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Commander Nexus
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  3. Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

Command zone

Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

Legendary Creature — Halfling Rogue

Bilbo wants a deck that puts expensive cards onto the battlefield without paying for them. It also suits a deck that gains life over and over and gets rewarded for it.

  • Mana costwhiteblackgreen
  • White, Black, Green ()
  • Power / toughness2 / 3
  • RarityRare

If you would gain life, you gain that much life plus 1 instead.

2 genericwhiteblackgreen, tap, Exile Bilbo: Search your library for any number of creature cards, put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle. Activate only if you have 111 or more life.

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Themes

Cards That Fit Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

Picked for what they do in Bilbo's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Bilbo's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

Rulings for Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

explain how Bilbo works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 16 Jun 2023

Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant's first ability applies just once to each life-gaining event, no matter how much life is gained. If you gain an amount of life "for each" of something or "equal to the number" of something, that life is gained as one event and the ability of Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant applies only once.

Wizards of the Coast 16 Jun 2023

Each creature with lifelink dealing combat damage causes a separate life-gaining event. For example, if two creatures you control with lifelink deal combat damage at the same time, Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant's first ability will apply to those two events separately. However, if a single creature you control with lifelink deals combat damage to multiple creatures, players, and/or planeswalkers at the same time (perhaps because it has trample or was blocked by more than one creature), the ability will apply only once.

Wizards of the Coast 16 Jun 2023

If you somehow control two Bilbo, Birthday Celebrants and you would gain life, you gain that much life plus 2. A third Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant has you gain that much life plus 3, and so on.

Wizards of the Coast 16 Jun 2023

In a Two-Headed Giant game, life gained by your teammate won't cause Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant's first ability to apply, even though it will cause your team's life total to increase.

4 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Bilbo, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWBGPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, B for black, G for green.Cheat into PlayCheat into Play decks put huge creatures and other expensive cards onto the battlefield without paying their mana costs. A card says "put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield", and an eight-mana dragon is attacking on turn three. Sneak Attack Kaalia of the Vast Natural OrderOpen the Cheat into Play pageTutor - BroadFinds any card of a broad type: creature, artifact, enchantment, instant or sorcery. Mystical Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Enlightened Tutor.Open the Tutor - Broad pageCheat into PlayPuts permanents straight onto the battlefield without casting them, from your deck, your hand or your graveyard. Skipping the cast skips the mana cost, and counterspells with it. Genesis Wave, Coiling OracleOpen the Cheat into Play pageTutorSearches your deck for a specific card. Because a Commander deck may only contain one copy of each card, a tutor is how you reliably find the exact one you need. See the Tutor tier tags for how broad each search is. Demonic TutorOpen the Tutor pageLifegainLifegain decks gain life over and over and use cards that reward each gain with extra cards, creatures or damage to opponents. Everyone starts at 40 life in Commander, so the extra life also keeps you safe while you set up.Open the Lifegain pageLifegain PayoffTurns life gain into an actual effect: draining opponents, drawing cards, or growing creatures each time you gain life. Without one of these, gaining life mostly just delays things. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Sanguine BondOpen the Lifegain Payoff pageLife GainGains you life, once or over and over. Soul Warden, The Great Henge. In Commander life is something to spend, not just a cushion, and many of these cards also set off others that reward gaining life.Open the Life Gain pageToolboxToolbox decks carry one perfect answer for each kind of problem, plus plenty of cards that search the deck for whichever one they need. A card that searches your deck for another card is called a tutor.Open the Toolbox pageGame ChangerCards that warp the game disproportionately around themselves, requiring immediate answers.What the brackets meanTutors / ToolboxCards that search your deck for another card, each one called a tutor, so you can find the exact answer you need.Open the Tutors / Toolbox page