Akroan Horse MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeArtifact Creature — Horse
Abilities Defender
Power 0
Toughness 4

Key Takeaways

  1. Akroan Horse offers token generation, building an army without extra costs each upkeep.
  2. Generates strategic value by synergizing with token exploitation and sacrifice effects.
  3. Despite its mana cost, it’s a versatile tool in control and token-based decks.

Text of card

Defender When Akroan Horse enters the battlefield, an opponent gains control of it. At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent puts a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Akroan Horse offers an advantage by gifting you recurring token generation. Every upkeep, it creates a 1/1 soldier token under your control without additional costs, steadily amassing an army and tipping the scales in prolonged battles.

Resource Acceleration: While the card itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, it indirectly contributes to potential resource acceleration by supplying a steady stream of creature tokens. These can be sacrificed or exploited through various synergies in the game, resulting in additional mana or effects.

Instant Speed: Although Akroan Horse operates at sorcery speed, the tokens it creates offer instant-speed advantages. They can be used as surprise blockers during your opponent’s turn or be sacrificed for effects at instant speed, enhancing your reactionary capabilities.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Though not applicable to Akroan Horse, cards with a discard requirement press players to sacrifice valuable hand cards, potentially depleting strategic options.

Specific Mana Cost: Akroan Horse demands a colorless mana cost of four, which requires a certain level of mana ramp or fixing to consistently cast in multicolored decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Akroan Horse might be considered slow. This can be a drawback, especially when faster, more impactful plays are crucial to a game’s outcome.


Reasons to Include Akroan Horse in Your Collection

Versatility: Akroan Horse is a unique addition to decks that capitalize on board presence. It’s an artifact creature that can serve both offensive and defensive strategies, fitting well in control or token-generation decks.

Combo Potential: This card shines with its ability to synergize with various strategies. Its talent for creating tokens every turn can be exploited with numerous mechanisms that react to new creatures entering the battlefield or sacrifice for greater gains.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where passive win conditions are prominent, Akroan Horse can be particularly effective. Its continuous token generation can outpace control decks and offer strategic advantages against a variety of opponents.


How to beat

The Akroan Horse is a unique card in Magic: The Gathering that can be quite a puzzle to work around. This artifact creature has the potential to tip the scales of a game by providing your opponent with a steady stream of tokens. At first glance, it might seem like a gift for your opponent, but it quickly becomes apparent that its true strength lies in the passive army it builds for you.

To effectively counter the Akroan Horse, one must consider a multi-faceted approach. Strategies such as artifact removal spells like Shatter or Disenchant can be direct answers to this threat. Alternatively, playing cards with sacrifice effects will allow you to take control of the situation by utilizing the tokens it creates to fuel your game. Controlling the pace of the game and not allowing these tokens to overwhelm you is crucial in overcoming the challenge posed by Akroan Horse.

Having a sound game plan to deal with enchantments and artifacts ensures that you’re prepared not only for the Akroan Horse but for a wide variety of similar threats that could emerge during a game. Understanding your deck’s strengths and weaknesses is essential, whether that means bolstering your defenses or being aggressive in your strategy to neutralize the tokens before they can accumulate.


BurnMana Recommendations

If you’re captivated by the strategic potential of the Akroan Horse, then there’s more to explore to harness its power. Integrating this card into your arsenal requires insight into the MTG landscape and a readiness to experiment with its synergies. You’ve seen its pros and cons, its place in the meta, and how to handle it effectively. Now it’s time to take your game further, absorbing this knowledge and shaping your strategies around it. Embrace the challenge and enrich your collection. Dive deeper with us and master the art of token manipulation and board control to secure your victories.


Cards like Akroan Horse

Akroan Horse might remind seasoned players of other artifact creatures found across the diverse landscape of Magic: The Gathering. It can be compared to Pentavus, which shares the trait of providing you with creature tokens. Yet, the Horse has a unique tactical advantage in that it continually creates tokens for your opponent, but only after gifting them the Horse, creating a strategic dilemma each upkeep. This contrasts with Pentavus’s single-use, more controlled token generation.

Another artifact creature with parallel dynamics is the Myr Battlesphere. Like Akroan Horse, it has impact when it enters the battlefield by bringing along Myr tokens. However, unlike the Trojan Horse strategy used by the Horse, Battlesphere’s tokens stay under your command and can prove to be a formidable force when they attack in unison.

In the faceoff of utility between these cards, Akroan Horse carves out its niche. While it doesn’t offer the immediate board presence of Myr Battlesphere or the flexibility of Pentavus, it excels in situations that call for a more subtle approach, steadily tipping the scales in a prolonged game. The Horse is a distinct creature in MTG with a knack for influencing both sides of the battlefield.

Pentavus - MTG Card versions
Myr Battlesphere - MTG Card versions
Pentavus - MTG Card versions
Myr Battlesphere - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Akroan Horse MTG card by a specific set like Theros and Commander 2016, 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 Akroan Horse and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Akroan Horse Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2013-09-27 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Seb McKinnon.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12013-09-27TherosTHS 2102003NormalBlackSeb McKinnon
22016-11-11Commander 2016C16 2412015NormalBlackSeb McKinnon
32019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 15412015NormalBlackSeb McKinnon
42020-09-26The ListPLST C16-2412015NormalBlackSeb McKinnon

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Akroan Horse has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2013-09-15 Akroan Horse's enters-the-battlefield ability doesn't target any opponent. In a multiplayer game, you choose the opponent as the ability resolves.
2013-09-15 In the last ability, “each opponent” refers to opponents of Akroan Horse's controller. In most situations in two-player games, your opponent will control Akroan Horse and you'll put Soldier tokens onto the battlefield.

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