Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance
TLA · uncommon · Released 2025-11-21
Power
Tier shown as baseline → best-case (in its ideal shell).
Derived from the 7 atoms below.
on rate
minor value alone
wants support
can take over a game
one mode
situational
comes back
Commander Bracket
Archetypes
No active conflicts.
Roles
Risks
Mechanics
—
Typal
—
Structural
Rationale
Hei Bai is a 4cmc legendary 3/3 that grows by sacrificing creatures or artifacts on ETB or attack, and passes its counters to another creature on death — blending sacrifice synergy with a self-contained voltron/counter engine. Signature in aristocrats (sacrifice fodder conversion into stats) and counters-voltron (stackable +1/+1 counters that survive removal via the leave-the-battlefield trigger). The LTB counter-transfer is a notable resilience feature that keeps counter investment from being lost to removal.
Learnings (3)
The LTB counter-transfer trigger fires even when Hei Bai is exiled or bounced, not just destroyed — this makes the counter investment resilient to most removal, a detail easy to overlook.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
Hei Bai's sacrifice outlet triggers on attack as well as ETB, meaning it can grow multiple times per game without re-casting, which is unusual for a self-growing legend and makes it a repeatable sacrifice outlet each combat.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
The hybrid {W/B}{W/B} pips make Hei Bai fully castable in mono-white or mono-black as well as Orzhov, broadening its commander eligibility across color identities.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
Popularity
- EDHREC rank: #16,910