Necropolis Fiend MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost9
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Demon
Abilities Delve,Flying
Power 4
Toughness 5

Key Takeaways

  1. Necropolis Fiend leverages the graveyard for casting, offering a strategic edge through resource conversion.
  2. Instant-speed ability provides tactical options, but the creature’s high mana cost demands careful planning.
  3. This card is a powerhouse in graveyard-centric strategies, yet requires vigilant resource management.

Text of card

Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for .) Flying , , Exile X cards from your graveyard: Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Necropolis Fiend’s delve ability allows you to effectively use cards from your graveyard to help cast it, turning potential dead resources into a tangible threat on the board. This can offer a form of card advantage as you’re utilizing cards from all zones of play.

Resource Acceleration: Delve acts as a resource acceleration mechanic, enabling you to potentially cast Necropolis Fiend for less mana and earlier in the game than its nominal mana cost would suggest. This economizes your mana resources, giving you the flexibility to deploy other spells alongside it.

Instant Speed: While the card itself isn’t an instant, Necropolis Fiend’s activated ability to pay X and tap it to exile X cards from an opponent’s graveyard and give target creature -X/-X until end of turn can be utilized at instant speed. This provides real-time adaptability, allowing you to strategically diminish your opponent’s creatures during their turn or in response to actions.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Necropolis Fiend requires the exile of X cards from your graveyard to activate its ability. This can be a significant downside, especially if your strategy relies on graveyard synergy or if your graveyard resources are depleted.

Specific Mana Cost: This creature comes with a specific mana cost that includes two black mana symbols, potentially restricting smooth incorporation into multicolor decks that may have less consistent access to black mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total casting cost of 7 mana, including 5 generic and 2 black, Necropolis Fiend can be quite mana-intensive. In formats where the pace is quicker, having such a high-cost card could hinder the deck’s speed and efficiency.


Reasons to Include Necropolis Fiend in Your Collection

Versatility: Necropolis Fiend offers a dynamic role in decks that capitalize on graveyard mechanics. With Delve allowing you to play it using cards from your graveyard, it can be a strategic addition to any deck focused on utilizing its graveyard as a resource.

Combo Potential: This creature can seamlessly integrate into combos that revolve around life loss and creature control, acting as both a sizable threat and removal tool wrapped into one card. Its ability to exile cards from the opponent’s graveyard can disrupt their plans and fuel its own power.

Meta-Relevance: The ability to control the board is always crucial, and Necropolis Fiend excels in metas where creatures are key to victory. As gameplay shifts and graveyard-based strategies become more prevalent, having Necropolis Fiend at the ready can give you an edge against other creature-heavy decks.


How to beat

Necropolis Fiend demands attention as a formidable flying creature with the ability to decimate opponent’s creatures through its delve and x-cost abilities. Unlike other cards that can require elaborate strategies to overcome, facing a Necropolis Fiend can be simplified with a few tactics. Managing your graveyard is pivotal, as the Fiend’s power feeds off the number of cards within it. Therefore, cards like Tormod’s Crypt offer a swift response to exile a graveyard, cutting off the fuel for its ability.

Control spells also play a critical role. Counterspells like Cancel ensure Necropolis Fiend never touches the battlefield, preventing the need to deal with it directly. Should the Fiend already be in play, enchantments like Pacifism render it harmless by preventing it from attacking or using its ability, offering a cost-effective solution. Similarly, bounce spells such as Unsummon can return Necropolis Fiend to the owner’s hand, disrupting the opponent’s mana investment and tempo, and giving you time to fortify your board presence.

Overall, the key to beating Necropolis Fiend lies in proactive graveyard management, effective use of control spells, and timely disruption, fostering an environment where this powerful creature can be kept in check.


Cards like Necropolis Fiend

Delving into the roster of Magic: The Gathering creatures, Necropolis Fiend stands out as a unique delve card, offering considerable power for potentially less mana. This black creature can be looked at in conjunction with cards like Gurmag Angler, which also harnesses delve but trades off Necropolis Fiend’s life-draining ability for a cheaper mana cost.

Tombstalker is another creature that emerges in this comparison. Both creatures demand a substantial amount of black mana and are able to reduce their casting cost through delve. However, Tombstalker forgoes the additional removal ability, focusing instead on flying to dominate the battlefield. Additionally, it could be compared to creatures like Rakshasa’s Secret for the aspect of graveyard interaction, albeit serving a supportive role with a different mechanic than pure aggression.

When considering the value that Necropolis Fiend brings to a game, it’s important to weigh its utility and synergy with decks centered around graveyard resources. It might not have Gurmag Angler’s reputation for cost-effectiveness or Tombstalker’s sheer force, but its capacity to disrupt the opponent’s creatures while influencing the board state carves a niche role for Necropolis Fiend within Magic: The Gathering’s pantheon of cards.

Gurmag Angler - MTG Card versions
Tombstalker - MTG Card versions
Rakshasa's Secret - MTG Card versions
Gurmag Angler - Fate Reforged (FRF)
Tombstalker - Future Sight (FUT)
Rakshasa's Secret - Khans of Tarkir (KTK)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Necropolis Fiend MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Khans of Tarkir Promos, 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 Necropolis Fiend and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Necropolis Fiend Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2014-09-26 and 2015-01-23. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 557292015normalblackSvetlin Velinov
22014-09-26Khans of Tarkir PromosPKTK 82s2015normalblackSeb McKinnon
32014-09-26Khans of TarkirKTK 822015normalblackSeb McKinnon
42015-01-23Fate Reforged Clash PackCP2 12015normalblackSvetlin Velinov

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Necropolis Fiend has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2014-09-20 Because delve isn’t an alternative cost, it can be used in conjunction with alternative costs.
2014-09-20 Delve doesn’t change a spell’s mana cost or converted mana cost. For example, Dead Drop’s converted mana cost is 10 even if you exiled three cards to cast it.
2014-09-20 The rules for delve have changed slightly since it was last in an expansion. Previously, delve reduced the cost to cast a spell. Under the current rules, you exile cards from your graveyard at the same time you pay the spell’s cost. Exiling a card this way is simply another way to pay that cost.
2014-09-20 You can’t exile cards to pay for the colored mana requirements of a spell with delve.
2014-09-20 You can’t exile more cards than the generic mana requirement of a spell with delve. For example, you can’t exile more than nine cards from your graveyard to cast Dead Drop.

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