Nocturnal Feeder MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Vampire Rogue
Abilities	Flying
Released	2020-07-17
Set symbol
Set name	Jumpstart
Set code	JMP
Power	2
Toughness	1
Number	16
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Cristi Balanescu

Key Takeaways

The card offers card advantage through its ability triggered upon death, providing player hand sustainability.
It fits well with life-loss strategies, aiding in hastened victories by reducing opponent life totals.
Instant speed spells and abilities can amplify Nocturnal Feeder’s impact, making timing crucial.

Text of card

Flying When Nocturnal Feeder dies, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.

A living pulse is an irresistible temptation.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nocturnal Feeder offers a unique edge as it presents an opportunity for card advantage through its dying ability. By enabling players to draw a card when it dies under certain conditions, it contributes to maintaining a strong hand throughout the game.

Resource Acceleration: While Nocturnal Feeder itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, it aids in depleting your opponent’s life total, potentially leading to a faster win. In a deck designed around life-loss mechanics, this can accelerate your path to victory.

Instant Speed: This creature’s ability benefits from instant speed interactions. While the creature itself is not an instant, it can be a strategic asset when combined with spells or abilities that operate at instant speed. Timing the death of Nocturnal Feeder to coincide with these can maximize its potential impact on the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Nocturnal Feeder can be a setback if you’re not prepared to feed its thirst for cards from your hand, leaving you at a potential disadvantage if you’re short on card options.

Specific Mana Cost: Its demand for both black and generic mana means it will need a home in decks that can reliably produce the necessary shades of mana, possibly limiting its flexibility across various deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Allocating three mana to bring Nocturnal Feeder into play, especially when competing creatures present similar power at a lesser cost, makes it a hefty investment for its in-game effect and stats.

Reasons to Include Nocturnal Feeder in Your Collection

Versatility: Nocturnal Feeder’s utility is not restricted to a single deck archetype. Its role in enabling life drain while offering a flying creature makes it a suitable fit for decks focusing on evasion or incremental life point advantages.

Combo Potential: This vampire rogue has synergy in decks that capitalize on death triggers or graveyard strategies. Its ability can be combined with other cards to maximize the impact each time it or another creature dies.

Meta-Relevance: With the presence of lighter creatures in the current meta, Nocturnal Feeder can be a useful tool for gaining life while whittling down opponents, fitting snugly into strategies that thrive in this environment.

How to Beat

Nocturnal Feeder is a creature that brings a layer of complexity to the gameplay. It has a certain resilience due to its flying ability, allowing it to evade many ground-based defenses. This card is particularly powerful in limited formats like Draft or Sealed where flying creatures can dominate the battlefield. Moreover, its death-trigger ability, which drains life from the opponent, adds incremental advantage over time.

To outmaneuver this nocturnal threat, players should prioritize removal spells that can target flying creatures or utilize board control spells that don’t discriminate based on creature abilities. Cards like Shock or Dead Weight can be efficient ways to deal with it before its life-draining effect can trigger. Additionally, having creatures with reach or any form of flying blockers can deter an opponent from attacking with it. Indirect strategies, such as gaining life or countering the life-draining effect with cards like Essence Warden, can also mitigate the impact of Nocturnal Feeder’s ability on the game.

Overall, understanding the dynamics of the card and preparing a variety of responses in your deck can turn the tide in your favor when facing creatures like Nocturnal Feeder. Being adaptable and having the right answers at the right time are key to neutralizing threats and maintaining control over the match.

Cards like Nocturnal Feeder

Nocturnal Feeder brings unique traits to the battlefield in MTG, carving out a niche within the vampire tribe. It shares traits with other low-cost creatures, such as Voracious Vampire, which boasts a menacing ability although without lifelink. Nocturnal Feeder’s lifelink ability presents incremental advantage especially as it trades in combat or is used for its bloodthirsty effect.

Another vampire with a comparable role in decks is Gifted Aetherborn. While Gifted Aetherborn has a higher upfront power and toughness and also features deathtouch along with lifelink, Nocturnal Feeder has its own merit. Its death-triggered ability to cause each opponent to lose one life and gain you one life, ensures you benefit even when it’s removed from play. This is in contrast with Gifted Aetherborn which provides no such effect upon death.

Ultimately, the choice between Nocturnal Feeder and its counterparts hinges upon the deck’s strategy and the value placed on its synergistic death-trigger ability. Within the family of vampire creatures in MTG, Nocturnal Feeder holds a relevant position, offering a balance of aggressive lifegain and deterrent death effect.

Cards similar to Nocturnal Feeder by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nocturnal Feeder MTG card by a specific set like Jumpstart, 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 Nocturnal Feeder and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nocturnal Feeder has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Commander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2020-06-23	If your life total is brought to 0 or less at the same time that Nocturnal Feeder is dealt lethal damage, you lose the game before its ability goes on the stack.
2020-06-23	In a Two-Headed Giant game, Nocturnal Feeder’s ability causes the opposing team to lose 4 life and you to gain 2 life.