Felhide Spiritbinder MTG Card


Felhide Spiritbinder - Born of the Gods
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Minotaur Shaman
Abilities Inspired
Released2014-02-07
Set symbol
Set nameBorn of the Gods
Set codeBNG
Power 3
Toughness 4
Number96
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byMathias Kollros

Key Takeaways

  1. Activating Felhide Spiritbinder grants card advantage and powerful field presence without extra card draws.
  2. The instant speed of its activated ability allows strategic reactions and flexibility in gameplay.
  3. Despite its strengths, Felhide Spiritbinder may struggle against control elements and requires precise mana.

Text of card

Inspired — Whenever Felhide Spiritbinder becomes untapped, you may pay . If you do, put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of another target creature except it's an enchantment in addition to its other types. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Felhide Spiritbinder, when activated, creates a copy of another target creature you control. This not only enhances your battlefield presence but also provides implicit card advantage as you effectively get to use your creatures twice, making the most out of high-impact permanents without drawing additional cards.

Resource Acceleration: While not providing direct mana acceleration, using Felhide Spiritbinder’s ability can be seen as a form of resource acceleration. Instead of playing another creature from your hand, you can invest mana into creating a copy, thereby “accelerating” the amount of threats you deploy by using existing resources more efficiently.

Instant Speed: The ability to use Felhide Spiritbinder’s Inspired trigger at instant speed gives you the flexibility to react to your opponent’s moves, waiting for the most opportune moment to create a copy of your creature. This can be especially powerful when used during the combat phase or at the end of your opponent’s turn, adding a layer of tactical depth to your gameplay.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Felhide Spiritbinder’s inspired mechanic hinges on untapping, which may not consistently trigger, especially against control decks that focus on keeping creatures tapped.

Specific Mana Cost: This Minotaur Shaman requires both red and white mana, demanding a commitment to a red-based deck or a possibly strained mana base in multicolor decks to be effective.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana and an additional cost to utilize its ability, there are creatures with equal or lower mana costs that could offer immediate or more impactful board presence.


Reasons to Include Felhide Spiritbinder in Your Collection

Versatility: Felhide Spiritbinder provides a unique mix of utility and offensive capabilities, enabling it to slide into various red and/or creature-centric decks. Its ability to create copies of creatures adds a new layer of strategy, regardless of the archetype you are playing.

Combo Potential: This card is a linchpin in creating potent combos, as its Inspired ability allows you to reanimate powerful creatures from your graveyard temporarily with haste. When paired with cards that untap your creatures, Felhide Spiritbinder can continuously fuel your battlefield with intimidating creature copies.

Meta-Relevance: While Felhide Spiritbinder may not be a mainstay in all metas, its value surges in more creature-heavy and synergistic environments. When played in a meta with substantial creature interactions, its copy ability can repeatedly turn the tide of a game by duplicating the most impactful creatures on the board.


How to beat

Felhide Spiritbinder presents a unique challenge on the battlefield. As an Inspired creature in Magic: The Gathering, this minotaur shaman offers players the ability to create a copy of a target creature whenever it becomes untapped. Even though this can rapidly turn the tides by cloning the strongest creatures in play, overcoming this ability is not insurmountable.

Key strategies include keeping the Spiritbinder tapped through cards such as Frost Lynx or using instant-speed removal like Murder or Path to Exile before it triggers its Inspired ability. Another approach would be to preemptively remove potential clone targets with board clear spells or individual exile spells to ensure that even if Felhide Spiritbinder readies to use its ability, there won’t be a valuable target available. Lastly, deploying fast-paced aggressive tactics to diminish your opponent’s life total before the Spiritbinder can influence the game can prove effective. By implementing these tactics, an opponent’s Felhide Spiritbinder can become much less daunting – disrupting their game plan and leading you to victory.

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each card and creating a balanced counter-strategy is the essence of mastering Magic: The Gathering, and Felhide Spiritbinder is no exception to this rule.


Cards like Felhide Spiritbinder

Felhide Spiritbinder is a unique card in Magic: The Gathering with an intriguing inspired mechanic that allows players to create a token copy of a creature whenever Felhide Spiritbinder becomes untapped. A card that operates on similar grounds is Splinter Twin, which enchants a creature to create a token copy with haste when tapped. However, Felhide Spiritbinder offers more flexibility as it doesn’t need to be attached to a specific creature and triggers on untapping.

