Dusk Urchins MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Ouphe |
| Released | 2008-05-02 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Shadowmoor |
| Set code | SHM |
| Power | 4 |
| Toughness | 3 |
| Number | 65 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Darrell Riche |
Key Takeaways
- Dusk Urchins excels in card advantage, providing extra cards upon dealing combat damage for future strategic plays.
- The card supports resource acceleration indirectly through additional card draws leading to more ramp opportunities.
- Instant speed spells enhance Dusk Urchin’s synergy, maximizing card draw before it leaves the battlefield.
Text of card
Whenever Dusk Urchins attacks or blocks, put a -1/-1 counter on it. When Dusk Urchins is put into a graveyard from play, draw a card for each -1/-1 counter on it.
They spawn from shadow, wreaking chaos until shadow claims them again.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Dusk Urchins is adept at refilling your hand. Each time it deals combat damage, you’re setting up for future plays by netting more cards, which is an intrinsic part of winning in MTG.
Resource Acceleration: Although Dusk Urchins doesn’t directly generate mana, it can significantly contribute to resource acceleration by providing you with additional cards, which in turn can be resources or lead to drawing into more ramp spells.
Instant Speed: While Dusk Urchins operates at sorcery speed, its synergy with instant speed spells and abilities is notable. You can respond to the removal of Dusk Urchins by boosting its power to ensure you get the most out of its on-death trigger, maximizing your card draw.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Dusk Urchins mandates the discard of the card itself upon triggering its ability, which can deplete your field presence, a significant drawback during tightly contested matches.
Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost that requires three black mana, this card demands a dedicated color commitment, potentially restricting its integration into multi-color decks and hindering its flexibility.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The three mana investment for Dusk Urchins may prove hefty, particularly when options exist that might deploy threats or provide card advantage at a reduced mana expenditure.
Reasons to Include Dusk Urchins in Your Collection
Versatility: Dusk Urchins offers a unique blend of aggressive stats and card advantage that can fit into a variety of black-based decks. Its ability to draw cards upon death makes it equally valuable for aggressive strategies and control decks looking to maintain hand advantage.
Combo Potential: The card’s death-triggered ability to draw cards scales with the number of +1/+1 counters on it, making it a synergistic piece in decks that manipulate these counters. This opens up potential for combos with cards that proliferate or double counters.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta where trading creatures in combat is common, Dusk Urchins becomes a cost-effective tool. It can deter opponents from attacking or ensure that you benefit from inevitable combat, keeping you ahead in resource accumulation.
How to beat
Dusk Urchins is a unique card from Magic: The Gathering that offers players the ability to draw cards upon its demise, making it a tricky opponent on the battlefield. To mitigate its advantage, consider employing removal spells that exile instead of destroy. Cards like Path to Exile ensure that Dusk Urchins doesn’t trigger its card draw ability, keeping your adversary from gaining that extra card advantage.
Enchantment-based removals, such as Oblivion Ring, provide a solution too. While they don’t permanently remove Dusk Urchins, they effectively neutralize it and prevent it from drawing cards until the enchantment is dealt with. Additionally, combat tricks and buff spells can help your creatures overpower Dusk Urchins in battle without triggering its ability, keeping you ahead in the card economy game.
Utilizing these strategies can be the key to maintaining momentum against a card like Dusk Urchins. It’s essential to choose your removal wisely and to be aware of when to engage it in combat, ensuring that its last-ditch effort to supply your opponent with added resources is stifled.
Cards like Dusk Urchins
Dusk Urchins is a unique creature card in MTG, sharing some traits with other cards yet standing out in its own right. Its ability to amass counters and draw cards upon its departure from the battlefield is reminiscent of creatures like Grim Haruspex. Grim Haruspex doesn’t receive counters, but it allows the controller to draw a card whenever another nontoken creature they control dies. Dusk Urchins requires some setup to fully utilize its potential, whereas Grim Haruspex does not.
Foulmire Knight is another card in the conversation, offering the advantage of an Adventure that draws a card in addition to presenting a deathtouch body on the field. While it doesn’t accumulate value through counters like Dusk Urchins, its versatility can be an asset in early and late game situations. Whereas Dusk Urchins can potentially draw multiple cards, Foulmire Knight offers a more consistent, though lesser, draw effect.
Assessing creature cards that deliver card advantage, Dusk Urchins exhibits a balance between creature combat and strategic planning for card draw, providing a distinctive role in MTG decks that thrive on the interplay of creature death and hand replenishment.
Cards similar to Dusk Urchins by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Dusk Urchins MTG card by a specific set like Shadowmoor, 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 Dusk Urchins 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
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Dusk Urchins has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Dusk Urchins card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-05-01 | If Dusk Urchins has just 1 toughness when it blocks, it will get a -1/-1 counter and be put into the graveyard. The creature that it blocked remains blocked, however. |
| 2008-05-01 | The -1/-1 counter is put on Dusk Urchins during the declare attackers or declare blockers step, whichever is appropriate, so it will be smaller by the time combat damage is dealt. (Note that this is different from how the _Shadowmoor_ card Wicker Warcrawler works.) |
