Price$0.99 – $10.32
Buy on TCGplayerBaleful Strix
Artifact Creature — Bird
LegalCard DrawRank #357
Flying, deathtouch
When this creature enters, draw a card.
1/1
Why is this card good?
Baleful Strix is one of the best two-drops in the entire format for any deck with access to blue and black. It's pure value: you spend two mana, replace the card immediately with a draw, and get a flying deathtouch blocker that walls almost anything on the ground or in the air. There's no card disadvantage and no real downside.
Where it shines:
- Control and midrange decks that want to slow aggressive boards while staying card-neutral.
- Blink/flicker decks (Brago, Roon-style, Aminatou) that repeatedly re-trigger the draw and even chump-trade with commanders.
- Aristocrats/reanimator shells that love a cheap, recurrable artifact creature to sacrifice and bring back.
As an artifact, it also enables affinity/improvise and synergizes with artifact recursion. Deathtouch makes it a fantastic deterrent against attackers and a removal piece in deals.
When to skip it: aggressive, go-wide tokens or burn-style decks that don't care about defense, and lists that don't run blue or black. Otherwise, it's a near-automatic include.
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Printings (17)
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Played by these commanders
Mirko, Obsessive Theorist100% of 1
Gonti, Canny Acquisitor100% of 1
Jared Carthalion100% of 1
Sefris of the Hidden Ways100% of 1
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge100% of 1
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed100% of 2
Urza, Chief Artificer100% of 1
Breya, Etherium Shaper100% of 1