Heron of Hope MTG Card
2021-11-19 - Number 18
2022-01-28 - Number 285
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Bird |
| Abilities | Flying |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 3 |
Key Takeaways
- Provides sustained card advantage through life gain linked effects and triggers.
- Enables indirect resource acceleration by boosting other life-related cards.
- Can be activated at instant speed for strategic flexibility and disruption.
Text of card
Flying If you would gain life, you gain that much life plus 1 instead. : Heron of Hope gains lifelink until end of turn.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Heron of Hope provides sustained advantage by enabling life gain strategies, which often translate into drawing extra cards or triggering beneficial effects each time you gain life.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly ramping your mana, the life gain from Heron of Hope can fuel other cards in your deck that convert life into resources or reduce costs, thus indirectly accelerating your game plan.
Instant Speed: The ability of Heron of Hope to be activated at instant speed provides flexibility, allowing you to respond to opponents’ actions or optimize your life gain triggers to disrupt their strategies.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The Heron of Hope requires a player to discard a card for its added abilities, which may deplete essential resources from your hand, particularly if you’re already struggling to maintain card advantage on the field.
Specific Mana Cost: This card comes with a specific white mana cost that can challenge deck flexibility. Decks not heavily invested in white mana might find it difficult to consistently play Heron of Hope when needed.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its mana cost, Heron of Hope is an investment, and in the fast-paced environment of modern MTG gameplay, this may lag behind other cards with lower costs and immediate impacts. Other creatures or enchantments might offer better utility or board presence for the same or lower investment.
Reasons to Include Heron of Hope in Your Collection
Versatility: Heron of Hope is adaptable across various decks, providing both a flying threat and a steady means of life gain which is useful in any game state.
Combo Potential: This card can seamlessly integrate into life gain strategies, synergizing with effects that trigger upon gaining life and increasing your survivability.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta that sees a swarm of aggressive decks, Heron of Hope stands as a pillar of defense, deterring attackers and tipping the scales back to your favor with its ability to boost your life total.
How to beat
Heron of Hope is an enchanting creature card that offers both a life gain and an aerial threat on the battlefield. Within the game’s ecosystem, cards like it bring a blend of sustainability and power, balancing the dynamics between life totals and board presence. However, despite its strengths, certain strategies can efficiently tackle this feathered adversary.
Removal spells are the most straightforward method to dispatch Heron of Hope. Cards such as Murder or Path to Exile can instantly remove it from play, destabilizing your opponent’s strategy. Additionally, countering it upon cast with spells like Counterspell negates the threat even before it takes flight. If you’re looking to circumvent its life gain feature, consider employing cards that stop lifegain, like Tainted Remedy, which converts health boosts into damage.
Moreover, combat tricks and creatures with higher flying capabilities can overtake Heron of Hope in aerial combat, ensuring your skies aren’t dominated by its presence. In essence, while Heron of Hope can conjure a challenge, a well-prepared plan involving removal, countering, or superior flight can ensure it’s a challenge easily overcome.
Cards like Heron of Hope
Heron of Hope is a unique creature card in the vast landscape of Magic: The Gathering. When it comes to lifegain-focused flyers, it stands shoulder to shoulder with cards like Healer’s Hawk. Both possess flying and lifelink, yet Healer’s Hawk is more affordable mana-wise. Heron of Hope, however, shines with its ability to boost life gain, a trait the Hawk lacks.
Another card worth comparing is Ajani’s Pridemate, which doesn’t fly but gets stronger whenever you gain life. While it doesn’t directly increase life gain like Heron of Hope, Pridemate can quickly become a significant threat. Lone Missionary is also in the mix, offering an immediate burst of life upon entering the battlefield, though it lacks the continued life gain synergy that Heron of Hope provides through its sustained presence and abilities.
In accessing the roles within lifegain decks, Heron of Hope offers a supportive flyer that can act both defensively and as an incremental advantage engine. It provides players with a valuable tool for decks focused on life total as a resource, distinguishing itself as a versatile option compared to its counterparts.
Cards similar to Heron of Hope by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Heron of Hope MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Crimson Vow and Innistrad: Double Feature, 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 Heron of Hope 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 Heron of Hope Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2021-11-19 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by Daarken.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-11-19 | Innistrad: Crimson Vow | VOW | 18 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Daarken | |
| 2 | 2022-01-28 | Innistrad: Double Feature | DBL | 285 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Daarken |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Heron of Hope has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Heron of Hope card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-11-19 | Each creature with lifelink dealing combat damage causes a separate life-gaining event. For example, if two creatures you control with lifelink deal combat damage at the same time, Heron of Hope's second ability will apply to those two events separately. However, if a single creature you control with lifelink deals combat damage to multiple creatures, players, and/or planeswalkers at the same time (perhaps because it has trample or was blocked by more than one creature), the ability will apply only once. |
| 2021-11-19 | If you control two Heron of Hopes and you would gain life, you gain that much life plus 2. A third Heron of Hope has you gain that much life plus 3, and so on. |
| 2021-11-19 | In a Two-Headed Giant game, life gained by your teammate won't cause Heron of Hope's second ability to apply, even though it will cause your team's life total to increase. |
| 2021-11-19 | The middle ability of Heron of Hope applies just once to each life-gaining event, whether it's 1 life from Impassioned Orator or 4 life from Dawning Angel. If you gain an amount of life “for each” of something or “equal to the number” of something, that life is gained as one event and the ability of Heron of Hope applies only once. |
