Festerhide Boar MTG Card

Innistrad (ISD)
2011-09-30 - Number 179

Festerhide Boar - Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska (DDM)

Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska (DDM)
2014-03-14 - Number 59

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Boar
Abilities	Morbid,Trample
Power	3
Toughness	3

Key Takeaways

Festerhide Boar can be a game changer, providing significant board advantage when entering post creature-death.
Adept at amplifying green decks’ mana ramp, this boar adds depth to strategic creature play.
Its morbid ability offers a considerable threat even outside your turn, elevating combat dynamics.

Text of card

Trample Morbid — Festerhide Boar enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it if a creature died this turn.

"Bury your dead deep. The boars are hungriest while the corpse is still warm." —Paulin, trapper of Somberwald

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Festerhide Boar can potentially provide a significant swing in board presence when it enters with a bonus +2/+2, effectively acting as a two-in-one creature card in scenarios where a creature died this turn.

Resource Acceleration: While Festerhide Boar itself does not directly provide mana or resource acceleration, it can be a powerful addition to green decks renowned for their ability to ramp up mana and play higher cost creatures sooner than other colors.

Instant Speed: While the boar isn’t cast at instant speed, the morbid ability triggers off of any death that turn—meaning it can become a formidable threat even during the end of an opponent’s turn, preparing you for a more impactful attack phase on your subsequent turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Festerhide Boar doesn’t directly have a discard requirement, it can indirectly contribute to hand depletion. Its benefit scales with the number of creatures you have, which may lead you to overcommit to the board, potentially leaving you with fewer cards in hand.

Specific Mana Cost: Festerhide Boar demands a precise mana investment of three generic and one green. This requirement can be restrictive for multi-colored decks, confining it predominantly to mono-green decks or those with significant green mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Costing a total of four mana might be on the higher side for its base stats. Without its Morbid ability triggered, other creatures in the same cost bracket may offer more immediate board presence or utility, which could lead players to opt for alternatives over the Festerhide Boar in their deck construction.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Festerhide Boar offers flexibility on the battlefield, adjusting to the number of creatures in the graveyard which can help it fit into a variety of green deck archetypes that lean on creature-heavy strategies.

Combo Potential: This boar has inherent synergy with graveyard mechanics, potentially increasing its power level in decks that capitalize on self-mill or delve strategies, making it a sneaky play in the right combo build.

Meta-Relevance: With creature-based decks always finding their place in various metas, Festerhide Boar has relevance in environments where creature combat is frequent, offering a cost-effective body that can become a significant threat over time.

How to beat

Festerhide Boar presents a unique challenge on the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering, demanding strategic plays to counter it. Its power grows with the morbid ability, which triggers when a creature has died in the same turn, making it a potentially formidable creature. To efficiently handle this threat, consider using removal spells before it can benefit from this power boost. Cards like Murder or Doom Blade will dispatch the boar before its strength becomes overwhelming.

Another method to overpower Festerhide Boar is to limit creature casualties on your side. Engage in combat carefully or use sacrificial creatures you are willing to lose when facing this boar. You can also manage the battlefield with enchantments that tamper with creature powers or spells that prevent abilities from triggering. If you’re playing white, you might include Pacifism in your deck, which neutralizes the threat without needing to send it to the graveyard and potentially powering up the enemy’s next morbid creature.

Overall, planning ahead and maintaining control over the flow of the game can mean the difference between victory or defeat when up against the raw potential of Festerhide Boar. Make judicious use of your cards, and the boar’s impact on the game will be minimal.

Cards like Festerhide Boar

Festerhide Boar is an intriguing creature card with a knack for becoming stronger as the game progresses in Magic: The Gathering. This creature bears some similarities to other cards that thrive on the death of creatures, such as Scavenging Ooze. While the ooze can selectively remove cards from graveyards to grow and gain life, Festerhide Boar automatically gets a boost in power and toughness whenever another creature dies, but lacks the ooze’s ability to target specific threats in the graveyard.

Another parallel can be drawn to the likes of Thraben Foulbloods, a creature card that gets more formidable under certain conditions — specifically, during delirium. Though the Foulbloods require a specific state to be met for its power-up, Festerhide Boar needs no such setup, gaining +2/+2 with each fallen creature, regardless of the board state. This provides a persistent threat that can escalate quickly in creature-heavy matches.

Weighing the variables, Festerhide Boar positions itself as a solid choice for those looking to capitalize on creature-heavy strategies. Its ability to scale up in power makes it a potent threat in MTG, especially in decks designed around frequent combat and creature sacrifice.

Thraben Foulbloods - Eldritch Moon (EMN)

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Festerhide Boar MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad and Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska, 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 Festerhide Boar and other MTG cards: