Pointed Discussion

Witchstalker could be a replacement for Geist of Saint Traft after he rotates out of standard and Bant Hexproof needs to fill a hole.

Like the most recent illustration of Tundra Wolves, that doesn't look like a *** wolf. That creature is more boar-like than anything.

Absolutely amazing card, I've preordered 4 of them for Bant Hexproof.
Here is the creaturebase:
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Elvish Mystic
4x Invisible Stalker
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Witchstalker
3x Silverblade Paladin

Besides the obvious implications for Bant Hexproof, I think this has the potential to be the best enemy hoser in the cycle. It's effect isn't as immediately valuable as Lifebane Zombie's, but it starts as a 3/3 for 3, can't be removed except by a sweeper, and can grow past its already considerable stats if the opponent gets desperate.

Great Sable Wolf? If this doesn't get countered, this is pretty useful, and, like the other enemy color hate creatures in this set, might be worth maindecking simply as a 3/3 hexproof creature for 3.

THIS THING! This is what I see in my nightmares! A well costed, on curve, unremovable monster that just grows and grows and grows...
I keep thinking I can just Doom Blade it whenever I see it, then I see the hexproof. Its not even like Lifebane Zombie can deal with it, since with Elvish Mystic this drops on turn 2. At least the zombie has a late-game upside, but... man, green just keeps getting crazier.

So if you stalk somebody, nobody will be able to stalk you?

A 3/3 hexproof for three, with an icing on the cake ability, and no drawbacks to boot? I'll buy a playset!

Gatorwolf!

Head is too huge for a wolf but it's a solid creature so 5/5

Dogatoar (Dog+Gator+Boar). Not wolf.

I already play Primal Huntbeast in my sideboard as a pump target. I WILL play this maindeck.

lumberknot is now playable

Seems simic has been tampering again. Keep ut the good work.

Andrewsarchus? What are you doing in Dominaria?

I play black removal...ug

Woofy! What a funny looking creature.

Turn 3: This.
Turn 4: Indestructibility.

Then just enchant or equip or pump the heck out of it. Even better while Rancor is still in Standard. Ouch.

@Trygon_Predator: Dominaria is still suffering after-effects of the timestorms (see Armored Cancrix's flavor text).

As for the card, it's elegantly designed: powerful, flexible and flavorful without being broken. Probably the card I most want to open in M14.

@JRE47
And then they cast celestial flare.

I think his head is that big and his body that small because he's still a pup. He's still got a lot of witches to eat and growing to do

Nice card. In most cases it will be a 3/3 hexproof for three mana, which is fine by itself. At other times, it will also keep growing.

At least blue can still counter it and black got mass removal... Reminds me a bit on whirling deverish.

SirMalkin has a point, he looks like a chimera between a wolf and a boar, with the scaly structure of a reptile.

well, innistrad missed you, maybe because you really looked like a gator with furs or it had enough "stalkers" roaming around....

While I like this card a lot, I don't think Witchstalker is going to make as big a splash as people have been saying. Remember that it only powers up when your opponent plays Blue and Black spells on your turn. It's still valuable as a deterrent from other players using counterspells to screw up your combos, and will most certainly make it onto many a sideboard, but it's pretty niche otherwise.

This, to me, is better than Sacred Wolf. It's less splashable with white, but the added toughness and added counters is a nice touch.

Flash him in using Yeva, Nature's Herald in response to an opponent playing a Blue or Black spell on your turn :)

As the stalker skulked around the edge of the forest a Glaring Spotlight shone upon him... then a kill, burn of your choice :)

A 3/3 with hexproof is good by itself, and its ability will make control decks cry. I don't expect for it to see that much constructed play because the GG will be hard to pull off, but I think that it is definitely possible. With Invisble Stalker and Gesit of Saint Traft cycling out I think that Bant Hexproof could use some more creatures.

4.5/5

I like this card :) It's actually really cool and might even be slightly Theros-flavored for all I can tell?

