Dusk Charger MTG Card

Rivals of Ixalan (RIX)
2018-01-19 - Number 69

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 643

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number RIX-69

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Horse
Abilities	Ascend
Power	3
Toughness	3

Key Takeaways

Dusk Charger can be a significant threat upon achieving the city’s blessing, enhancing board power.
Its casting cost and Ascend requirement impact its utility in fast-paced or multicolored decks.
Understanding how to effectively counter Dusk Charger is crucial for maintaining control in matches.

Text of card

Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.) Dusk Charger gets +2/+2 as long as you have the city's blessing.

Stories say demon blood runs in its veins, making it fearless and bloodthirsty.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Dusk Charger has the potential to become a more powerful creature thanks to its Ascend ability. Once you control ten or more permanents and gain the city’s blessing, this card becomes a sizable threat, thereby creating indirect card advantage due to its enhanced threat level on the board.

Resource Acceleration: While Dusk Charger itself does not directly offer resource acceleration, its reasonable casting cost supports a smooth mana curve in the mid-game. This allows players to efficiently develop their board presence without falling behind in the crucial middle turns of the game.

Instant Speed: Though Dusk Charger does not operate at instant speed, its place in a deck that can capitalize on the Ascend mechanic means it can be a beneficiary of other instant-speed plays. These synergies enable you to maximize your board state reactively, keeping opponents on their toes and paving the way for your Dusk Charger to dominate once it has ascended.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: A limiting factor of Dusk Charger is its Ascend ability, which often requires a player to have a certain number of permanents before effectively utilizing its power. This could lead to situations where discarding other cards to reach this threshold reduces a player’s hand and jeopardizes their strategic options.

Specific Mana Cost: As a creature that requires two black mana to cast, Dusk Charger can be restrictive for multicolored decks. Players might find the mana requirement demanding, especially early in the game when mana resources are still being developed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana for a 3/3 creature, Dusk Charger’s cost efficiency is questionable. Other creatures at that mana cost could potentially offer more impact on the board immediately. Additionally, its abilities are reliant on the Ascend mechanic, meaning without ten or more permanents, its potential remains untapped, making it less appealing in fast-paced games where resources are crucial.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Dusk Charger easily slots into decks looking for a solid-bodied creature with scaling potential. Its ascend ability means that it can become a substantial threat in the late game, fitting well into decks that play towards the city’s blessing.

Combo Potential: With its ascend capability, Dusk Charger works well in synergistic strategies that capitalize on having ten or more permanents. This aspect offers interesting interactions in decks that rapidly deploy tokens or other permanents, turning it into a formidable force.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment where longer games predominate, Dusk Charger can become a key player. Its power increase upon reaching the city’s blessing can create a significant shift in board presence, making it a worthwhile addition in metas that favor building towards such conditions.

How to Beat Dusk Charger

Dusk Charger may appear daunting at first glance, especially when its Ascend ability is activated, granting it an advantageous power boost. This creature card becomes a solid force capable of formidable attacks. To counter Dusk Charger effectively, players should consider utilizing removal spells that can take it down regardless of its size. Efficient kill spells like Fatal Push or Path to Exile can dispatch Dusk Charger without incurring a loss on your side in terms of card advantage.

Another strategy against Dusk Charger involves limiting the opponent’s creature count to prevent the Ascend from triggering. Sweepers like Day of Judgment or board control cards such as Languish can be particularly effective in maintaining a clear battlefield, thereby neutralizing the threat of Dusk Charger before it can become a major concern.

Lastly, always remember, timing is crucial in Magic: The Gathering. Playing your removal or control responses wisely, potentially when the opponent has invested resources into empowering their Dusk Charger, can lead to significant shifts in the game’s momentum in your favor.

Cards like Dusk Charger

Dusk Charger is an interesting creature card in the broad spectrum of Magic: The Gathering. As a card also focusing on Ascend, it finds a kinship with Jungleborn Pioneer, which offers players a 2/2 creature with a 1/1 token when it enters the battlefield. While not augmenting power directly like Dusk Charger, which can become a 5/5, Jungleborn Pioneer offers immediate board presence by providing two bodies.

Another card worth comparing is Sadistic Skymarcher, which needs a creature to exhibit its full potential like Dusk Charger requires city’s blessing. Both cards flourish under certain conditions, but Sadistic Skymarcher offers lifelink, a valuable boon for sustained battles. On the contrary, Dusk Charger’s potential to grow stronger gives it an edge in direct confrontations as a single entity.

Evaluating the dynamics of these cards, Dusk Charger holds its own within the MTG ecosystem. Its conditional strength can become a deciding factor in a game, proving it to be a viable option for many decks that focus on reaching the city’s blessing swiftly.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Dusk Charger MTG card by a specific set like Rivals of Ixalan and Mystery Booster, 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 Dusk Charger and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Dusk Charger Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2018-01-19 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Lucas Graciano.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2018-01-19	Rivals of Ixalan	RIX	69	2015	Normal	Black	Lucas Graciano
2	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	643	2015	Normal	Black	Lucas Graciano
3	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	RIX-69	2015	Normal	Black	Lucas Graciano

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Dusk Charger has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2018-01-19	A permanent is any object on the battlefield, including tokens and lands. Spells and emblems aren’t permanents.
2018-01-19	Ascend on a permanent isn’t a triggered ability and doesn’t use the stack. Players can respond to a spell that will give you your tenth permanent, but they can’t respond to getting the city’s blessing once you control that tenth permanent. This means that if your tenth permanent is a land you play, players can’t respond before you get the city’s blessing.
2018-01-19	If you cast a spell with ascend, you don’t get the city’s blessing until it resolves. Players may respond to that spell by trying to change whether you get the city’s blessing.
2018-01-19	If you control ten permanents but don’t control a permanent or resolving spell with ascend, you don’t get the city’s blessing. For example, if you control ten permanents, lose control of one, then cast Golden Demise, you won’t have the city’s blessing and the spell will affect creatures you control.
2018-01-19	If your tenth permanent enters the battlefield and then a permanent leaves the battlefield immediately afterwards (most likely due to the “Legend Rule” or due to being a creature with 0 toughness), you get the city’s blessing before it leaves the battlefield.
2018-01-19	Once you have the city’s blessing, you have it for the rest of the game, even if you lose control of some or all of your permanents. The city’s blessing isn’t a permanent itself and can’t be removed by any effect.
2018-01-19	Some cards get power, toughness, and/or abilities once you have the city’s blessing. If another card has an ability that triggers when creatures with certain characteristics enter the battlefield (such as Mentor of the Meek or Elemental Bond do), use the entering permanent’s characteristics after you have the city’s blessing to determine whether those abilities trigger. This is true even if the entering permanent is your tenth permanent.