Baleful Strix

Artifact Creature — Bird

Flying, deathtouch

When Baleful Strix enters the battlefield, draw a card.

Discussion (49)

multimedia on Kess Combo

6 days ago

Hey, interesting start on a budget version of Kess.

Some cards to consider adding:

• Baleful Strix
• Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• Arcane Signet: at TCGPlayer can get it for less than $3.
• Izzet Signet
• Dimir Signet: can get it for less than $1.
• Rakdos Signet
• Crumbling Necropolis: Grixis Tri land.
• Shivan Reef: can get it for less than $1.
• Smoldering Marsh
• Grixis Panorama
• Opal Palace
• Dimir Aqueduct
• Izzet Boilerworks
• Rakdos Carnarium

Cards to consider cutting for these:

• Temple of the False God: it will not tap for mana until your fifth turn which is really bad.
• Vivid Marsh: when it runs out of two counters it can only tap for black.
• Dimir Guildgate
• Swiftwater Cliffs
• 4x Mountain
• Guard Gomazoa or Fog Bank
• Sage's Row Denizen
• Izzet Chronarch
• Mnemonic Wall
• Salvager of Secrets
• Possessed Skaab

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Baleful Strix is a two drop who draws a card when it ETB, that way you can blink it with Deadeye to draw many cards. When you assemble Deadeye + Drake for infinite mana then being able to infinite blink a creature who draws can draw your win condition or draw and cast all cards in your deck. It's possible you could have a win condition already on the battlefield or in hand or graveyard with Kess, but if not then infinite blinking Strix lets you draw it.

Gonti, Lord of Luxury can be a win condition with Deadeye + Drake. It's not opponent mill, it's better, it's opponent exile their libraries and with infinite mana you get to cast all your opponent's cards. Arcane Signet , Izzet Signet, Dimir Signet, Rakdos Signet are some two drop mana rocks so you're not only relying on lands to have enough mana to cast cards.

I don't think you need to play so many creatures who recur an instant or sorcery because isn't that what Kess is for? That's the advantage of Kess, you get to cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard on your turns, but once you resolve that spell is exiled. An exiled spell is no longer in your graveyard to recur to your hand. Archaeomancer is the only creature you want for this effect because you also have blink spells as well as Deadeye and creature recursion/reanimation spells for Archaeomancer.

Good luck with your deck.

liamk585-mtg on Favorite Mtg Art?

1 week ago

xtechnetia, I totally agree. Baleful Strix has got to have my favorite mtg art ever. I was going to try to list my favorite card arts in this forum's body, but there are too many options! Commander's Authority and Makeshift Battalion come readily to mind. Also foil Explore.

xtechnetia on Favorite Mtg Art?

1 week ago

I have many, but here's a small sample.

Seek the Wilds

Tranquil Expanse

Vendilion Clique

Baleful Strix

Terminus

Weird_Frisbee on Flip-Bolas Grixis Control

3 weeks ago

ammon502,

Opt is not the worst cantrip, prolly Brainstorm is unless I have that shuffle effect.

I was trying out Batterskull as a aggro option to stabilize boardstates and my life total. However i'm just going back to Baleful Strix.

Sublime Epiphany is too expensive to me, 6 mana is alot to hold up for just a single spell, albeit with multiple effects. Whereas my 3 six-mana+ spells are more highly impactful

liamk585-mtg on The Best Art In Magic

1 month ago

Baleful Strix, Liliana Vess, and Vigor have the best arts on this list, I think. The lands are pretty amazing too. But Baleful Strix probably has my #1 favorite mtg card art of all time. I'm inspired to make a favorite mtg card art deck of my own, and I hope you don't mind me using your idea. I'll also give you some credit in the description.

Lokotor on Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer

1 month ago

jeannieboef

you'll probably get at least 1 activation off of it all the time. at that point it's 3 mana to ensure you're building your board next turn.

consider you're almost certainly playing it on a creature that already has a counter on it, and so if they waste removal on it then that's fine since now they don't have removal for something that matters and you have essentially only lost 3 mana since your creature is just coming back.

consider also that they've had removal and they haven't used it on whatever you're playing shadow on so far, so it's probably not a big threat to them, so why would they waste a removal spell on it? they'll probably save it for whatever comes out off of shadows next turn if it even is a big immediate threat to them.

are you going to really lightning bolt my Baleful Strix or Solemn Simulacrum (with a +1/+1 counter on it probably) just because it has Shifting Shadows on it? probably not.

shadows triggers and now I have a simulacrum + a Thief of Sanity do you want to use your removal on either of them really? maybe, but they might say ... well this isn't that bad, i'll wait till something ACTUALLY bad comes out and then i'll kill it. and by then you've gotten 3-4 free creature tutors.

it's somewhat of a damned if you do damned if you don't card for your opponents and it has a low opportunity cost for you.

I think it's a good card, but I ended up going for Imperial Recruiter instead since it lets me have more choice over what cards I'm getting.

all of your concerns are totally real, and you should be aware of them and let that influence how you play the card. (like by not putting it on creatures without evasion, or on high priority for removal creatures, or saving a counter spell in case you get something really good off it) that said, I still think it's generally a good card.

JarringTiger on The Mischief Makers

1 month ago

Appreciate all this feedback! If I could keep asking, I'm struggling with the last few creature spots, namely Baleful Strix, Grim Guardian, and Ornithopter. Strix is good value for a deathtoucher, guardian has the steady drain, and ornithopter is literally two fliers for free when Alela is out, but is that enough? Or do I swap them out for more enchantments/equipment? Or for better creatures that fit what I want to do?

Just for clarity, rhystic and cyc rift are in the "if I get lucky, they're going in, but I can't justify $50+ for two cards during a pandemic" camp.

Goblin_Guide on

1 month ago

For anyone interested in a budget version, here are some changes I would recommend:

Necropotence becomes Underworld Connections (or Phyrexian Arena I guess, but still a little pricey).

Baleful Strix becomes Dusk Legion Zealot.

Chain of Vapor becomes literally any removal spell, it's just in here because I own a Chinese one and I like the card a lot. (Plus it can bounce your own commander and sac a land to make it into a removal spell.)

Crypt Ghast becomes any mana rock; it could also become some mana dork like Apprentice Wizard or something.

Erratic Portal ... uh ... I dunno, maybe Barrin, Tolarian Archmage? Not a great option but it's cheaper.

Mystic Remora becomes any draw spell.

There are also a couple of randomly expensive mana rocks or whatever, figure it out.