice creatures and shifting the board state.
The card’s strict mana requirements can limit deck versatility, demanding careful mana base considerations.
Inclusion in a collection brings combo potential and can be a meta-relevant pick in creature-dense environments.

Text of card

Each creature that blocked this turn gets -1/-1 until end of turn. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When Hezrou enters the battlefield, its Demonic Stench ability forces all opponents to sacrifice a creature. This can significantly disrupt your opponent’s board presence, helping you stay ahead in terms of valuable creatures in play.

Resource Acceleration: As a powerhouse on its own, Hezrou potentially removes the need to cast additional creatures to maintain a formidable defense or offense. By conserving other creature spells in your hand, you effectively accelerate your resource management, allowing you to deploy other strategies faster.

Instant Speed: While Hezrou, as a creature, doesn’t operate at instant speed, its Demonic Stench is triggered immediately upon entry, offering an instantaneous impact that can catch opponents off guard during your turn. Additionally, being able to cast it during your main phase gives you the flexibility to respond to your opponent’s strategy with precise timing.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In order to harness Hezrou’s full potential it mandates the player to discard a card. This can be a tactical setback, particularly during late game scenarios when card availability is waning and each resource is invaluable.

Specific Mana Cost: Hezrou demands a stringent mana arrangement to be summoned, specifically a mix of black mana alongside other types. This can be restrictive and often not feasible for a deck that doesn’t primarily focus on black mana, limiting its versatility across varied deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Summoning Hezrou onto the battlefield comes at a steep cost, often dwarfing the cost-benefit when juxtaposed with other creatures in the same mana range. Players must consider their strategic position carefully, as committing to a high-cost creature could potentially disrupt the momentum necessary for a victory.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Hezrou fits well into various Black-Green deck archetypes, bringing substantial board presence and enhancing graveyard-based strategies. Its casting cost is well-aligned with the efficient mana curves sought after in current builds.

Combo Potential: Hezrou’s ability to both benefit from and contribute to creature sacrifice synergies makes it a valuable combo piece. Its Demonic Stench can also unexpectedly disrupt opponents’ creature-based combos, adding a layer of interaction to your game plan.

Meta-Relevance: With creature-heavy decks popular in the meta, Hezrou is well-positioned as a deterrent. Its Demonic Stench forces opponents to think twice about overextending on the battlefield, making it a strategic inclusion against aggressive swarm tactics.

How to beat

Hezrou is an intriguing creature that can cause a stir on the battlefield with its Demonic Stench ability in MTG. This ability makes it tricky because it forces opponents to discard cards, potentially disrupting your game plan. To counter this formidable foe, strategic deck building and playing tactics become crucial.

Firstly, instant-speed removal cards can be key. Having the ability to destroy or exile Hezrou before its attack triggers Demonic Stench can mitigate its threatening board presence. Moreover, utilizing graveyard manipulation spells allows you to benefit from discarding, turning a disadvantage into an advantage. Consider cards like Tormod’s Crypt for a quick response to any graveyard strategies that may arise from the discards.

Enchantment-based removals such as Banishing Light can also be effective, bypassing Hezrou’s potential protection from spells on its own turn. Understanding the timing of abilities and spells ensures that you maintain control over the match. Broadly, being able to anticipate the use of Hezrou and preparing your deck with answers to disrupt its strategy is the best way to secure a triumph against this demonic challenge.

Cards like Hezrou // Demonic Stench

Hezrou stands out in the diverse lineup of creatures within Magic: The Gathering. It draws comparison to Tempting Demon, another creature that brings a significant presence to the battlefield. Tempting Demon, however, does not emit the continuous area-of-effect ability that Hezrou is known for with its Demonic Stench. Acknowledging this, Tempting Demon requires a direct choice from opponents, giving them a semblance of control.

Sifting through the deck, one may find Abyssal Persecutor. A powerhouse in its own right, the Persecutor offers high combat stats for its mana cost much like Hezrou. Yet, it bears a drawback that can prevent a player from winning the game while it’s in play, contrasting Hezrou’s persistent battlefield influence. Then there’s Desecration Demon, another prime comparison given its potential to control the board. Although both have imposing stats, Desecration Demon relies on the actions of the opponent to grow stronger, which can be a gamble compared to the reliable stench Hezrou exudes.

When evaluating Hezrou within the arena of demonic creatures in Magic: The Gathering, its unique combination of board presence through Demonic Stench places it as a consistent and formidable choice for players looking to exert ongoing control.

Cards similar to Hezrou // Demonic Stench by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Hezrou // Demonic Stench MTG card by a specific set like 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 Hezrou // Demonic Stench and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Hezrou // Demonic Stench has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2022-06-10	An adventurer card is a permanent card in every zone except the stack, as well as while on the stack if not cast as an Adventure. Ignore its alternative characteristics in those cases. For example, while it’s in your graveyard, Altar of Bhaal is an artifact card whose mana value is 2.
2022-06-10	An effect may refer to a card, spell, or permanent that “has an Adventure.” This refers to a card, spell, or permanent that has an adventurer card’s set of alternative characteristics, even if they’re not being used and even if that card was never cast as an Adventure.
2022-06-10	Casting a card as an Adventure isn’t casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to the Adventure.
2022-06-10	If a spell is cast as an Adventure, its controller exiles it instead of putting it into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves. For as long as it remains exiled, that player may cast it as a permanent spell. If an Adventure spell leaves the stack in any way other than resolving (most likely by being countered or by failing to resolve because its targets have all become illegal), that card won’t be exiled and the spell’s controller won’t be able to cast it as a permanent later.
2022-06-10	If an adventurer card ends up in exile for any other reason than by exiling itself while resolving, it won’t give you permission to cast it as a permanent spell.
2022-06-10	If an effect copies an Adventure spell, that copy is exiled as it resolves. It ceases to exist as a state-based action; it’s not possible to cast the copy from exile.
2022-06-10	If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative Adventure name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose.
2022-06-10	If an object becomes a copy of an object that has an Adventure, the copy also has an Adventure. If it changes zones, it will either cease to exist (if it’s a token) or cease to be a copy (if it’s a nontoken permanent), and so you won’t be able to cast it as an Adventure.
2022-06-10	If you cast an adventurer card as an Adventure, use only its alternative characteristics to determine whether it’s legal to cast that spell.
2022-06-10	When casting a spell as an Adventure, use the alternative characteristics and ignore all of the card’s normal characteristics. The spell’s color, mana cost, mana value, and so on are determined by only those alternative characteristics. If the spell leaves the stack, it immediately resumes using its normal characteristics.
2022-06-10	You must still follow any relevant timing rules for the permanent spell you cast from exile. Normally, you’ll be able to cast it only during your main phase while the stack is empty.