Beetle, Legacy Criminal
SPM · common · Released 2025-09-26
Power
Tier shown as baseline → best-case (in its ideal shell). The score (-8 to 19) is a rank signal derived from tier + kind + atoms; browse by it on the cards page.
Derived from the 7 atoms below.
below rate
minor value alone
wants support
scales up
multiple modes
broadly useful
comes back
Commander Bracket
Archetypes
No active conflicts.
Roles
Risks
Mechanics
—
Typal
—
Structural
Rationale
Beetle is a 4cmc 3/3 flyer whose only non-combat ability is a one-shot graveyard exile activation: pay {1}{U}, exile this card from the graveyard at sorcery speed to put a +1/+1 counter on any creature and grant it flying until end of turn. The flying body is passable but the graveyard ability is a once-per-game utility effect — too narrow and restrictive to make a meaningful competitive impact. Finds minor homes in +1/+1 counters or voltron strategies where evasion-granting from the bin has marginal value.
Learnings (2)
Beetle's graveyard ability is not a recursive engine — it exiles itself as the cost, making it a strict once-per-game effect that the sim should treat as a one-shot rather than a repeatable counter source.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
The sorcery-speed restriction and self-exile cost make this significantly weaker than similar graveyard-activated cards; opponents have a full main phase to respond or simply wait out the window.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
Popularity
- EDHREC rank: #17,239