River Herald Guide

River Herald Guide card image

River Herald Guide: Creature - Merfolk Scout, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Vigilance. When this creature enters, it explores. Prices and printings on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{2}{G}
Mana value
3
Type
Creature - Merfolk Scout
Colour identity
Green (G)
Power / toughness
3/1
Rarity
Common
Set
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI)
Released
2023-11-17
Collector number
209
Artist
David Astruga
Commander rank
17,872 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Keywords
Vigilance, Explore

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About River Herald Guide

River Herald Guide is a Magic: The Gathering card, a common green creature from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI), an expansion set released in November 2023. It is collector number 209 in that set, with art by David Astruga. It costs {2}{G} (two generic and one green mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. It is a 3/1 creature. Its colour identity is green. It is legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Pauper Commander, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator and Penny Dreadful. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is its only printing so far. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.17 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-02).

Card text

Vigilance

When this creature enters, it explores. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.17 (as of 2026-11-02).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of River Herald Guide by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

StandardLegal
PioneerLegal
ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
PauperLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
Pauper CommanderLegal
BrawlLegal
Standard BrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
TimelessLegal
GladiatorLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Official rulings

Six official rulings apply to River Herald Guide, newest first.

  • If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.
  • Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.
  • Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
  • If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.
  • In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)
  • If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.

Similar cards

Other creature cards with a green colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

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