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Moxonomy

Bolt Hound

Creature — Elemental Dog2 generic manaRed mana

The interesting move here is when the anthem fires. Most team-pumping effects are static (Glorious Anthem sits there raising everyone) or trigger on cast, giving the defending player a full turn to answer before the buff commits. This one pays out only on the attack step, and the +1/+0 lands on every other creature you control, not just the ones swinging alongside it: a subtle but real distinction from an attack-only bonus like Battle Cry, since even the creatures held back for blocking or a later activation grow. Restricting the pump to a combat trigger reshapes what the card wants to be. It has no interest in outsizing the board; it wants to arrive into a wide position and convert width into damage the turn it lands, which is why haste is load-bearing rather than decorative. A team anthem that whiffs the turn it enters hands the opponent time to trade it down before it ever attacks; here the body can attack immediately, and the pump goes off before the sweeper comes. That the bonus skips its own body points at what this design descends from: the Goblin Bushwhacker school of payoff, a reward that scales with how many creatures you already have rather than with its own stats. Built for the go-wide red decks that flood the board early, its ceiling is the turn you empty your hand and swing with everything at once.

Bolt Hound (m21)
M21 · #131uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.28
Foil: $0.36
Oracle Text

Rules text

Haste (This creature can attack and Tap as soon as it comes under your control.) Whenever this creature attacks, other creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
Legal
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
Legal
Historic
Legal
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
Legal
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
N/A
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
Legal
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
Legal
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

1 set
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