It reminds me of Huan, the Hound of the Valar that helped Beren in the Quest for the Silmaril, I believe he may have been an archrival of Thuringwethil, the Vampire Chick that Luthien Tinuviel......skinned alive and WORE as a CLOAK o_O

"I don't usually write female characters, but when I do, they're like Xena: Warrior Princess." -- JRR Tolkien

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuringwethil

ugly thing

Creatures: the 90-degree-turning.

Considering the Art it should have been a "Hound", maybe with additional Mutant, Wolf or Beast subtype.

Being a three drop and NOT being Geist of Saint Traft is too big a drawback for current Bant Hexproof. Fiendslayer Paladin however is basically hexproof against decks like Jund (The hardest matchup) and comes with two keywords as well. Him, not this. This is JUST a 3/3 for 3 in Bant Hexproof. I hate paying 1 for my 1/1 Hexproof guy, so to pay three would need to gain 4/4 with how busted Geist is.

Dear Christopher Moeller,

I would like to personally thank you for shelter. It may be the single card I have played the most in the 20 years I've been playing magic, and gawking at the amazing set of legs you put on it made every cast that much more sweet. That being said, please go to wolf-drawing school, because I don't know what the heck that thing is supposed to be. For future reference, I would have gratefully accepted the shelter girl in a werewolf mask. Just saying. Yours truly.

Why this card is not 5 stars befouls me.
He's sick with just being a 3/3 Hex for 3 !

If you don't play limited, this won't apply to you as much. Otherwise, please keep reading.

There are two different types of spells: Questions and Answers.

Questions are things that pose a problem. Things like Rumbling Baloth or Regathan Firecat are questions. All creatures are technically questions. Creatures with higher power are questions that should be answered quickly, while creatures with higher toughness are harder to answer. Creatures with both are generally good creatures (Baloth is a harder question to answer than Firecat for obvious reasons).

Answers are things that solve problems. Things like Essence Scatter and Chandra's Outrage are great answers. They solve questions so you can then ask them a question later on.

Imagine each time you play a spell, you ask them, "Can you solve this?". If it makes sense ("Can you solve this Capashen Knight?"), then it's a question. If it doesn't, ("Can you solve this Disperse?") then it's more of an answer.

If you give your deck too many answers and not enough questions, you will have answers without purpose. You will be waiting for questions, or you won't have the right answer for the question at the time (there are only so many answers you can draft that solve many questions).

A good limited deck has lots of questions and some answers. If you keep asking them questions, they'll be so overwhelmed that they'll be unable to stop you. They'll have to use their questions to answer your questions. You'll have an easier time because you won't have as many questions to solve.

Some questions are obviously harder to answer. Mark of the Vampire is one of the best questions you could ask in limited because it provides a problem while also solving an important question (gaining you life, saving you from death).

Other questions like Serra Angel are also great because it's both a hard question to answer and a good answer to questions (it's a big creature with evasion and a means to stop evasion which can attack and block).

This here is a good question because it's almost impossible to answer. The more time you answer questions, the more dangerous this becomes. There are very few ways to answer the Hexproof question.

So, for those who don't like reading (that's fine: I know I wrote a lot), what I'd like people to take out of this is that limited is a format where having lots of problems to solve is a good thing. If you have too many ways to stop problems and not enough problems that need solving, you won't do so well.

if this was said already sorry, but i didnt read every comment: this plus illusionary armor proved to work very well in limited.

Also, about the illustration; people are saying this is not a wolf. From what plane of exsistence? I mean, who is to say that on this world this is not how all wolves look? I am by no means a "vorthos", but just trying to point out that in Magic things may not be exactly how they are on Earth....

I want to team this guy up with Ruric Thar, the unbowed, or Voice of Resurgence.

Witchstalker is best background wolf.

I often laugh out loud looking at the art on this card, imagining that witchstalker is trying his honest-to-goodness best to smile. I have seen dogs smile exactly like this. He's actually kinda adorable.

Disgusting little creatures. Soon, all of you will feel my hate, and suffer--as I have suffered.

I bet Witchstalker was actually Raised by Wolves.

Maybe I am just too technical, but what exactly is the difference between a "wolf" and a "hound?" I mean, they're the exact same species, can interbreed and make fertile offspring, etc. I'll tell you the difference: domestication, that is ALL. Canine.