Carnival Hellsteed
Creature — Nightmare Horse
First strike, haste
Unleash (You may have this creature enter with a +1/+1 counter on it. It can't block as long as it has a +1/+1 counter on it.)
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Return to Ravnica
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #22876
Carnival Hellsteed enters swinging — a 5/4 with first strike and haste for six mana is a credible threat the turn it lands. The cost is exactly that six mana, which is steep enough that most competitive shells will pass.
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 |
Carnival Hellsteed sees essentially no play in competitive formats — Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer all have cheaper, more efficient threats that make a six-mana 5/4 unplayable outside of casual settings. In Commander, it finds its most natural home in Rakdos reanimator or aristocrats builds where the haste matters and the mana cost is circumvented entirely by cheating it into play. Sacrifice-focused decks that want repeatable bodies to recur also appreciate that a hasty attacker can threaten damage immediately after reanimation.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Carnival Hellsteed is firmly bulk — the kind of card that costs more to ship than to buy. That price will hold because demand is low and supply is high; don't expect movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.