Lingering Tormentor MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Spirit
Abilities	Fear,Persist
Released	2008-07-25
Set symbol
Set name	Eventide
Set code	EVE
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	36
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Joshua Hagler

Key Takeaways

Lingering Tormentor’s persist ability ensures it returns after destruction, offering consistent board presence.
It encourages strategic deck building around creature death and resurrection for optimal play.
Tormentor’s return can be a surprise element during gameplay, disrupting opponent strategies.

Text of card

Fear Persist (When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

The bogeyman doesn't disappear when you close your eyes.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Lingering Tormentor enables you to maintain board presence even after it might seem to have been dealt with. Its Persist ability means that when it’s destroyed, it returns to the battle under your control with a -1/-1 counter on it, effectively giving you two creatures for the price of one.

Resource Acceleration: Although this card itself does not directly accelerate your resources, it synergizes well with other cards that capitalize on creature death or return from the graveyard, potentially fueling your strategy and leading to faster development of your board state.

Instant Speed: While Lingering Tormentor doesn’t operate at instant speed, its interaction with instant speed spells is notable. It can be sacrificed or destroyed during your opponent’s turn to unexpected advantage, catching them off guard and disrupting their strategy, all while setting up for its return to the field.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Lingering Tormentor requires a discard to trigger its persist ability. This condition can leave you at a card disadvantage, especially when your hand is already depleted from earlier plays.

Specific Mana Cost: This card necessitates a precise mana arrangement of two black and two colorless. Building a deck that consistently meets this requirement can be challenging, particularly in multicolored decks where mana needs to be carefully balanced.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its four-mana cost and 3/3 body, Lingering Tormentor may come off as costly for its stats and effect. There are creatures available at this mana point that bring more immediate board presence or come with built-in resilience against removal.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Lingering Tormentor has a flexible role in various deck builds, fitting nicely into strategies that capitalize on its persist keyword. It can reliably come back for a second round after being destroyed, making it a stubborn presence against your opponent.

Combo Potential: This card seamlessly integrates with setups that exploit the graveyard. Its ability to resurrect itself makes it an ideal candidate for sacrificing, recursion, or as fuel for various engines that gain value from creatures dying and returning.

Meta-Relevance: As the dynamic of play shifts to accommodate more graveyard interaction and resilience against removal, Lingering Tormentor proves its worth. It stands its ground in metagames heavy with targeted removal, persisting where other creatures may not.

How to beat

The Lingering Tormentor is a unique creature card with the persist ability, making it a resilient opponent on the battlefield. Overcoming this tormentor requires strategic moves, as it can return to the game with a -1/-1 counter after being destroyed. A simple yet effective tactic is using exile effects. Spells that exile bypass the persist ability of the Lingering Tormentor, preventing it from returning to play. It’s also prudent to use creatures with enough power to withstand the Tormentor’s initial toughness, avoiding multiple combats against this persistent threat.

Another approach is to take advantage of the Tormentor’s -1/-1 counter. Utilizing spells or abilities that place additional -1/-1 counters on creatures can permanently remove the Tormentor from the game without triggering its persist. This tactic works by reducing the Tormentor’s toughness to zero or less, a situation persist cannot recover from. It’s important to tailor your strategy to the dynamics of your own deck, choosing the most efficient line of play to keep the Lingering Tormentor at bay.

Overall, while the Lingering Tormentor can be daunting with its ability to cheat death, a well-prepared strategy injecting exile or additional -1/-1 counters is effective in handling this ghostly menace on the MTG battlefield.

Cards like Lingering Tormentor

The allure of Lingering Tormentor in Magic: The Gathering comes from its persistence in sticking around on the battlefield. This card often invites comparison to other creatures with the undying or persist mechanics. Creatures like Butcher Ghoul or Strangleroot Geist, for instance. Much like our shadowy Tormentor, these creatures have a knack for returning to play, potentially swinging the momentum of the game.

Butcher Ghoul, albeit with a lower power and toughness than Lingering Tormentor, returns with a +1/+1 counter after its first death. Strangleroot Geist sports haste and also comes back stronger with a +1/+1 counter. The key difference between these cards and Lingering Tormentor lies in the conditions required for their resurrection. While Butcher Ghoul and Strangleroot Geist need no additional inputs, Lingering Tormentor requires a peculiar twist in the form of haunt, adding an interesting layer to gameplay decisions.

When comparing these options, it’s imperative for players to weigh the conditions and benefits of each card’s recycle potential. Though Lingering Tormentor may not return with an immediate boost like its counterparts, the strategic depth it offers in terms of haunting another creature can potentially offer a delayed, yet impactful, presence on the game board.

Cards similar to Lingering Tormentor by color, type and mana cost

Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed - MTG Card versions

Demon of Catastrophes - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lingering Tormentor MTG card by a specific set like Eventide, 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 Lingering Tormentor and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lingering Tormentor has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2013-06-07	If a creature with persist stops being a creature, persist will still work.
2013-06-07	If a creature with persist that has +1/+1 counters on it receives enough -1/-1 counters to cause it to be destroyed by lethal damage or put into its owner’s graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, persist won’t trigger and the card won’t return to the battlefield. That’s because persist checks the creature’s existence just before it leaves the battlefield, and it still has all those counters on it at that point.
2013-06-07	If a permanent has multiple instances of persist, they’ll each trigger separately, but the redundant instances will have no effect. If one instance returns the card to the battlefield, the next to resolve will do nothing.
2013-06-07	If a token with no -1/-1 counters on it has persist, the ability will trigger when the token is put into the graveyard. However, the token will cease to exist and can’t return to the battlefield.
2013-06-07	If multiple creatures with persist are put into the graveyard at the same time (due to combat damage or a spell that destroys all creatures, for example), the active player (the player whose turn it is) puts all of their persist triggers on the stack in any order, then each other player in turn order does the same. The last trigger put on the stack is the first one that resolves. That means that in a two-player game, the nonactive player’s persist creatures will return to the battlefield first, then the active player’s persist creatures do the same. The creatures return to the battlefield one at a time.
2013-06-07	The persist ability triggers when the permanent is put into a graveyard. Its last known information (that is, how the creature last existed on the battlefield) is used to determine whether it had a -1/-1 counter on it.
2013-06-07	When a permanent with persist returns to the battlefield, it’s a new object with no memory of or connection to its previous existence.