Soul Swallower MTG Card
2016-04-08 - Number 230s
2016-04-08 - Number 230
2016-04-08 - Number 230
2002-06-24 - Number 60460
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Wurm |
| Abilities | Delirium,Trample |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 3 |
Key Takeaways
- Soul Swallower can quickly become a major threat, growing stronger with each delirium check.
- Its ability to surprise boost at instant speed makes it a versatile combat trick.
- Demands strategic hand management to fully utilize its delirium growth potential.
Text of card
Trample Delirium — At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, put three +1/+1 counters on Soul Swallower.
Being engulfed is just the beginning of the nightmare.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Soul Swallower can become a significant threat by itself. As it gains counters with each of your turn’s delirium checks, this growth potential means one card potentially commanding an overwhelming board presence without the need for additional cards or resources.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly related to acceleration, having a substantial creature like Soul Swallower may indirectly hasten the end for your adversary. Their resources could be quickly depleted in attempting to deal with it, therefore accelerating your path to victory through what is essentially resource denial.
Instant Speed: The Soul Swallower’s interaction with instant-speed spells can be particularly advantageous. Enabling delirium at instant speed with cards that fill your graveyard can unexpectedly increase Soul Swallower’s power and toughness just before damage or in response to an opponent’s threat, making it an unpredictable and formidable asset.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Soul Swallower can strain your hand, as it necessitates holding onto sufficient card types to feed its delirium ability, potentially leading to critical resource scarcities during gameplay.
Specific Mana Cost: This creature’s requirement for both green mana and generic mana makes it less versatile, potentially obstructing seamless integration into multi-colored decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Soul Swallower enters the battlefield later than other threats, which may be detrimental in fast-paced matches where early dominance is key.
Reasons to Include Soul Swallower in Your Collection
Versatility: Soul Swallower thrives in decks that capitalize on the Delirium mechanic. Its ability to grow with the number of card types in your graveyard makes it adaptable to various strategies, from aggressive to more midrange builds.
Combo Potential: This creature’s power scales with graveyard diversity, encouraging synergies with self-mill, reanimation, or types matter themes. It excels in decks that tactically manage the graveyard for maximum impact.
Meta-Relevance: Soul Swallower can be a powerful addition if the meta is ripe with graveyard-fueled strategies. Its continuous growth makes it a looming threat that demands an answer, giving decks an edge that leverages the graveyard as a resource.
How to beat
Soul Swallower is a card that presents an interesting challenge due to its ability to grow in power with delirium, making it an intimidating presence on the battlefield. The key to conquering it lies in disrupting the grave-based mechanics that feed it. Graveyard hate cards, such as Tormod’s Crypt or Relic of Progenitus, can effectively neutralize delirium, stunting the growth of Soul Swallower before it becomes a threat.
Alternatively, keeping the board clear of creatures can also prevent Soul Swallower from achieving its full potential. Utilizing removal spells like Path to Exile or board wipes such as Wrath of God will keep the creature in check. It’s also worth considering exile effects over destruction, as the latter can accidently fuel the graveyard for delirium. Counterspells can serve as a preemptive measure, stopping Soul Swallower before it even hits the field.
Employing these strategies, along with timely intervention, can assure that Soul Swallower remains more of a minor nuisance rather than a game-ending behemoth. Monitoring graveyard composition and responding swiftly are essential tactics for any player aiming to claim victory over this growing threat.
Cards like Soul Swallower
Soul Swallower stands out in the realm of growth-centric creatures in Magic: The Gathering. Its kinship is most closely related to cards like Vinelasher Kudzu, which also gains +1/+1 counters as the land count increases. However, Soul Swallower benefits from the delirium ability, allowing it to grow only if there are four or more card types in your graveyard, unlike the consistent growth of Vinelasher Kudzu with each land drop.
Scute Mob is another creature that thrives as your land base expands, gaining substantial power once you control five or more lands. While Soul Swallower requires a diverse graveyard to scale, Scute Mob’s strength is directly tied to land count without additional conditions. Conversely, Undergrowth Champion presents a different growth mechanism, gaining counters when damage is prevented and landfall occurs. Although not as reliant on graveyard diversity as Soul Swallower, it demands specific gameplay to unlock its potential.
Thus, while evaluating growth potential in similar creatures, Soul Swallower carves its niche with delirium’s strategic depth, offering a unique advantage for players who can fulfill its condition within their deck’s design and gameplay.
Cards similar to Soul Swallower by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Soul Swallower MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Shadows over Innistrad Promos, 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 Soul Swallower 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 Soul Swallower Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2016-04-08 and 2016-04-08. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 60460 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Izzy | ||
| 2 | 2016-04-08 | Shadows over Innistrad Promos | PSOI | 230s | 2015 | Normal | Black | Marco Nelor | |
| 3 | 2016-04-08 | Shadows over Innistrad Promos | PSOI | 230 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Izzy | |
| 4 | 2016-04-08 | Shadows over Innistrad | SOI | 230 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Marco Nelor |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Soul Swallower has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Soul Swallower card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2016-04-08 | Because you consider only the characteristics of a double-faced card’s front face while it’s not on the battlefield, the types of its back face won’t be counted for delirium. |
| 2016-04-08 | In some rare cases, you can have a token or a copy of a spell in your graveyard at the moment that an object’s delirium ability counts the card types among cards in your graveyard, before that token or copy ceases to exist. Because tokens and copies of spells are not cards, even if they are copies of cards, their types will never be counted. |
| 2016-04-08 | Most triggered delirium abilities use an intervening “if” clause. There must be four or more card types among cards in your graveyard in order for these abilities to trigger, otherwise they never trigger at all. There’s no way to have the ability trigger if there aren’t enough card types, even if you intend to raise that number in response to the triggered ability. The number of card types is checked again as the trigger resolves, and if it has become too low somehow, the ability does nothing. If which card types are in your graveyard changes but the quantity of card types stays the same (or increases), then the delirium triggered ability will still resolve. |
| 2016-04-08 | The card types in Magic are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal (a card type that appears on some older cards). Supertypes (such as legendary and basic) and subtypes (such as Human and Equipment) are not counted. |
| 2016-04-08 | The number of card types matters, not the number of cards. For example, Wicker Witch (an artifact creature) along with Catalog (an instant) and Chaplain’s Blessing (a sorcery) will enable delirium. |
