Eater of Days MTG Card

Darksteel (DST)
2004-02-06 - Number 120

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 1576

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number DST-120

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact Creature — Leviathan
Abilities	Flying,Trample
Power	9
Toughness	8

Key Takeaways

Eater of Days delivers high power and toughness, potentially swinging the game in your favor.
Deck synergy is key, using cards like Torpor Orb to circumvent its turnaround drawback.
Properly timed counters and removal can minimize the downside of losing turns.

Text of card

Flying, trample When Eater of Days comes into play, you skip your next two turns.

When Mirrodin's varied civilizations developed ways to fight the levelers, Memnarch upped the stakes.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Despite its intimidating drawback of skipping your next two turns, Eater of Days can lead to substantial card advantage. When it hits the battlefield, you’ve effectively played a 9/8 flying trampler, a powerful behemoth that can quickly decimate your opponent’s life total or trade with multiple creatures on their side. The sheer presence it commands often forces your opponent to spend more resources to deal with it than you invested in playing it.

Resource Acceleration: While Eater of Days itself doesn’t accelerate your mana, it does present a unique opportunity in decks that can cheat it onto the battlefield without casting it from hand, thus nullifying its drawback. In such scenarios, your mana base and acceleration tools remain untouched, allowing you to leverage other plays while your formidable creature starts to pressure the opponent. Effects that put creatures directly into play, such as through reanimation or through using cards like Quicksilver Amulet, can be seen as indirect resource acceleration.

Instant Speed: Although Eater of Days is not an instant, strategies surrounding it can benefit from playing at instant speed. By using instant-speed reanimation spells or flash abilities to introduce Eater of Days to the field during an opponent’s turn, you can potentially avoid its detrimental enter-the-battlefield effect, setting you up for a strong play on your next turn without the downside of lost turns.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Eater of Days provides a substantial body on the board, it requires a player to skip their next two turns as part of its entering the battlefield effect. This can be a significant drawback, leaving you vulnerable without the ability to draw cards or play spells to respond to your opponent’s moves.

Specific Mana Cost: Eater of Days demands a precise mana combination to cast—two colorless and two more mana of any type. This requirement can be restrictive for decks that are not built around producing colorless mana or that have a mana base focused on multiple colors, leading to challenges in casting the card on curve.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: At four mana for a 9/8 flyer, Eater of Days seems like a great deal. However, when you evaluate the cost of skipping two turns, the initial cost-to-power ratio loses its luster. There are alternative creatures and spells that might not have such a significant downside while still providing strategic advantages at this mana cost.

Reasons to Include Eater of Days in Your Collection

Versatility: Despite its unique drawback, Eater of Days can be a powerhouse in decks designed to manipulate or negate its entering the battlefield trigger, such as those using Torpor Orb or Sundial of the Infinite.

Combo Potential: This card opens up interesting combo avenues, pairing well with stifle effects or cards like Flickerwisp to bypass its detrimental trigger while capitalizing on a swift 9/8 flyer hitting the board.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where the battlefield can change in an instant, having a creature that can act as a game-changer, especially one with trample to bypass blockers, can be a critical advantage.

How to beat Eater of Days

Eater of Days is a formidable creature in Magic: The Gathering, notorious for its downside of skipping your next two turns upon entering the battlefield. While it appears to be a setback, savvy players can turn this to their advantage. It’s essential to have a strategy ready to counteract the tempo loss. One efficient method to mitigate the drawback is to employ instant-speed removal spells right before the start of your turn. This way, you prevent the loss of turns while dealing with the threat on the board.

Furthermore, Torpor Orb is an artifact that nullifies the enter-the-battlefield abilities of creatures, making Eater of Days a significant power play without its typical cost. Permission spells like counterspells also serve as a preventive measure, ensuring Eater of Days never impacts the battlefield. Last but not least, if the creature does land, cards that untap your lands or provide extra turns can help to swiftly recover from the lost turns, enabling you to get back in the game with minimal disruption.

Ultimately, when faced with Eater of Days, effective timing, tactical use of spells, and suitable counter measures can transform a daunting opponent into a manageable challenge within the landscape of Magic: The Gathering’s dynamic gameplay.

Cards like Eater of Days

Eater of Days takes a unique position among Magic: The Gathering creatures due to its immediate impact on the board state. Similar to other high-powered artifacts like Phyrexian Dreadnought, it offers a considerable amount of power and toughness for a low mana cost. Eater of Days, however, challenges players with a significant downside, causing them to skip their next two turns upon entering the battlefield, which can be a risky play.

Leveller is another creature that shares the theme of providing substantial stats for a smaller investment but comes with a game-altering catch. In this case, the user’s library is entirely removed from the game. Myr Superion also enters this field with a potent stat line for its mana cost, although it can only be cast using mana produced by creatures. Juxtaposing these cards with Eater of Days, it becomes clear that MTG is home to a variety of creatures that balance high power with serious drawbacks, asking players to weigh immediate value against potential long-term risks.

The strategy around Eater of Days and its counterparts tends to revolve around mitigating their disadvantages while exploiting their strengths, offering a thrilling challenge for MTG players who dare to harness their full potential.

Phyrexian Dreadnought - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Eater of Days by color, type and mana cost

Krark-Clan Ironworks - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Eater of Days MTG card by a specific set like Darksteel and Mystery Booster, 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 Eater of Days and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Eater of Days Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2004-02-06 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Mark Tedin.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2004-02-06	Darksteel	DST	120	2003	Normal	Black	Mark Tedin
2	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	1576	2003	Normal	Black	Mark Tedin
3	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	DST-120	2003	Normal	Black	Mark Tedin