Sting, Bilbo's Sword
Sting, Bilbo's Sword2
Legendary Artifact — Equipment
Flash When Sting enters, put a hone counter on Sting for each creature target opponent controls. Attach Sting to up to one target creature you control. (Each hone counter on an Equipment grants +1/+0 to equipped creature.) Equip 3
rare

Versions

Sting, Bilbo's Sword — Base #178
Base #178
Sting, Bilbo's Sword — #237
#237
Sting, Bilbo's Sword — #273
#273

Sting, Bilbo's Sword

AI draftAI-generated draft analysis — not yet human-reviewed. Treat with healthy skepticism.

Limited summary

Two-mana flash Equipment that enters with a +1/+0 hone counter per creature the opponent controls and attaches free to a creature. Cast mid-combat it's a surprise pump that scales with THEIR board — an Equipment that's also a trick.

Roles

Combat TrickRole — Instant-speed effect that swings combat math.EnablerSets up the condition its archetype's payoffs reward. Count your enablers before valuing payoffs highly.

Archetypes

WU Humans / RecruitWU Humans / Recruit — AzoriusGo-wide Humans deck built around the Recruit mechanic: assemble a board of Human tokens and creatures, then leverage payoffs that reward a large Human count.How it plays: Prioritize cheap Humans and Recruit enablers early, then curve into anthem-style payoffs. Watch for sweepers; commit only as much as you need. Token generation makes chump-blocking and race math favorable.neither hereBR Goblins / AmassBR Goblins / Amass — RakdosAggressive Goblin tribal deck using Amass to grow an Army while chipping in damage. Sacrifice and death-trigger payoffs convert expendable bodies into value.How it plays: Amass stacks onto a single Army creature, so protect it or diversify threats. Removal-dense colors: use it to clear blockers and keep tempo. Death triggers make trades profitable.neither hereBG Wolves / FerociousBG Wolves / Ferocious — GolgariMidrange deck about power 4+ creatures (Ferocious). Wolves and pump effects turn on payoffs that reward having a big creature on board.How it plays: Count your reliable Ferocious enablers before valuing payoffs highly. Cheap ways to make a 4-power creature early are gold. Grind-oriented: favors trades and late-game value.GU Elves / LandfallGU Elves / Landfall — SimicElf ramp-tempo deck using Landfall triggers. Extra land drops and land recursion snowball incremental advantages into oversized threats and card flow.How it plays: Extra-land effects are the engine: value them above replacement-level creatures. Hold fetch-style lands to trigger Landfall at the best moment. Can pivot between aggro tempo and ramp endgame.neither hereRW Dwarves / StoriedRW Dwarves / Storied — BorosDwarf tribal deck built around Storied: once you control three or more artifacts, legendaries, and/or Sagas, you have an 'enduring story' for the rest of the game, permanently upgrading your Storied cards.How it plays: Count your artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas when building — you want to turn on the enduring story early and reliably. Equipment counts twice here (artifact + Dwarf tribal support). Once the story is on, it stays on, so cheap enablers that die don't turn it off.

Play around this

Any colors, 2 generic mana open: a blocker (or attacker) can grow by the number of creatures YOU control, mid-combat, at instant speed.

Gameplay notes

The counters snapshot their board when it enters — cast it when they're widest. The free attach only happens on entry; re-equipping later costs 3.

Key synergies

Thorin, Mountain-king
Thorin, Mountain-kingDirect SynergyExplicit mechanical interaction between the two cards.Synergy strength 2/3 — Meaningful

Sting often carries several hone counters — Thorin attaching it for free turns those counters into immediate creature removal.

Dwarven Mauler
Dwarven MaulerDirect SynergyExplicit mechanical interaction between the two cards.Synergy strength 2/3 — Meaningful

Sting's equip 3 drops to 1, so re-equipping it where it's needed stops being a tempo cost.

Iron Hills Blacksmith
Iron Hills BlacksmithDirect SynergyExplicit mechanical interaction between the two cards.Synergy strength 2/3 — Meaningful

Hone counters on a double striker count twice — a Sting with three counters adds six damage to the Blacksmith's combat.

Synergy graph

Min strength
Iron Hills Blacksmith ↔ Thorin, Mountain-king Combo / Interaction · strength 3/3Sting, Bilbo's Sword ↔ Thorin, Mountain-king Direct Synergy · strength 2/3Sting, Bilbo's Sword ↔ Dwarven Mauler Direct Synergy · strength 2/3Sting, Bilbo's Sword ↔ Iron Hills Blacksmith Direct Synergy · strength 2/3Sting, Bilbo's Sword (this card)
Showing 4 of 4 connections · click a card to explore its graphLine thickness = strength