Dross Hopper is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Sacrifice a creature: This creature gains flying until end of turn.
Complete guide
Dross Hopper is a versatile Phyrexian Insect Horror that offers a repeatable sacrifice outlet for your black decks. By consuming your other creatures, this horror can take to the skies to bypass ground-based blockers. It serves as both a cheap aggressive threat and a reliable way to trigger death-related abilities at will.
Airborne Agility
The primary function of Dross Hopper is its activated ability. By sacrificing any creature you control, you give Dross Hopper the flying keyword until the end of the current turn. Because the ability has no mana cost and does not require tapping, you can activate it as many times as you have creatures to feed to it, and you can do so at instant speed.
The Sacrifice Process
When you activate the ability, sacrificing a creature is the cost. This happens immediately and cannot be responded to by your opponents. Once the cost is paid, the ability goes on the stack. When it resolves, Dross Hopper gains flying. If you sacrifice Dross Hopper to itself, the ability still goes on the stack, but since Dross Hopper is no longer on the battlefield, the effect of gaining flying will have no creature to apply to.
Strategic Timing
Common mistakes involve forgetting that Dross Hopper can sacrifice itself. While this won't make it fly, it can be useful to prevent an opponent's spell from resolving if it targets Dross Hopper, such as a spell that would exile it or give your opponent control of it. Additionally, remember that giving a creature flying after it has already been blocked will not remove the blocker; you must activate the ability before the 'Declare Blockers' step ends.
Interaction examples
Blood ArtistWith both creatures on the battlefield, you can sacrifice a creature to Dross Hopper's ability. This triggers Blood Artist, causing an opponent to lose 1 life while you gain 1 life. You can continue this process with any other creatures you control to drain your opponent's life total while Dross Hopper gains flying.
Ornithopter of ParadiseIf you no longer need the mana from Ornithopter of Paradise, you can sacrifice it to Dross Hopper. The Ornithopter of Paradise is put into the graveyard, and Dross Hopper gains flying until end of turn, allowing it to fly over your opponent's ground forces for a direct attack.
If your opponent casts a spell to destroy Dross Hopper, you can respond by sacrificing Dross Hopper to its own ability. The creature dies immediately as a cost, and although it won't gain flying in the graveyard, you may trigger other abilities in your deck that care about creatures dying, effectively 'fizzling' any spells that targeted it.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Dross Hopper
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
You may sacrifice Dross Hopper to pay for its own ability. If you do, however, it won't gain flying because it won't be on the battlefield by the time the ability resolves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Zask, Skittering Swarmlord + Verdant Succession + Dross Hopper
- 1Activate Dross Hopper by sacrificing another nontoken green Insect.
- 2The Insect dies, triggering Zask and Verdant Succession.
- 3Resolve the Zask trigger, putting the Insect on the bottom of your library from your graveyard and causing you to mill two cards.
- 4Resolve the Verdant Succession trigger, searching your library for that Insect and putting it onto the battlefield.
- 5Resolve the Dross Hopper ability from step 1, giving it flying until end of turn.
- 6Repeat.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Dross Hopper
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.