Lhurgoyf (Original Art)

Lhurgoyf is a four-mana green Lhurgoyf creature from Ice Age (1995) – it’s the first card ever printed with this creature type. Lhurgoyf’s power is equal to the number of creature cards in all graveyards and its toughness is equal to that number plus one. At the time of its printing, this was one of the largest creatures in the game for its mana cost, with a size that naturally scaled as the game progressed. In this era, creature removal was weaker and less efficient, and games naturally filled graveyards due to constant combat – making a 5/6 or larger Lhurgoyf an exceptional threat. During early Type-2 (Standard), at the 1997 World Championship, semifinalist Svend Geertsen’s “Green Stompy” aggro deck played with Lhurgoyf. This was an extremely fast monocolored deck, loaded with an army of green creatures like Fyndhorn Elves, Quirion Ranger, Rogue Elephant, Ghazban Ogre, Spectral Bears, and Lhurgoyf. Cards such as Giant Growth, Bounty of the Hunt, and Winter Orb provided the only noncreature power in the deck. Nowadays, it still sees some niche play in Commander / EDH, sometimes included in graveyard-themed green decks or nostalgia-driven lists. In cEDH, Lhurgoyf is occasionally played with commanders like Disa the Restless and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. In Premodern, it can be seen in Mono Green Stompy and Elves decks. Lhurgoyf is not on the Reserved List, it has been reprinted several times (Fifth Edition, Eighth Edition, Commander).