Stirring Hopesinger
Creature — Bird Bard
Flying, lifelink
Repartee — Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.41
- EDHREC rank
- #15343
Stirring Hopesinger puts a flying, lifelink body on the board and layers a permanent pump effect onto every creature you target with spells — the payoff is immediate and it snowballs fast in spell-heavy decks. The cost is that it does nothing in isolation; without a steady stream of targeting spells, it's a vanilla 2/2 with upside you never access. In Feather, the Redeemed builds specifically, that condition is trivially met by turn three.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Feather, the Redeemed
Feather, the Redeemed recycles targeting spells every turn, which means Stirring Hopesinger's counter trigger fires repeatedly on the same creatures — the board scales out of control without any additional investment.
Killian, Ink Duelist
Killian, Ink Duelist reduces the cost of Auras and targeted spells, making it trivial to chain multiple spells per turn and stack counters through Stirring Hopesinger at nearly no mana premium.
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster copies instants and sorceries attached to creatures, generating repeated targeting triggers that turn Stirring Hopesinger into a passive counter engine across multiple combat steps.
Felisa, Fang of Silverquill
Felisa, Fang of Silverquill cares about creatures dying with counters on them, and Stirring Hopesinger is a reliable way to load those counters onto your board through the course of normal spell play.
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 the natural home for Stirring Hopesinger — the longer game gives the counter accumulation room to matter, and the density of spell-slinger commanders makes the trigger easy to fire multiple times per turn cycle. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, it competes for a slot in go-wide or Aura strategies but loses out to more immediate payoffs; a 2/2 that needs setup isn't where those formats want to be on two mana. Standard is the one context where Stirring Hopesinger could carve out a niche if a targeting-spell-heavy archetype emerges, but it's fringe there too. Legacy and Vintage have no use for it — the power ceiling is far too low. Stick to Commander.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.41 bulk tier
At $0.41, Stirring Hopesinger is bulk — you're picking it up as an afterthought in a cart, not hunting it down. Bulk rares at this price point rarely spike unless a new commander or mechanic pushes the trigger condition into the spotlight, so treat it as a cheap include and nothing more.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.