Alert Heedbonder
Creature — Human Scout
Vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, you gain 1 life for each creature you control with vigilance.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GW
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #24501
Alert Heedbonder puts a 2/4 vigilance body on the board that generates a life payment every upkeep — steady lifegain that triggers counters-matter and lifegain-payoff commanders without asking anything extra of you. The cost is that a 2/4 for three mana is below-curve in competitive pods, so Alert Heedbonder earns its slot only in decks that specifically reward the trigger.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Alert Heedbonder is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it belongs almost exclusively in Commander. Constructed formats offer no payoff for slow, incremental lifegain on a vanilla-sized body — removal is too cheap and the clock is too fast. In Commander, Alert Heedbonder finds a real home in Abzan or Selesnya lifegain shells where every upkeep trigger feeds an Archivist of Oghma, a Bolas's Citadel, or a Heliod, Sun-Crowned activation; the vigilance also keeps it back as a relevant blocker. Outside those specific archetypes, it doesn't make the cut.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Alert Heedbonder is deep bulk — you'll pull it from a commons box or a draft chaff pile, not pay for it. That price is stable because casual demand keeps a floor under lifegain creatures, but don't expect movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.