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Blightbeetle

Creature — Insect

Protection from green (This creature can't be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, enchanted, or equipped by anything green.)
Creatures your opponents control can't have +1/+1 counters put on them.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Core Set 2020
Price
$0.44
EDHREC rank
#7220
Buy on TCGplayer
Blightbeetle card art
Blightbeetle shuts down counter-based strategies the moment it hits the board — no opponent's creature can receive a +1/+1 counter as long as it's in play, and protection from white means the most common removal color bounces off it. The cost is real: it does nothing proactive on its own, so shells that can exploit its body — like Grist, the Hunger Tide sacrificing it into Ashnod's Altar — get far more mileage out of it than decks just looking for a hate piece.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Grist, the Hunger Tide

Grist, the Hunger Tide

61.1% of decks · synergy 0.59

Grist, the Hunger Tide runs Blightbeetle in over 60% of its builds because the Insect type slots directly into Grist's mill-and-reanimate engine while the static ability blankets the board against the counters-matter decks that Grist regularly races.

02
Zask, Skittering Swarmlord

Zask, Skittering Swarmlord

57.0% of decks · synergy 0.54

Zask, Skittering Swarmlord pulls Blightbeetle off the top when an Insect dies, turning a hate piece into a free draw trigger and keeping the lockout effect in constant rotation throughout a game.

03
Fumulus, the Infestation

Fumulus, the Infestation

42.8% of decks · synergy 0.42

Fumulus, the Infestation cares about Insects entering the battlefield, so Blightbeetle doubles as a repeatable payoff target while simultaneously hosing the +1/+1 counter synergies that token-swarm decks often run.

04
Aatchik, Emerald Radian

Aatchik, Emerald Radian

26.1% of decks · synergy 0.24

Aatchik, Emerald Radian operates in a space crowded with proliferate and counter-stacking opponents, and Blightbeetle's blanket suppression on +1/+1 counters is a clean answer to those threats that Aatchik's green-black shell can tutor up easily.

05
Xira, the Golden Sting

Xira, the Golden Sting

21.8% of decks · synergy 0.21

Xira, the Golden Sting builds around Insects and -1/-1 counters, and Blightbeetle's protection from white plus its anti-+1/+1 static turns it into both a synergy piece and a hard counter to the decks most likely to outrace Xira's poison plan.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Blightbeetle's home is Commander, where counters-matter commanders — Atraxa, Praetors' Voice being the most prominent target — are ubiquitous enough that the static ability consistently blankets something relevant. In Modern and Legacy, the effect is narrow; dedicated hate pieces need to answer the format's actual threats, and +1/+1 counter strategies aren't dominant enough in either format to justify a slot over more versatile hate. Pioneer sits in a similar position — playable in theory, but the metagame rarely punishes you enough for not running Blightbeetle to make it worth a sideboard slot. Vintage and Oathbreaker are both legal, but neither format gives it a meaningful home.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.44 bulk tier

At $0.44, Blightbeetle is firmly bulk — easy to pick up as a one-of without any budget consideration. Bulk hate pieces with narrow application rarely climb in price, so treat it as a cheap, disposable answer rather than a spec.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.