He Who Hungers MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Legendary Creature — Spirit |
| Abilities | Flying,Soulshift |
| Released | 2004-10-01 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Champions of Kamigawa |
| Set code | CHK |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 114 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Kev Walker |
Key Takeaways
- Generates card advantage by compelling opponent discard and replenishing your hand.
- Instant speed allows response flexibility and strategic battlefield manipulation.
- Resource-intensive and requires specific mana, but offers strong tribal synergies.
Text of card
Flying , Sacrifice a Spirit: Target opponent reveals his or her hand. Choose a card from it. That player discards that card. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery. Soulshift 4
Card Pros
Card Advantage: He Who Hungers shines in generating card advantage by forcing opponents to discard, while simultaneously allowing you to replenish your hand with new options from their collection.
Resource Acceleration: This card can facilitate a quicker victory by ensuring that the best tools are in your hand when needed. While it does not directly produce mana, it disrupts opponents’ resources and indirectly accelerates your own strategy.
Instant Speed: The ability to use He Who Hungers at instant speed provides flexibility in gameplay—respond to threats on-the-fly or manipulate the battlefield at the end of your opponent’s turn for optimal positioning.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: He Who Hungers necessitates the player to discard a card to activate its ability, placing a burden on your hand that could deplete valuable resources.
Specific Mana Cost: This card’s casting cost demands both generic and black mana, potentially restricting it to decks that can consistently provide the necessary swamp lands or mana-fixing capabilities.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing five mana to summon, He Who Hungers might be considered resource-intensive when compared to other creatures or spells that provide similar or superior abilities at a lower cost.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: He Who Hungers serves as a flexible option in Spirits tribal decks but can also be a functional piece in control or reanimator strategies. Its capacity to impact the board while also filling your hand offers players a tactical edge, regardless of their deck archetype.
Combo Potential: This creature card synergizes exceptionally well with sac outlets and recursive strategies, allowing players to exploit the soulshift mechanic to return key spirits from the graveyard to the hand, setting up powerful plays and potential game-winning sequences.
Meta-Relevance: In a game where creature-based tactics and graveyard interaction are prevalent, He Who Hungers can prove to be an asset. Its ability to disrupt opponents by snatching a card from their hand while refilling your own with spirits can keep you ahead in the resource game, adapting well to shifts in the competitive environment.
How to beat
He Who Hungers presents a unique challenge on the battlefield, emerging as a Spirit creature with the intimidating ability to disrupt your opponent’s hand. When it swoops into play, this Spirit initiates a troubling scenario, compelling a player to release a card from their grip for each time you demonstrate spiritcraft.
Facing down this spectral menace requires strategic planning. Spells that nullify abilities, such as Stifle or Voidslime, can effectively silence the hungering horror. Instead of losing valuable cards, these interruptions protect your hand. Consider your deck’s need for cards that can exile or bounce creatures when dealing with troublesome creatures like He Who Hungers. Direct removal spells like Path to Exile deliver a swift end to the Spirit’s reign, while a simple Unsummon can reset its presence, buying crucial time. Keeping removal or disruption in hand when anticipating such spirits may be essential in maintaining control.
Ultimately, countering He Who Hungers involves foresight and prompt reactions with effective removal or disruption. Players that come prepared with these tools in their arsenal will find themselves better suited to handle the challenges posed by disruptive creatures such as He Who Hungers.
Cards like He Who Hungers
He Who Hungers brings a particular utility to Magic: The Gathering, positioning itself among the cohort of Spirit creatures with intriguing abilities. Like He Who Hungers, the card Keiga, the Tide Star also belongs to the Kamigawa set and captures the essence of the Spirit creature type. Both cards allow you to control an opponent’s creatures, albeit under different circumstances. He Who Hungers enables this control through a sacrificing mechanism, offering the advantage of disruption at a strategic moment during the match.
Another relative from MTG’s universe is Yosei, the Morning Star. Much like He Who Hungers, Yosei puts pressure on adversaries through the Spirit synergy but instead of gaining control, it locks down an opponent’s game upon its destruction. Descent upon the Sinful also parallels the Spirits’ control theme but works on a wider scale, exiling creatures and offering the potential to replace your army with a flight of 4/4 white Angel creature tokens with flying.
Looking closely at the implications of these Spirit creatures in gameplay, He Who Hungers stands out for its potential to disrupt opponents’ plans and exert influence over the board with its targeted control effect, demonstrating a unique aspect of Spirit entities within MTG.
Cards similar to He Who Hungers by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase He Who Hungers MTG card by a specific set like Champions of Kamigawa, 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 He Who Hungers 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
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where He Who Hungers has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering He Who Hungers card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2013-04-15 | If you cast this as normal during your main phase, it will enter the battlefield and you’ll receive priority. If no abilities trigger because of this, you can activate its ability immediately, before any other player has a chance to remove it from the battlefield. |
