Vithian Stinger 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
: This creature deals 1 damage to any target. Unearth
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Complete guide
Vithian Stinger is a versatile pinger that refuses to stay down for long, thanks to its Unearth ability. This Human Shaman provides consistent board control or direct damage and can return for one final strike from the graveyard. Understanding how its activated ability and its Unearth replacement effect interact is key to mastering its role in your deck.
A Ping and a Return
Vithian Stinger features a classic activated ability: you tap it to deal 1 damage to any target. Its Unearth ability allows you to pay a small mana cost to bring it back from the graveyard for one turn. When Unearthed, it gains haste, allowing it to tap for damage immediately, but it is exiled at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield for any other reason.
Resolution Step-by-Step
First, you activate the Unearth ability as a sorcery by paying its cost; this is an activated ability, not a spell. Upon resolution, Vithian Stinger enters the battlefield with haste. You can then tap it to deal 1 damage to a creature, player, or planeswalker. Finally, at the beginning of the next end step, a delayed triggered ability goes on the stack to exile it. If an effect tries to destroy or bounce it before then, the replacement effect ensures it goes to the exile zone instead of the graveyard or hand.
Common Pitfalls
One common mistake is trying to 'flicker' the creature to keep it forever. While the Unearth effect exiles it if it leaves the battlefield, if an effect specifically tries to exile it and then return it, the creature returns as a new object with no memory of the Unearth restriction. Another trap is thinking 'dies' triggers will work; if a Vithian Stinger brought back by Unearth is destroyed, it is exiled instead, meaning it never actually 'dies' or hits the graveyard.
When to Play It
Vithian Stinger is best utilized in attrition-based strategies where incremental damage matters. Use it to pick off low-toughness utility creatures. If your opponent manages to kill it, wait for a moment where that extra 1 damage can finish off a planeswalker or a player, then use Unearth to capitalize on its haste.
Interaction examples
With Vithian Stinger in your graveyard during your main phase, you pay {1}{R} to activate Unearth. It enters the battlefield with haste. You immediately tap it to deal 1 damage to your opponent. At the start of your end step, the delayed trigger exiles it.
Roaming ThroneIf you have Roaming Throne on the battlefield with 'Human' or 'Shaman' chosen, and you activate Unearth, the Throne does not double the Unearth ability because Unearth is an activated ability, not a triggered one. However, the Throne would not double the tap ability either. The Throne only interacts with triggered abilities (starting with 'When', 'Whenever', or 'At'), such as the Unearth delayed trigger that exiles the Shaman at the end step.
Solemn SimulacrumIf you use an effect to sacrifice both creatures, Solemn Simulacrum goes to the graveyard and triggers its 'draw a card' ability. However, if Vithian Stinger was returned via Unearth, it is exiled instead of going to the graveyard. Any ability that triggers when a creature 'dies' will not see Vithian Stinger leave the battlefield because it never hits the graveyard.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Vithian Stinger
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If you activate a card's unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will resolve and do nothing.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Activating a creature card's unearth ability isn't the same as casting the creature card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the creature card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Remove Soul) will not.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
At the beginning of the end step, a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Stifle or Voidslime that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the creature will stay on the battlefield and the delayed trigger won't trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the creature when it eventually leaves the battlefield.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Unearth grants haste to the creature that's returned to the battlefield. However, neither of the "exile" abilities is granted to that creature. If that creature loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
If a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it's exiled instead — unless the spell or ability that's causing the creature to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If it later returns the creature card to the battlefield (as Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp might, for example), the creature card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effect will no longer apply to it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Vithian Stinger
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