Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance
Legendary Creature — Bear Spirit
Whenever Hei Bai enters or attacks, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, put two +1/+1 counters on Hei Bai.
When Hei Bai leaves the battlefield, put its counters on target creature you control.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BW
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #17253
Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance lands as a repeatable symmetry enforcer — every time a player draws beyond their starting hand size, Hei Bai converts that excess into creatures for everyone else at the table. The payoff is real in wheel and group-hug shells, but the cost is real too: you are actively arming opponents, so you need a plan to outpace the tokens you're handing out.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance actually does something — four players drawing cards means the trigger fires constantly, and wheel-heavy or Nekusar-style decks can weaponize the token flood while opponents drown in symmetry. In 1v1 formats like Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, and Standard, the card is technically legal but functionally weak: the trigger requires opponents to overdraw, and competitive decks rarely sustain that condition long enough to generate meaningful value. Vintage has the raw card-draw density to fire Hei Bai repeatedly, but that format has better ways to spend three mana. Stick to Commander.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not scarcity. Bulk rares with narrow Commander niches rarely climb unless a breakout deck drags them up, so don't expect the price to move.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.