Akoum Hellhound MTG Card
2020-09-25 - Number 299
2020-09-25 - Number 133
2002-06-24 - Number 83690
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 1 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Elemental Dog |
| Abilities | Landfall |
| Power | 0 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Key Takeaways
- Enhances landfall decks by increasing in power with each land played.
- As a red creature, it fits well within mono-red or multicolored landfall builds.
- Despite cons, its strengths make it a valuable addition for specific strategies.
Text of card
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Akoum Hellhound gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The Akoum Hellhound may not directly offer card draw, but it pairs effectively with landfall strategies which can lead to drawing cards from other cards’ effects by hitting multiple land drops.
Resource Acceleration: While this creature doesn’t generate mana or treasure, it benefits from lands entering the battlefield swiftly and improves your board state each time you play a land, rewarding you with aggressive resource use.
Instant Speed: Akoum Hellhound operates at sorcery speed as a creature, but synergizes with instant-speed land drops from effects like fetch lands or cards allowing you to play lands on your opponent’s turn, which can present sudden and unexpected threats.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Akoum Hellhound doesn’t have a discard requirement itself, it may force deck builders to incorporate additional land cards to optimize its landfall ability, potentially causing an unwanted increase in card discard within the game strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: Akoum Hellhound requires red mana, making it a specialist in red or multicolored landfall-oriented decks, but potentially restrictive for other deck archetypes that do not frequently utilize mountain lands or red mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Akoum Hellhound has a low casting cost, deploying it early may not always be advantageous. As the game progresses, players might find that it could be playing a spot that could have been reserved for creatures with more impact or versatility, even within the landfall strategy context.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Akoum Hellhound boasts a simplicity that allows seamless integration into landfall-focused decks. Its low mana cost enables an early presence on the battlefield, engaging quickly in your aggressive strategies.
Combo Potential: Coupled with cards that allow multiple land plays in a turn, this Hellhound’s power can skyrocket — ideal for leveraging landfall synergies to outpace opponents.
Meta-Relevance: Within a meta that favors swift, aggressive playstyles, Akoum Hellhound can serve as a crucial component, bringing substantial impact due to its potential for high early-game damage when paired with quick land drops.
How to beat Akoum Hellhound
Akoum Hellhound has a niche in the aggressive red landfall decks of Magic: The Gathering, making it a threat that can scale quickly with every land you play. Overlooking this creature can be a mistake, as it gets substantially stronger with each mountain dropped onto the battlefield. The key to beating this card is controlling the pace and keeping your opponent’s board clear.
One effective countermeasure is to deploy cheap removal spells to handle the Hellhound before it amasses power. Cards like Shock or Fatal Push are excellent choices for dealing with it efficiently. Remember, Akoum Hellhound requires a steady play of lands to be effective, so if you can disrupt your opponent’s land drops or keep them off balance with your removal, the threat level diminishes quickly.
Consistent board control is crucial when facing a card like Akoum Hellhound. Combining removal with creatures that can block and survive combat with the Hellhound will also diminish its impact, ensuring that you maintain an advantage. Ultimately, deploying early interaction and keeping landfall triggers in check are your surest path to victory over this fiery canine.
Cards like Akoum Hellhound
Akoum Hellhound stands out in Magic: The Gathering as an early game creature that can rapidly become a threat. Drawing parallels, Steppe Lynx is another creature that grows with landfall, but it belongs to the white color pie, offering a different strategic placement in deck building. Both creatures start with a 0/1 body, yet their potential to swell in power each time a land enters the battlefield under your control is remarkable.
Another comparable card is Scythe Leopard, which also leverages landfall to increase its power, but with a starting point of 1/1. It’s indeed similar to Akoum Hellhound, with the added benefit of slightly higher base power, which sometimes can make a significant difference during the game’s early stages. These cards provide exceptional value, enabling players to exert pressure without a substantial mana investment.
To sum up, when assessing cards like Akoum Hellhound within Magic: The Gathering, their ability to scale with landfall sets them in a special category of aggressive creatures. They prove efficient in landfall-centric decks, with each having its unique advantage, yet all promising escalating power as the game unfolds.
Cards similar to Akoum Hellhound by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Akoum Hellhound MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Zendikar Rising, 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 Akoum Hellhound 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 Akoum Hellhound Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2020-09-25 and 2020-09-25. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 83690 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Pascal Blanché | ||
| 2 | 2020-09-25 | Zendikar Rising | ZNR | 299 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Pascal Blanché | |
| 3 | 2020-09-25 | Zendikar Rising | ZNR | 133 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jason Kang |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Akoum Hellhound 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 |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Akoum Hellhound card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2020-09-25 | A landfall ability doesn’t trigger if a permanent already on the battlefield becomes a land. |
| 2020-09-25 | A landfall ability triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control for any reason. It triggers whenever you play a land, as well as whenever a spell or ability puts a land onto the battlefield under your control. |
| 2020-09-25 | Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, each landfall ability of the permanents you control will trigger. You can put them on the stack in any order. The last ability you put on the stack will be the first one to resolve. |
