Behemoth's Herald MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Elf Shaman
Released	2008-10-03
Set symbol
Set name	Shards of Alara
Set code	ALA
Power	1
Toughness	1
Number	124
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Paolo Parente

Key Takeaways

Behemoth’s Herald facilitates indirect card advantage by cheating creatures onto the battlefield.
It accelerates resource allocation, circumventing normal mana costs for casting creatures.
Synchronizing with instant speed effects, the Herald disrupts opponents unexpectedly.

Text of card

, , Sacrifice a red creature, a green creature, and a white creature: Search your library for a card named Godsire and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.

"Mine is an insatiable god, with appetites as magnificent as the jungle itself."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Behemoth’s Herald can put a creature card into play potentially without spending mana on creature casting. This bypasses conventional casting methods and maintains your hand’s content, thereby creating indirect card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: By streamlining the deployment of a high-cost creature onto the battlefield, Behemoth’s Herald acts as a form of resource acceleration. It achieves this by circumventing the traditional mana costs associated with casting large creatures, allowing you to allocate your resources elsewhere.

Instant Speed: Although Behemoth’s Herald isn’t an instant itself, it synergizes well with flash creatures or effects that can be activated at instant speed. This interaction can result in surprising plays that disrupt your opponent’s strategy at crucial moments during the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Behemoth’s Herald comes with the necessity to discard a creature card, which may be detrimental when your hand is already depleted or the creatures in your hand are vital for upcoming plays.

Specific Mana Cost: Behemoth’s Herald asks for a precise combination of mana colors to summon it to the battlefield. This can be a tricky requirement, especially in multi-colored decks that might not always have the right mana available at the crucial moment.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The card’s activation cost is something players need to consider carefully. While it enables the summoning of a powerful creature, the four mana needed could potentially be allocated towards developing the board with other creatures or spells providing more immediate impact.

Reasons to Include Behemoth’s Herald in Your Collection

Versatility: Behemoth’s Herald offers a flexible role in decks designed around creature summoning and ramp strategies. Its ability to search for specific creature cards makes it a useful inclusion in green decks.

Combo Potential: This card excels at setting up powerful creature-based combos. By paying the mana and tapping it, you get to put a towering creature onto the battlefield a turn sooner, integrating seamlessly with decks that seek to quickly overwhelm opponents.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where creature decks shine, Behemoth’s Herald can be particularly potent. It’s a great tool for players looking to outpace their opponents with large, influential creatures that can dominate the game.

How to beat

Behemoth’s Herald sits in a unique niche for creature-focused decks in Magic: The Gathering. It boasts the intriguing ability to summon a colossal creature for a reduced cost, turning the tide of battle in your favor. However, its strength can be mitigated with strategic plays. One of the simplest methods is to disrupt the Herald’s summoning process. By employing counter spells or removal effects before the Herald’s ability is activated, you can prevent the summoning of a titanic creature that could otherwise dominate the game.

Decks with access to instant-speed interactions flourish against such cards, as they can wait for the opportune moment to eliminate the threat, maintaining mana efficiency and board control. Cards with abilities like “destroy target creature” or “exile target creature” are particularly effective, as they can remove the Herald permanently from the equation. Hand disruption techniques can also be invaluable, as they deny the player the necessary pieces to fulfill the Herald’s ability condition, maintaining a controlled and threat-free board state.

Considering these counteractive measures, players can devise a game plan that secures dominance against Behemoth’s Herald, ensuring that the gigantic creatures it seeks to summon never see the light of the battlefield.

Cards like Behemoth's Herald

Behemoth’s Herald joins the ranks of MTG’s creature tutors that act as gateways to powerful entities. Much like its counterparts, such as Elvish Piper, Behemoth’s Herald has a unique activation that beckons colossal creatures from your deck. However, where Elvish Piper can put any creature card into play, Behemoth’s Herald focuses its summoning power, specifically calling forth creature cards with the name ‘Godsire.’ Unlike other generic creature tutors like Fauna Shaman, which demand a discard for its search, Herald’s condition requires a specific mana investment and sacrifices to generate its effect.

Another familiar card in this sphere is Quicksilver Amulet. While this artifact skirts around mana costs and summoning conditions entirely, Behemoth’s Herald offers a narrower but significantly mana-efficient alternative for a dedicated deck. Unlike the Amulet, which functions at a steady four-mana pace per activation, Herald can spring into action for a mere three mana—and that’s including the green mana requirement that sits well in creature-centric green decks.

In the landscape of creature tutors within MTG, Behemoth’s Herald serves as a specialized tool. It’s designed to mesh seamlessly into decks oriented around the leviathan power of Godsire, edging out a niche over its more versatile but less thematic cousins.

Cards similar to Behemoth's Herald by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Behemoth's Herald MTG card by a specific set like Shards of Alara, 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 Behemoth's Herald and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Behemoth's Herald has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Behemoth's Herald card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2008-10-01	To activate the ability, you must sacrifice three different creatures. You can’t sacrifice just one three-colored creature, for example.
2008-10-01	You may sacrifice multicolored creatures as part of the cost of the search ability. If you sacrifice a multicolored creature this way, specify which part of the cost that creature is satisfying.
2008-10-01	You may sacrifice the Herald itself to help pay for the cost of its ability.