Screeching Buzzard MTG Card

Onslaught (ONS)
2002-10-07 - Number 165

Battlebond (BBD)
2018-06-08 - Number 158

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Bird
Abilities	Flying
Power	2
Toughness	2

Key Takeaways

Screeching Buzzard adds card draw upon death, valuable for recurring graveyard strategies in game play.
Its specific mana cost may limit deck flexibility, but adds strategic death-triggered discard ability.
Despite its drawbacks, its versatile nature and strategy-enhancing abilities make it a notable card.

Text of card

Flying When Screeching Buzzard is put into a graveyard from play, each opponent discards a card from his or her hand.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Screeching Buzzard provides utility by potentially letting you draw a card upon its death. This can be especially advantageous if you’re able to repeatedly bring it back from the graveyard to the battlefield, allowing for multiple draws throughout the game.

Resource Acceleration: This card may not offer direct resource acceleration, but by flying under the radar, it can chip away at your opponent’s life total, indirectly helping to accelerate your path to victory without requiring hefty mana investments.

Instant Speed: While Screeching Buzzard doesn’t have an instant speed ability itself, its death-triggered ability can be a strategic component when paired with instant speed sacrifice effects. This allows you to decide on the fly when to trigger its draw effect and disrupt your opponent’s plans.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Screeching Buzzard requires you to undergo a discard when it dies, which might deplete your hand and leave you at a strategic disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Its casting cost demands one black mana. This specificity can make it less flexible in decks not heavily featuring black mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Utilizing four mana for a creature with its ability set can be quite steep, especially when there are creatures with similar effects and lower mana requirements available in MTG.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Screeching Buzzard offers a seamless inclusion in black-centered or multicolored decks that capitalize on creature sacrifice for additional value, enhancing flexibility in deckbuilding.

Combo Potential: This card works wonderfully in tandem with strategies that profit from creatures dying, such as those triggering morbid abilities or enabling graveyard synergies.

Meta-Relevance: As creature-based strategies abound, Screeching Buzzard can disrupt opponents’ boards upon death while providing you with valuable card insight, keeping you one step ahead in the game.

How to beat

Screeching Buzzard, a creature card known in Magic the Gathering, presents a unique challenge on the battlefield. Its ability to cause the opponent to discard a card upon death makes it a pesky presence. To handle it, consider minimizing the impact of its death-triggered ability. Strategic removals, such as exile effects or cards that negate death triggers, can effectively neuter the Buzzard’s capacity to disrupt your hand.

Playing cards with graveyard interaction can also be a sound strategy. Cards like Scavenging Ooze allow you to remove Screeching Buzzard from the game entirely, bypassing its effect. Furthermore, including cards that benefit from having many cards in your hand, or ones that function well with a lower card count, can mitigate the potential card loss. A mindful approach to the Buzzard’s effect can turn it into a mere nuisance rather than a significant threat.

Every card in Magic the Gathering comes with tactics to counteract it and knowing your opponent’s deck, including cards like the Screeching Buzzard, adds a layer of strategy. So, the key to overcoming the Buzzard’s scream is to be prepared with the right cards and the right approach.

Cards like Screeching Buzzard

Screeching Buzzard enters the ranks of creature cards in Magic: The Gathering with an ability that adds a layer of strategy upon its death. Its effect, causing each opponent to discard a card when it dies, echoes the utility found in other creatures like Burglar Rat. Burglar Rat requires each opponent to discard a card upon its entry to the battlefield, offering a similar disruption tactic without having to wait for the creature’s demise.

When comparing Screeching Buzzard to Liliana’s Specter, the latter offers a wider impact, forcing discard from each opponent upon arrival, and boasts flying as well. Meanwhile, Screeching Buzzard waits in the wings, providing its effect only post-mortem and at the same mana value. Another potential comparison could be to Abyssal Specter, which aligns with Screeching Buzzard in mana cost, but adds the extra complication of connecting combative damage to its discard effect, creating a recurring potential each turn it remains unblocked.

Aligning Screeching Buzzard within the family of creatures that instigate card disadvantage against opponents in Magic: The Gathering, its unique death-triggered ability offers a distinctive approach, carving out its niche in the metagame as a strategic inclusion in certain decks.

Cards similar to Screeching Buzzard by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Screeching Buzzard MTG card by a specific set like Onslaught and Battlebond, 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 Screeching Buzzard and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Screeching Buzzard Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2002-10-07 and 2018-06-08. Illustrated by Heather Hudson.