Fell the Pheasant MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Food
Released	2019-10-04
Set symbol
Set name	Throne of Eldraine
Set code	ELD
Number	153
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Randy Gallegos

Key Takeaways

Offers card advantage by potentially drawing a card on targeting a creature with power 4 or more.
Instant speed allows for flexible and strategic response during opponent’s turn.
Resource-efficient removal at two mana, dealing with aerial threats and aiding hand economy.

Text of card

Fell the Pheasant deals 5 damage to target creature with flying. Create a Food token. (It's an artifact with ", , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")

"A keen eye and steady hand are essential for defeating most foes, including hunger." —Syr Grenphire, knight of Garenbrig

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Among the many strategic benefits of Fell the Pheasant is its potential to provide card advantage. When played, it not only deals with an immediate threat in the form of a flying creature but also allows you to draw a card if you target a creature with power 4 or greater. This ensures that your hand remains stocked with resources, maintaining pressure on the opponent.

Resource Acceleration: While Fell the Pheasant does not directly accelerate your resources in the traditional sense of ramping mana, its low casting cost contributes to resource efficiency. For just two mana, dealing with a significant flying threat while potentially drawing a card can keep your mana available for additional plays, effectively streamlining your turns and allowing for more fluid and proactive game progression.

Instant Speed: The instant speed of Fell the Pheasant elevates its utility, granting you the flexibility to respond to your opponent’s actions during their turn. With this instant, you can efficiently manage threats by choosing the optimal moment to cast it, potentially disrupting your opponent’s strategy while they are committing to an attack. Additionally, instant speed enables you to wait until the very last moment before making a move, which can be crucial in high-stakes situations and when bluffing or responding to game-changing plays.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Fell the Pheasant requires players to have a creature with flying as a target, which may not always be present on the battlefield. Thus, it could sit idly in hand until a valid target emerges, potentially causing sub-optimal hand management.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s specific need for one green mana can complicate matters for multicolored decks that may not have the required mana readily available, affecting its versatility and immediacy of play.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of two mana for a very specific removal effect, some players might find Fell the Pheasant to be a less efficient option compared to other low-cost removal spells that can target a wider range of creatures, not just those with flying.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Fell the Pheasant offers flexibility as it serves multiple roles in green-based decks. This instant not only tackles aerial threats efficiently by dealing damage to flying creatures but also provides an additional benefit of creating a food token, which can be a versatile asset for life gain or other synergistic uses.

Combo Potential: The food token generated by Fell the Pheasant can integrate seamlessly into strategies centered around artifacts or sacrificing permanents for value. This can be particularly potent in decks that utilize these tokens for various combo enablers or as fodder for engines that benefit from permanent sacrifices.

Meta-Relevance: With flying creatures often present in competitive play, having a low-cost answer like Fell the Pheasant can be crucial. It ensures that decks have a means to disrupt opponent’s air strategies while maintaining board presence and resource availability through the food tokens, keeping your deck adaptable and responsive to the evolving metagame.

How to beat

Fell the Pheasant is an intriguing card in Magic: The Gathering, offering a unique blend of creature control and an airborne defense mechanism. Its ability to pick off flying creatures makes it a specific yet effective tool in a player’s arsenal. However, overcoming this card’s influence in a game is about being tactical with the creatures you deploy.

One successful strategy might be to diversify your threats across both ground and air. By presenting multiple non-flying targets, you reduce the impact that Fell the Pheasant can have. A robust ground-based offensive can often bypass the pigeonholing effect of this card entirely. It’s also worth considering cards that grant your creatures hexproof or indestructible for the turn, as they can nullify Fell the Pheasant’s removal ability and help retain your battlefield presence.

Additionally, playing around the instant speed aspect of Fell the Pheasant by baiting it out during your main phase could allow you to follow up with even more potent flyers in the subsequent phases once the threat of being shot down has passed. Hence, although Fell the Pheasant presents a clear danger to flying creatures, with some shrewd play, the impact can be substantially diminished.

Cards like Fell the Pheasant

Fell the Pheasant serves as a practical answer to creatures with flying in Magic: The Gathering. This card echoes the functionality of cards like Plummet, which is a direct and straightforward removal spell against flying creatures at an identical mana cost. Where Fell the Pheasant distinguishes itself is in the added ability to create food token upon casting, a feature not present in Plummet.

Another card worth mentioning is Crushing Canopy. While it shares the same mana cost and can also destroy a creature with flying, Crushing Canopy offers the versatility to destroy an enchantment as well. This can be particularly beneficial in a game where enchantments play a vital role. In contrast though, it does not provide the additional benefit of a food token which can offer life gain and resource utility, potentially pivotal in longer matches.

Critical analysis of Fell the Pheasant against its counterparts shows its advantage in duel aspects – removal of flying threats and incremental life gain. This dual utility makes it a valuable inclusion, especially for players looking to stabilize against aggressive flying creatures while gaining incremental advantages.

Cards similar to Fell the Pheasant by color, type and mana cost

Might of the Nephilim - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Fell the Pheasant MTG card by a specific set like Throne of Eldraine, 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 Fell the Pheasant and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Fell the Pheasant has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2019-10-04	Food is an artifact type. Even though it appears on some creatures (such as Gingerbrute), it's never a creature type.
2019-10-04	Some spells that instruct you to create a Food token have targets. You can't cast these spells without choosing all required targets, and if all of those targets become illegal targets, the spell won't resolve and you won't create any Food. If some but not all of those targets become illegal, you'll do as much as possible, including creating Food.
2019-10-04	Whatever you do, don't eat the delicious cards.
2019-10-04	You can't sacrifice a Food token to pay multiple costs. For example, you can't sacrifice a Food token to activate its own ability and also to activate the ability of Tempting Witch.