Comparing it to Minion Reflector, another card that can create tokens, Felhide Spiritbinder comes out as a more mana-efficient option. Minion Reflector requires two mana to trigger, while Felhide Spiritbinder is built-in with its inspired ability. Conversely, Heat Shimmer is a transient effect, creating a token only for a turn, which limits its long-term potential. Felhide Spiritbinder presents an ongoing threat, amassing a board presence with each untapped phase.

In evaluating its place within the myriad of token-generating cards in Magic: The Gathering, Felhide Spiritbinder holds its own with an ability to repeatedly forge armies without needing a mana output every turn, positioning it as a strategic asset in any deck focusing on token manipulation and creature synergies.

Splinter Twin - MTG Card versions
Minion Reflector - MTG Card versions
Heat Shimmer - MTG Card versions
Splinter Twin - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)
Minion Reflector - Shards of Alara (ALA)
Heat Shimmer - Lorwyn (LRW)

Cards similar to Felhide Spiritbinder by color, type and mana cost

Dragon Whelp - MTG Card versions
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Crimson Manticore - MTG Card versions
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Reckless Embermage - MTG Card versions
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Krark-Clan Engineers - MTG Card versions
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Dragon Whelp - Limited Edition Beta (LEB)
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Márton Stromgald - Ice Age (ICE)
Reckless Embermage - Mirage (MIR)
Wildfire Emissary - Mirage (MIR)
Flowstone Giant - Tempest (TMP)
Rathi Dragon - Tempest (TMP)
Mogg Bombers - Stronghold (STH)
Warmonger - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Bloodfire Kavu - Apocalypse (APC)
Whipkeeper - Odyssey (ODY)
Anger - Judgment (JUD)
Nalathni Dragon - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Everquill Phoenix - Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (IKO)
Goblin Goon - Legions (LGN)
Lesser Gargadon - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Krark-Clan Engineers - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Shimatsu the Bloodcloaked - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Ogre Taskmaster - Ninth Edition (9ED)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Felhide Spiritbinder MTG card by a specific set like Born of the Gods, 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 Felhide Spiritbinder and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Felhide Spiritbinder has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2014-02-01 Any enters-the-battlefield abilities of the copied creature will trigger when the token enters the battlefield. Any “as
-his permanent] enters the battlefield” or “
-his permanent] enters the battlefield with” abilities of the copied creature will also work.
2014-02-01 If an inspired ability triggers during your untap step, the ability will be put on the stack at the beginning of your upkeep. If the ability creates one or more token creatures, those creatures won’t be able to attack that turn (unless they gain haste).
2014-02-01 If another creature becomes or enters the battlefield as a copy of the token, that creature won’t have haste and you won’t exile it. However, if Felhide Spiritbinder creates multiple tokens due to a replacement effect (like the one Doubling Season creates), each of those tokens will have haste and you’ll exile each of them.
2014-02-01 If the copied creature has in its mana cost, X is considered to be zero.
2014-02-01 If the copied creature is a token, the token created by Felhide Spiritbinder copies the original characteristics of that token as stated by the effect that put the token onto the battlefield.
2014-02-01 If the copied creature is copying something else (for example, if the copied creature is a Clone), then the token enters the battlefield as whatever that creature copied.
2014-02-01 If the inspired ability includes an optional cost, you decide whether to pay that cost as the ability resolves. You can do this even if the creature leaves the battlefield in response to the ability.
2014-02-01 Inspired abilities don’t trigger when the creature enters the battlefield.
2014-02-01 Inspired abilities trigger no matter how the creature becomes untapped: by the turn-based action at the beginning of the untap step or by a spell or ability.
2014-02-01 The token copies exactly what was printed on the original creature (except that the copy is also an enchantment) and nothing else (unless that permanent is copying something else or is a token; see below). It doesn’t copy whether that creature is tapped or untapped, whether it has any counters on it or Auras and Equipment attached to it, or any non-copy effects that have changed its power, toughness, types, color, and so on.

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