Mortus Strider MTG Card
2013-02-01 - Number 179
2024-01-12 - Number 203
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Skeleton |
| Power | 1 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Key Takeaways
- Mortus Strider excels in card advantage by offering a repeatable creature play from the hand.
- The card’s combo potential in MTG leverages enter-and-leave-the-battlefield effects for strategic advantage.
- Countering Mortus Strider effectively requires exile or hand disruption tactics to prevent recurrence.
Text of card
When Mortus Strider dies, return it to its owner's hand.
Dimir's best agents hide from death itself.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Mortus Strider offers a unique edge in terms of card advantage. Every time it returns to your hand from the graveyard, you essentially retrieve a resource that can be played again. This repeatable process ensures that you consistently have a creature to play, potentially frustrating your opponent’s removal strategies.
Resource Acceleration: While Mortus Strider itself does not directly accelerate resources, its synergy with cards that benefit from creature re-entry or sacrifice mechanics can be a catalyst for accelerating your board position. Pairing Mortus Strider with such cards can result in generating additional mana or other in-game benefits faster than your opponent can keep up with.
Instant Speed: This reliable creature offers you a play at instant speed without needing to be an instant itself. Thanks to its ability to return to your hand when it dies, you can effectively “save” it from removal and redeploy it at a moment’s notice. This aspect of Mortus Strider adds a layer of flexibility and surprise to your game, allowing you to react to your opponent’s moves strategically.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Mortus Strider lacks a self-contained recursion ability, meaning other pieces on the board must be sacrificed or specific conditions met to utilize its potential.
Specific Mana Cost: It requires both black and blue mana – a blend not always available in every player’s deck, potentially hampering its versatility and making it a challenging fit outside of multicolored decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Mortus Strider comes with a relatively high mana cost considering its moderate stat line and ability. There are more efficient creatures or spells that provide greater value or impact on the game for a similar mana investment.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Mortus Strider serves as a resilient piece in decks that capitalize on enter-the-battlefield or leave-the-battlefield effects. Its ability to return to your hand guarantees you’ll always have a creature to play, making it a consistent asset.
Combo Potential: This card can be an integral part of an infinite loop when combined with sacrifice outlets and cards that trigger upon dying or creature casting. Its return-to-hand mechanism can be repeatedly exploited to generate value or game-ending conditions.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta that’s heavy on removal, Mortus Strider shines by dodging common forms of creature destruction. Its evasion ensures that you maintain board presence and makes for a frustrating obstacle for opponents reliant on clearing the board to pave their way to victory.
How to beat
Mortus Strider presents a persistent challenge on the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to return to its owner’s hand when it dies makes it a resilient adversary that can evade many traditional removal methods. To effectively counter this card, players should focus on exile effects or cards that force the opponent to sacrifice creatures. By doing so, Mortus Strider’s strength of reanimation can be circumvented, as it needs to die to trigger its ability.
Utilizing cards that control or alter the opponent’s hand can also be advantageous. This approach can prevent the recurring play of Mortus Strider by disrupting the player’s resources or restricting their ability to summon creatures. This strategy can be especially potent if you manage to force your opponent to discard Mortus Strider, hence avoiding its return-to-hand ability entirely.
Overall, while Mortus Strider can pose a frustrating obstacle with its ability to dodge destruction, it can be managed through strategic planning and the use of targeted removal or discard mechanics within Magic: The Gathering. Smart deck building and game tactics will ensure this card does not become an insurmountable barrier to your victory.
Cards like Mortus Strider
The allure of Mortus Strider lies in its resilience, a trait shared with many creatures across the Magic: The Gathering universe. This particular creature reappears to the hand once it lands in the graveyard, reminiscent of the undying Phoenixes of the game, albeit at a lower power tier. Unlike the Reassembling Skeleton, another MTG perennial favorite, Mortus Strider doesn’t require an additional mana investment to return to your hand, ensuring a continuous defensive presence.
Examining the versatile Weaver of Lies from the MTG portfolio, players are presented with a creature capable of not just returning to the hand but also morphing, granting you the tactical advantage of surprise. However, the mana cost associated with that flexibility is significantly higher than that of Mortus Strider. Looking to the skies, Flickerwisp could appear as a distant relative, possessing the ability to exile any permanent and return it to the battlefield. Though lacking Mortus Strider’s self-recurring ability, Flickerwisp offers a broader utility with potential disruptive plays.
When comparing these mechanics, Mortus Strider enjoys a niche role in MTG decks that capitalize on returning creatures to hand, demonstrating a balance between cost efficiency and persistent board presence, particularly useful for strategies that benefit from casting creatures repeatedly.
Cards similar to Mortus Strider by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Mortus Strider MTG card by a specific set like Gatecrash and Ravnica Remastered, 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 Mortus Strider 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 Mortus Strider Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2013-02-01 and 2024-01-12. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2013-02-01 | Gatecrash | GTC | 179 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Tomasz Jedruszek | |
| 2 | 2024-01-12 | Ravnica Remastered | RVR | 203 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Tiffany Turrill |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Mortus Strider has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Mortus Strider card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2013-01-24 | Mortis Strider will return to its owner’s hand only if it is still in the graveyard when its ability resolves. |
