Gaea's Herald MTG Card
2001-02-05 - Number 80
2003-07-28 - Number 252★
2003-07-28 - Number 252
2007-07-13 - Number 265
2010-06-04 - Number 65
| Card sets | Released in 5 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Elf |
| Power | 1 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Key Takeaways
- Gaea’s Herald indirectly increases card advantage by protecting creature spells from being countered.
- It speeds up your strategy by ensuring fast, unimpeded development of your creature base.
- The card is especially valuable in countering blue control decks within various game formats.
Text of card
Creature spells can't be countered by spells or abilities.
"I bring word from Gaea. Fight on! She will never allow her children to die alone."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: While Gaea’s Herald doesn’t directly provide card draw, it ensures that other creatures in your deck that could be countered will more likely take effect on the game board, indirectly leading to card advantage by safeguarding your key plays.
Resource Acceleration: Gaea’s Herald itself doesn’t accelerate resources in the traditional sense of mana production. However, by ensuring your pivotal creatures aren’t countered, you effectively speed up your game plan, paving the way for a more aggressive and unimpeded board development.
Instant Speed: Although Gaea’s Herald operates at sorcery speed, its passive ability is a continuous effect. This essentially elevates all your creatures to having an inherent ‘cannot be countered’ clause, which can be pivotal against decks that rely heavily on counterspells, allowing you to commit to your strategy with confidence at any phase of the game.
Card Cons
Specific Mana Cost: Gaea’s Herald’s mana cost requires both green mana and generic mana, which may not align with decks that are not attuned to a green mana base or those running multicolor with limited green sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While not exorbitant, the two-green mana cost for Gaea’s Herald can still be somewhat restrictive, especially early in the game when players are building their mana base. This can potentially delay the casting of impactful creatures.
Discard Requirement: Though Gaea’s Herald does not have a discard requirement, one should be aware that its presence doesn’t mitigate the need to carefully consider hand management, especially in decks where hand size could become a concern.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Gaea’s Herald is a powerful addition to any green deck, offering protection for your creature spells against countermagic. Its impact is felt across various formats, from Commander to casual play, shielding your key creatures from your opponent’s attempts to disrupt your strategy.
Combo Potential: Gaea’s Herald elevates decks that rely on creature-based combos. By ensuring your combo pieces hit the board without interruption, it secures the smooth execution of your winning strategy. This makes it a critical component in decks that aim to assemble a specific creature combination for victory.
Meta-Relevance: In environments dominated by blue control decks, Gaea’s Herald gains significant importance. Its presence can tip the scales in your favor, keeping blue players at bay and allowing you to execute your game plan without the fear of your creatures being countered.
How to beat Gaea’s Herald
Gaea’s Herald is a unique card that presents a challenge in Magic: The Gathering, as it grants all creature spells you cast uncounterable status. To outmaneuver this ability, players must pivot their strategy away from relying on countermagic. Instead, direct removal spells become the key. Options like Doom Blade or Path to Exile effectively handle the Herald, bypassing its protective ability entirely.
Another tactical approach is to include board wipes such as Wrath of God or Damnation in your deck, which can clear the Herald along with all other creatures on the battlefield. Moreover, creature abilities that can remove or neutralize other creatures are invaluable. Cards like Royal Assassin or Skyclave Apparition can bypass Gaea’s Herald’s ability indirectly by targeting it once it’s on the field rather than in the stack.
It’s vital to adjust your deck to be proactive rather than reactive when facing a card like Gaea’s Herald. Employing a diverse array of removal and board control tools ensures that the Herald’s influence is kept in check, maintaining the upper hand in your match-up.
Cards like Gaea's Herald
In the realm of creature-based strategy, Gaea’s Herald plays a unique role. This card finds parallels with other creatures that aim to shore up your ability to cast creature spells without interruption. Prowling Serpopard, for instance, fulfills a similar role. It renders creature spells you control uncounterable, similar to Gaea’s Herald. However, the Serpopard comes with a bonus of a more substantial body to contest the battlefield.
Another card to consider is Allosaurus Shepherd. It not only makes your Elves uncounterable but also has the potential to turn all of them into massive dinosaurs. Although it’s focused more on Elf synergy than the broader creature protection that Gaea’s Herald offers, it exemplifies the thematic crossover of ensuring your creatures hit the board unscathed.
Assessing their utility within various deck archetypes, Gaea’s Herald has its niche, particularly in environments where counter-magic is prevalent. It offers a preemptive shield for the full spectrum of your creatures at a low mana cost, maintaining the tempo of your game plan and providing a key advantage in specific MTG metagames.
Cards similar to Gaea's Herald by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Gaea's Herald MTG card by a specific set like Planeshift and Eighth Edition, 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 Gaea's Herald and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Gaea's Herald Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2001-02-05 and 2010-06-04. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2001-02-05 | Planeshift | PLS | 80 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Dan Frazier | |
| 2 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 252★ | 2003 | Normal | Black | Dan Frazier | |
| 3 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 252 | 2003 | Normal | White | Dan Frazier | |
| 4 | 2007-07-13 | Tenth Edition | 10E | 265 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Jim Murray | |
| 5 | 2010-06-04 | Duels of the Planeswalkers | DPA | 65 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Jim Murray |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Gaea's Herald has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Gaea's Herald card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2004-10-04 | The ability applies to your opponent’s spells as well as your own. |
