Bull Hippo MTG Card

Portal (POR)
1997-05-01 - Number 160d

Portal (POR)
1997-05-01 - Number 160

Urza's Saga (USG)
1998-10-12 - Number 239

Starter 1999 (S99)
1999-07-01 - Number 126

Seventh Edition (7ED)
2001-04-11 - Number 233★

Seventh Edition (7ED)
2001-04-11 - Number 233

Card sets	Released in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Hippo
Abilities	Islandwalk,Landwalk
Power	3
Toughness	3

Key Takeaways

Forces opponents to waste resources, giving you a subtle card advantage.
Shifts the resource balance subtly, deterring costly opponent spells.
Naturally resilient to blue’s instant-speed interruptions, improving strategy.

Text of card

Islandwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls an Island.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Bull Hippo might not draw cards directly, the ability to freely attack or block without fear of instant-speed removal can indirectly lead to card advantage. By demanding answers from your opponent, you essentially force them to use their resources inefficiently, preserving your own hand.

Resource Acceleration: Bull Hippo doesn’t offer direct mana acceleration, but its presence on the board can dissuade opponents from casting cost-intensive spells, subtly shifting the resource balance in your favor. This defensive advantage can help you race ahead in deploying your threats.

Instant Speed: Although Bull Hippo is a creature spell without instant speed, its impact on the game can affect plays at instant speed. Its natural resilience to blue’s notorious instant-speed tricks ensures your strategy is less likely to be disrupted during critical moments of interaction.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Bull Hippo Mtg Card doesn’t necessitate a discard upon casting, but its significance in gameplay often requires strategic hand management to ensure you can play it without sacrificing essential cards.

Specific Mana Cost: This card comes with a mana cost that includes green symbols, making it suitable primarily for green-focused or multicolor decks that can accommodate such specific mana requirements.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a need for four mana, including three green, Bull Hippo’s casting cost is on the higher side, making it less competitive when compared with other creatures that offer similar or greater strength and abilities for the same or lower mana investment.

Reasons to Include Bull Hippo in Your Collection

Versatility: Bull Hippo provides a solid body on the board that can serve various roles, from a reliable blocker to an offensive threat. Its ability to trample over lesser creatures makes it a useful addition to decks that aim to apply constant pressure on the opponent.

Combo Potential: While not a traditional combo piece, Bull Hippo benefits from cards and effects that increase the damage output of trampling creatures or grant additional combat phases, enhancing its potential to deal significant damage.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that sees a lot of smaller creatures and control decks, Bull Hippo can be a game-changer. With its above-average toughness and trample ability, it can break through lines of defense that are typically put up against single, large threats.

How to beat

The Bull Hippo’s ability to prohibit opponents from playing blue spells during your turn adds a unique layer of defense to your gameplay in Magic: The Gathering. This green creature from the Visions set can be quite a roadblock due to its decent size and peculiar protection from blue spells, which often carry powerful control elements.

To effectively counter Bull Hippo, one strategy is to utilize removal spells that don’t specifically fall into the blue color. Black spells such as “Doom Blade” or “Go for the Throat” offer efficient means to take out the Hippo outside of your turn, ensuring it won’t interfere with your plans. Another tactic is to engage the Hippo in combat with a creature strong enough to survive and eliminate it. Tokens, pump spells, or combat tricks that increase the power and toughness of your creatures can tip the scales in your favor.

Remember, sideboard choices tailored to your meta, such as artifact removal like “Naturalize” can dismantle equipment or enchantments that might be bolstering the Bull Hippo’s resilience. By staying versatile and considering the broad spectrum of spells at your disposal, the Bull Hippo can be tamed and overcome, allowing you to maintain control of the game.

Cards like Bull Hippo

Bull Hippo serves as an intriguing piece in the pantheon of green creature cards in MTG. It finds its peers in cards like Charging Rhino, which shares the same mana cost and also cannot be blocked by more than one creature. Unlike Charging Rhino, however, Bull Hippo lacks trample but brings its unique ability to play, rendering it unblockable by blue creatures.

Another card that treads similar ground is Brutalizer Exarch. Although it offers a different set of abilities, including the utility of searching your library for a creature card or putting a noncreature permanent on the bottom of its owner’s library, it represents the same mana value. It does not share the unblockable trait, but it gives players other tactical advantages.

Exploring these comparisons, we can see that Bull Hippo holds a distinct niche. While it might not have the board impact of some other options, its specific blue creature evasion can be strategically valuable in certain matchups, making Bull Hippo a card that, under the right conditions, can solidly hold its own in MTG’s vast ecosystem of creatures.

Cards similar to Bull Hippo by color, type and mana cost

Ulvenwald Oddity // Ulvenwald Behemoth - MTG Card versions

Viridian Lorebearers - MTG Card versions

Monkey Monkey Monkey - MTG Card versions

Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker - MTG Card versions

Order of the Sacred Bell - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Bull Hippo MTG card by a specific set like Portal and Portal, 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 Bull Hippo and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Bull Hippo Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 1997-05-01 and 2001-04-11. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1997-05-01	Portal	POR	160d	1997	Normal	Black	Roger Raupp
2	1997-05-01	Portal	POR	160	1997	Normal	Black	Roger Raupp
3	1998-10-12	Urza's Saga	USG	239	1997	Normal	Black	Daren Bader
4	1999-07-01	Starter 1999	S99	126	1997	Normal	White	Daren Bader
5	2001-04-11	Seventh Edition	7ED	233★	1997	Normal	Black	Heather Hudson
6	2001-04-11	Seventh Edition	7ED	233	1997	Normal	White	Heather Hudson