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Herd Baloth

Creature — Beast

Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on this creature, you may create a 4/4 green Beast creature token.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{G}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Modern Horizons 2
Price
$0.36
EDHREC rank
#4003
Buy on TCGplayer
Herd Baloth card art
Herd Baloth turns every +1/+1 counter placed on it into a free 4/4 Beast token — pair it with Ivy Lane Denizen and you have a self-feeding loop that floods the board without spending additional mana. The five-mana cost is real, but Slinza, the Spiked Stampede decks treat that as a feature, not a bug.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Slinza, the Spiked Stampede

Slinza, the Spiked Stampede

66.0% of decks · synergy 0.64

Slinza, the Spiked Stampede distributes +1/+1 counters as a core function, which means Herd Baloth generates Beast tokens on demand every time Slinza's ability fires — it's one of the most direct payoffs in the deck, which explains the 66% inclusion rate.

02
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

46.1% of decks · synergy 0.45

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest rewards sacrifice with +1/+1 counters across the board, and Herd Baloth converts each of those triggers into another Beast to sacrifice — the two cards create a compounding loop that grows the board faster than either does alone.

03
Hamza, Guardian of Arashin

Hamza, Guardian of Arashin

37.6% of decks · synergy 0.35

Hamza, Guardian of Arashin reduces creature costs for each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter, so Herd Baloth pulls double duty: it's a discount enabler the moment it enters with a counter, and it keeps generating additional countered bodies to deepen that discount.

04
Rocco, Street Chef

Rocco, Street Chef

30.6% of decks · synergy 0.29

Rocco, Street Chef puts food counters and +1/+1 counters into the same engine, and Herd Baloth slots in as a high-upside token generator that scales with however many counter triggers Rocco assembles across a game.

05
Marath, Will of the Wild

Marath, Will of the Wild

24.9% of decks · synergy 0.23

Marath, Will of the Wild spends its own counters to place them on other permanents, so pointing one counter at Herd Baloth immediately returns a 4/4 Beast — it's a mana-efficient way to convert Marath's activations into board presence.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Herd Baloth belongs — the format's longer games give it time to generate multiple tokens, and the density of counter-synergy commanders means it rarely lacks a shell to inhabit. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but competes against formats where a five-mana creature that doesn't immediately win the game is a liability. Modern is its only competitive-adjacent format, but dedicated +1/+1 counter strategies there tend to want faster, more redundant pieces. Treat Herd Baloth as a Commander-exclusive card in practice.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.36 bulk tier

At $0.36, Herd Baloth sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to pick up as a throw-in and no financial barrier to testing it. Bulk rares with genuine combo upside occasionally tick up if a new commander breaks them wide open, but at this price the question is synergy fit, not cost.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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