Pointed Discussion

The heck? How is this different from seeds of strength?

Seeds of Strength came later and it only costs two, but it's multicolored.

Also, I think the wording should be changed on the sight. It should be "at end of turn", not "at the beginning of the next cleanup step." They're two totally different things.

It's like a distributable Giant Strength, only you play it when you're tapped out and the opp thinks they've got the advantage.

This is an underpowered "pitch" card. They could have made this much better by letting the counters stay instead of being removed. Even if it was only 2 permanent counters, it would have been way more useful. Alliances did a terrible job of balancing the "pitch" spells. Force of Will: GREAT, Contagion: GOOD, Scars of the Veteran: OK, Pyrokinesis and Bounty of the Hunt: POOR.

I could see this getting really good play with Joraga Warcaller

Such crap. Contagion lets you keep the counters, why couldn't this? Even then it would be terrible.
Also, Overrun costs the same.

I Can Almost Read That. Whats It Say In...Instant!

You can play Protean Hydra as a 1/1 for {1}{G}, then play Bounty of the Hunt on it to make it a 4/4 until EOT...then, at the end of the next turn it becomes a 7/7 because of its own ability. :)

Proliferate.

If you play this and use Contagion Engine to double proliferate, are the initial three +1/+1's the only ones to be removed?

This card was in a worlds semi-finalist deck in 97!

Since when did they start making crappy pitch cards? Giant growth is almost as good as this card... and it has a cmc of 1.

i've got a question if anyone can answer it.
my version of bounty has like a weird shaped 'D' as its set symbol. it doesn't match any of the sets listed on gatherer.
anyone know what that is?

I'd like to know how this interacts with Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. Will the counters be removed even if you kill him before EOT? If not, that's a potentially useful combo in EDH...

If you put the +1/+1 counters on creatures with -1/-1 counters, then they cancel out and don't have to be removed.

@CrowJonSnow: It's from the Deckmasters 2001: Garfield vs Finkel set, which was basically Duel Decks before there were Duel Decks. Richard Garfield's deck has one Bounty of the Hunt in it, and is listed here. http://www.wizards.com/magic/displaythemedeck.asp?set=deckmasters2001&decknum=1&lang=en

Ahhh blue. You used to be so OP. This card was released in a cycle with Force of Will.

Weird shaped D?!

The effect is rather weak because the counters get removed at end of turn.
Especially for the harsh cost of five mana for hardcasting it.

Interestingly this is pretty much the pitch card version of Seeds of Strength.
Pretty underwhelming, huh?
Now compare this to Force of Will, which is a pitch card version of Counterspell.
I think this shows how careful you have to be with the cost of cards sometimes, an unrestricted counterspell for control decks being one of them...but certainly not a temporary creature boost. Or can anyone of you remember a Giant Growth being game-breaking?
Then again, to be fair, if this was a permanent boost it would probably see much play in agressive decks.

However, there are a few cards that work nicely with that card:
*Protein Hydra: Gives a permanent +2/+2 boost for each counter. (A turn 2 7/7 dude that grows even further by any damage taken ain't that bad, right?)
*Devoted Druid: Provides for each counter. (Which allows devastating 8 mana in your third turn.)
*Walking Archive: lets you draw a card for each counter when cast in your upkeep, and prevents your opponents from drawing as well since the counters get removed again. (This basically nets you with one extra card when all three of them are used on the Archive.)

Just keep in mind that this requires three cards, so removal is terrible for you when cast on any of these creatures (at least when cast as a response to BotH in case of the latter two).

Oh...and then of course you still have the obvious use the card was meant for: a nifty combat trick when you are tapped out, which can still give you card advantage if it works out perfectly...which, however, is not too likely...

Why is this card worded "at the beginning of the next cleanup step" instead of "at the beginning of the next end step" or something similar?

The cleanup step happens AFTER the end step. The cleanup step has three parts to it. First, (514.1) players discard down to maximum hand size, then (514.2) damage and "until end of turn" effects wear off (not to be confused with the no longer used phrase ("at end of turn"), then finally (514.3) "at the beginning of the cleanup step" and other triggers waiting to get placed on the stack go on the stack.

If the counters are removed at any time before 514.2, the creature will still have damage marked on it from combat, spells, etc. This means the stat boost you gave the creature (or creatures) to save them would only temporarily save them because they would die from lethal damage once the counters are removed. The wording "at the beginning of the next cleanup step" means your creature(s) stay alive because the counters will not be removed until 514.3, and since the damage was removed during 514.2, this avoids the dilemna.

In simple terms, Wizards wanted Bounty of the Hunt to mimic the stat boost granted by cards like Giant Growth while using temporary +1/+1 counters to represent the stat boost. Most other wordings wouldn't have worked for one reason or another.

This card in combination with Invigorate, Mutgenic Growth, and Glistener Elf can be an easy 2nd turn kill with an under $20 infect deck.
Maybe something like this:

x4 Glistener Elf
x4 Blight Mamba
x4 Ichorclaw Myr
x4 Rot Wolf
x4 Invigorate
x4 Bounty of the Hunt
x4 Mutgenic Growth
x4 Giant Growth
x4 Reclaim
x4 Briar Shield
x4 Groundswell
x4 Vines of Vastwood
x16 Forest

Hm. GTC Simic makes this a little more interesting. I can find a home for this in any casual deck that includes Fathom Mage.

If they'd let the counters stay with no conditionals it'd be overpowered.

This is the printed wording for Bounty of the Hunt from Alliances which the Oracle wording for the spell closely mimics:

You may remove a green card in your hand from the game instead of paying Bounty of the Hunt's casting cost.
Put three +1/+1 counters, distributed any way you choose, on any number of target creatures. Remove these counters at end of turn.

What makes if different from Seeds of strength is that it distributes 3 +1/+1 counters to the creatures, not simple 3 +1/+1 buffs to them. In certain cases, such as Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, Crystal Golem, Fathom Mage and other creatures that utilize +1/+1 counters or can move them around or benefit when they are removed, like the Protean Hydra, this can be a very useful spell. It can also be useful for removing 3 -1/-1 counters from creatures.\

The way this works with Skullbriar, the Walking Grave is that because the creature is considered a new entity once it's in the graveyard Bounty of the Hunt will lose track of it as it looks for the "other" Skullbriar that was on the battlefield, not the new one in the graveyard.

Back when Mirage came out I paired this with the Crystal Golem to bypass losing the counters for a 6/6 attacker every turn.

Huh. This targets three creatures, or one creature three times.

An unblocked Fabled Hero or Centaur Battlemaster. Agent of the Fates. Triton Fortune Hunter or Fathom Mage for a combat trick that nabs you new cards. Maybe situational, but frickin free, man.