Tooth Collector MTG Card
2016-02-26 - Number 64
2016-04-08 - Number 140
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Human Rogue |
| Abilities | Delirium |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 2 |
Key Takeaways
- Tooth Collector provides card advantage with a repeatable creature disruption ability when delirium is active.
- It offers flexibility, enhancing both aggro and control decks with its versatile entry and upkeep abilities.
- The card’s delirium-triggered instant speed ability can significantly disrupt opponents and maintain tempo.
Text of card
When Tooth Collector enters the battlefield, target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn. Delirium — At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, target creature that player controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Tooth Collector shines by offering a repeatable method to disrupt your opponent’s board. With Delirium activated, it essentially strips away a creature each upkeep, shifting the tide in card advantage over several turns.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly impacting mana resources, Tooth Collector’s ability to trim down opponent’s creatures can indirectly accelerate your board position, offering a pathway to devote your resources to more pressing threats or advancing your board state.
Instant Speed: The real power of Tooth Collector lies in its ability to operate at instant speed with its Delirium-triggered ability. This lets you interact on your opponent’s turn, removing key creatures right before they untap, maintaining tempo and catching opponents off-guard during critical phases of the game.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Tooth Collector demands delirium to activate its ability, meaning you have to discard multiple card types into your graveyard. This can be problematic early on or in decks not built to reliably achieve delirium.
Specific Mana Cost: This card requires two black mana to cast, restricting it to black-themed or heavy black splash decks. This narrows deck-building options, especially for players looking to tap into multiple color synergies.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: At a three-mana cost for a 3/2 creature, Tooth Collector might be viewed as costly given the crowded field of efficient creatures and the additional requirement to enable its ability.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Tooth Collector offers flexibility in its usage. Its ability to give -1/-1 to a target creature when it enters the battlefield makes it a useful tool in both aggro and control decks to deal with small troublesome creatures.
Combo Potential: With its delirium ability to repeatedly weaken creatures at the beginning of your upkeep, it can work well with other cards that thrive on diminished opponent creatures, serving as a piece in both attrition and engine strategies.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta where X/1 creatures are prevalent, Tooth Collector can consistently remove key components of your opponent’s strategy, potentially disrupting their early game and providing recurring value in protracted matches.
How to beat
Tooth Collector presents an intriguing challenge in the MTG world with its ability to weaken your creatures. Understanding its delirium ability, which can turn the tide by giving it the power to repeatedly force -1/-1 counters on creatures each upkeep, is crucial. Unlike cards that rely on certain conditions or have a one-time effect, Tooth Collector’s persistent threat can alter the dynamics of the battlefield.
Countering this card involves a few strategies. Removal spells can directly take out Tooth Collector before its delirium sets in or manage it after activation. Creature spells with hexproof or indestructible characteristics present robust blocks against such targeted abilities. Furthermore, graveyard disruption can be key, as inhibiting the types of cards in a player’s graveyard disrupts the conditions for delirium, rendering the Tooth Collector’s secondary ability moot.
To summarize, the key to outmaneuvering Tooth Collector lies in preemptive removal, employing creatures that are resilient to its effect, and interfering with graveyard mechanics. By doing so, you can neutralize its power and maintain your position on the board.
Cards like Tooth Collector
Tooth Collector is an intriguing creature card hailing from the Shadows over Innistrad expansion. This card provides a delicate balance of creature control and creature buffing, reminiscent of cards like Fleshbag Marauder. Both share the ability to force opponents into making difficult decisions about which creature to sacrifice. However, Tooth Collector has the added advantage of its delirium ability, which potentially gives it consistent creature destruction every upkeep.
Another card that summons comparisons is Nekrataal, which similarly offers removal and creature presence upon entering the battlefield. Unlike Nekrataal, Tooth Collector’s removal condition via delirium is not bound to nonartifact, nonblack criteria, allowing for a wider range of targets. Moreover, Shriekmaw is worth considering in the same breath. While Shriekmaw’s evoke cost provides a one-time immediate removal effect, Tooth Collector has the potential for recurring removal, a considerable upside in protracted games.
To summarize, Tooth Collector stands out among creature-control MTG cards, with its unique blend of an enter-the-battlefield effect and the ongoing threat it poses to opponents’ creatures with its delirium-triggered ability, making it a noteworthy option for players looking to weave both removal and creature strategy into their decks.
Cards similar to Tooth Collector by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Tooth Collector MTG card by a specific set like Duel Decks: Blessed vs. Cursed and Shadows over Innistrad, 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 Tooth Collector 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 Tooth Collector Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2016-02-26 and 2016-04-08. Illustrated by Bud Cook.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2016-02-26 | Duel Decks: Blessed vs. Cursed | DDQ | 64 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Bud Cook | |
| 2 | 2016-04-08 | Shadows over Innistrad | SOI | 140 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Bud Cook |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Tooth Collector has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Tooth Collector card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2016-04-08 | Because you consider only the characteristics of a double-faced card’s front face while it’s not on the battlefield, the types of its back face won’t be counted for delirium. |
| 2016-04-08 | In some rare cases, you can have a token or a copy of a spell in your graveyard at the moment that an object’s delirium ability counts the card types among cards in your graveyard, before that token or copy ceases to exist. Because tokens and copies of spells are not cards, even if they are copies of cards, their types will never be counted. |
| 2016-04-08 | Most triggered delirium abilities use an intervening “if” clause. There must be four or more card types among cards in your graveyard in order for these abilities to trigger, otherwise they never trigger at all. There’s no way to have the ability trigger if there aren’t enough card types, even if you intend to raise that number in response to the triggered ability. The number of card types is checked again as the trigger resolves, and if it has become too low somehow, the ability does nothing. If which card types are in your graveyard changes but the quantity of card types stays the same (or increases), then the delirium triggered ability will still resolve. |
| 2016-04-08 | The card types in Magic are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal (a card type that appears on some older cards). Supertypes (such as legendary and basic) and subtypes (such as Human and Equipment) are not counted. |
| 2016-04-08 | The number of card types matters, not the number of cards. For example, Wicker Witch (an artifact creature) along with Catalog (an instant) and Chaplain’s Blessing (a sorcery) will enable delirium. |
