Blight Herder MTG Card
2015-10-02 - Number 2
2015-10-02 - Number 2s
2015-10-02 - Number 2
2002-06-24 - Number 58265
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Eldrazi Processor |
| Power | 4 |
| Toughness | 5 |
Key Takeaways
- Generates on-cast Eldrazi Scions for blocking threats and boosting mana resources.
- Enhances strategies with exile synergies for dynamic and timely board states.
- Demands careful graveyard interaction, with a higher mana investment as a trade-off.
Text of card
When you cast this spell, you may put two cards your opponents own from exile into their owners' graveyards. If you do, create three 1/1 colorless Eldrazi Scion creature tokens. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add ."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Blight Herder provides a significant boost to your board by bringing along an additional three Eldrazi Scions. Each Scion is a separate creature that can be sacrificed for additional mana, effectively giving you both creatures to block potential threats and additional resources from a single card.
Resource Acceleration: The Eldrazi Scions that accompany Blight Herder upon casting offer immediate resource acceleration. These tokens can be sacrificed for colorless mana, giving you the ability to play high-cost cards earlier than usual or activate important abilities at critical moments.
Instant Speed: While Blight Herder itself does not operate at instant speed, it synergizes well with instants and other cards that exile opponents’ cards from their graveyard. By setting up the exile condition before casting Blight Herder, you can fully benefit from its cast trigger, effectively planning your strategy to pop at the right time, leveraging the game’s momentum in your favor.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Blight Herder requires you to exile one or more cards from an opponent’s graveyard to utilize its full potential, which could be a setback if you’re facing a deck that isn’t heavy on graveyard interaction.
Specific Mana Cost: This card requires both colorless and white mana to cast, which may not seamlessly fit into all deck archetypes, particularly those not already tailored to Eldrazi strategies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of five mana, including two specific colorless mana, Blight Herder comes with a significant mana investment, which might be too slow against fast-paced aggressive decks.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Blight Herder is a flexible card that can easily find a home in decks that exploit exile mechanics or require powerful creatures. Its ability to produce multiple bodies makes it a solid addition for those looking to bolster their board presence.
Combo Potential: When paired with cards that exile opponents’ cards, Blight Herder’s ability is particularly potent. It can serve as a catalyst in processors decks, where exiled cards can be processed for beneficial effects, thus offering a synergy that could turn the tides of a game.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta that features graveyard strategies or those relying on delve and escape mechanisms, a card like Blight Herder that capitalizes on exile can be incredibly disruptive. It offers both a proactive strategy and a counter-play to common tactics, ensuring its relevance in a fluctuating competitive scene.
How to beat
Blight Herder is a powerful card in the MTG universe, flourishing in decks that capitalize on exiling opponent’s cards. When cast, it can generate a significant advantage by producing three 1/1 Eldrazi Scion tokens if there are two or more cards exiled. Tackling this creature requires a strategy that diminishes its enter-the-battlefield effect or deals with the tokens it creates.
One effective method is countering it before it hits the battlefield using spells like Disallow or Negate. This way, you prevent its potent token generating ability. If Blight Herder has already landed, board wipes such as Wrath of God can clear out the tokens and the Herder itself. Moreover, using instant-speed removal like Path to Exile on the Blight Herder before its cast trigger resolves ensures that no tokens are created, as it won’t have the required exiled cards to activate its ability.
Lastly, maintaining minimal cards in exile mitigates Blight Herder’s impact. Utilize graveyard interaction tools, like Scavenging Ooze, to keep your exile zone sparse. By employing these tactics, you can stand a better chance at keeping the daunting Blight Herder and its progeny in check.
Cards like Blight Herder
Blight Herder is unique among MTG creatures due to its Eldrazi subtype and its ability to ramp up one’s mana by creating three 1/1 Eldrazi Scion creature tokens. This card echoes the abilities of Brood Monitor, which also produces three Eldrazi Scions. However, Blight Herder requires the processor mechanic, showcasing interaction with an opponent’s exiled cards, to trigger its token generation, unlike the unconditional token creation of Brood Monitor.
Another analogue in MTG is Sifter of Skulls. This creature doesn’t create tokens immediately but has the potential to produce multiple Eldrazi Scions throughout the game as other nontoken creatures die. It provides an ongoing advantage that can surpass the one-time benefit of Blight Herder, although it demands a more specific board state to be truly effective. While both cards have different strategies, Blight Herder can be a game-changer in decks designed to manipulate exile zones.
Assessing the role of these creatures reveals a shared utility in generating Eldrazi Scions, elevating their value within the MTG Eldrazi archetype. Blight Herder stands out for its ability to make an immediate impact on the board when processing an opponent’s exiled cards, making it a worthy consideration for any strategy built around the Eldrazi.
Cards similar to Blight Herder by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Blight Herder MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Battle for Zendikar 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 Blight Herder 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 Blight Herder Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2015-10-02 and 2015-10-02. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 58265 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jaime Jones | ||
| 2 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar Promos | PBFZ | 2 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jaime Jones | |
| 3 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar Promos | PBFZ | 2s | 2015 | Normal | Black | Todd Lockwood | |
| 4 | 2015-10-02 | Battle for Zendikar | BFZ | 2 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Todd Lockwood |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Blight Herder 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 Blight Herder card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2015-08-25 | Eldrazi Scions are similar to Eldrazi Spawn, seen in the Zendikar block. Note that Eldrazi Scions are 1/1, not 0/1. |
| 2015-08-25 | Eldrazi and Scion are each separate creature types. Anything that affects Eldrazi will affect these tokens, for example. |
| 2015-08-25 | Face-down cards in exile are grouped using two criteria: what caused them to be exiled face down and when they were exiled face down. If you want to put a face-down card in exile into its owner’s graveyard, you must first choose one of these groups and then choose a card from within that group at random. For example, say an artifact causes your opponent to exile their hand of three cards face down. Then on a later turn, that artifact causes your opponent to exile another two cards face down. If you use Wasteland Strangler to put one of those cards into their graveyard, you would pick the first or second pile and put a card chosen at random from that pile into the graveyard. |
| 2015-08-25 | If a replacement effect will cause cards that would be put into a graveyard from anywhere to be exiled instead (such as the one created by Anafenza, the Foremost), you can still put an exiled card into its opponent’s graveyard. The card becomes a new object and remains in exile. In this situation, you can’t use a single exiled card if required to put more than one exiled card into the graveyard. Conversely, you could use the same card in this situation if two separate spells or abilities each required you to put a single exiled card into its owner’s graveyard. |
| 2015-08-25 | If a spell or ability requires that you put more than one exiled card into the graveyard, you may choose cards owned by different opponents. Each card chosen will be put into its owner’s graveyard. |
| 2015-08-25 | Sacrificing an Eldrazi Scion creature token to add to your mana pool is a mana ability. It doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to. |
| 2015-08-25 | Some instants and sorceries that create Eldrazi Scions require targets. If all targets for such a spell have become illegal by the time that spell tries to resolve, the spell won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen. You won’t get any Eldrazi Scions. |
| 2015-08-25 | You can’t look at face-down cards in exile unless an effect allows you to. |
