Data-Driven Look at Ogre Slumlord Art Reprint Frequency Across MTG Sets

In TCG ·

Ogre Slumlord by Trevor Claxton — MTG card art

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Ogre Slumlord: Art, Reprints, and Rat-Token Royalty

If you’ve ever shuffled a deck while eyeing a piece of art that feels like it could star in a grimy fantasy alley, you’re not alone. Ogre Slumlord sits at the crossroads of flavor and function: a rare black creature that punishes chaos with a sly, token-generating engine. Its history as a reprint in a Commander-focused set—and the way its art travels across MTG printings—offers a surprisingly rich case study in how a single artwork can echo through multiple sets and formats 🧙‍♂️🔥.

At a glance, Ogre Slumlord is a stealthy powerhouse: a 5-mana legendary-ish body (actually a 3/3 for 3BB) that doesn’t scream “win condition” on its own, but quietly accelerates your board with the subtlety of a back-alley deal. The card’s Oracle text is a classic tale of death triggers doing real work: “Whenever another nontoken creature dies, you may create a 1/1 black Rat creature token. Rats you control have deathtouch.” In practice, that means a death-filled board state can snowball into a rat army that slashes back with serious bite. The reprint in Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander (OTC) cements this engine as part of the Commander conversation, especially in decks that lean into sacrifice or aristocrat-style synergies. Rarity is rare, and its cmc sits at 5, which makes it a natural late-game piece in many black-heavy shells.

“His tenement is filled with the most vile, disgusting vermin. It's infested with rats, too.” — Branko One-Ear

The art, credited to Trevor Claxton, casts a grungy, streetwise vibe that fits the set’s outlaw mood. Claxton’s work here captures a tactile, urban menace—the kind of ogre you might find skulking in a back alley while a bargain is being struck. The flavor text reinforces the theme of vermin overrunning a space, a perfect visual metaphor for the Rat tokens that can suddenly swarm your board. In terms of reprint frequency, this particular artwork has found a home in OTC, highlighting how a strong, distinctive frame can endure through multiple printings while still feeling fresh to players who discover it in new contexts 🎨⚔️.

From a data perspective, Ogre Slumlord is a reprint card that remains relevant in modern play thanks to its robust token-swarm potential. Its color identity is pure Black, a reminder of the classic Death Cloud-style control you can weave with a few sac outlets or self-sacrificing creatures. The card’s pricing snapshot—USD around $0.24 and EUR around €0.27 in current market data—reflects its status as a popular but affordable staple for budget casuals and Commander enthusiasts alike. Its EDHREC rank sits in the mid-range at 1719, indicating a respectable but not overpowering presence in the sprawling Commander ecosystem. All of this underscores a broader truth: artful mechanics paired with strong flavor can keep a card relevant even as the set tree grows tall 🌱🧙‍♂️.

When we talk about art reprint frequency across MTG sets, Ogre Slumlord provides a neat datapoint. It isn’t a ubiquitous two-bit icon that gets printed again and again; rather, it demonstrates a deliberate cadence: a striking, thematically fitting piece makes sense to reprint in a Commander-friendly environment where players prize both synergy and style. The OTC print keeps the art in circulation, while its token-based engine invites a variety of deck-building approaches—from aristocrat-based boards to casual rat-tribe sympathies. In a sense, the card illustrates how artistic identity and mechanical viability can travel together through the years, with reprints acting as checkpoints of recognition for players who first met the artwork in a different context 🧳💎.

For deck builders, Ogre Slumlord invites thoughtful inclusion. In a world where every nontoken creature dying can spawn a 1/1 Rat, the timing of sac outlets becomes a strategic dance. If you can orchestrate a cascade where your own creatures feed the rat production, your board becomes a tangle of tiny assassins—rats with deathtouch that can swing the balance in late combat or through a devastating alpha strike. This is the kind of card that rewards planning: you don’t just play it and hope for the best; you design your curve around the inevitability of sacrifice, awakening a rat army just when your opponents think they’ve stabilized 🧙‍♂️🎲.

From a design perspective, the card’s mana cost reinforces its role as a mid-to-late-game engine rather than a fast start. The interplay between a 3BB investment and the potential to fuel a board of lethal rats gives Ogre Slumlord staying power in formats where opponents’ answers can run thin. The rarity and set type—Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander—underscore Wizards of the Coast’s intent to cultivate memorable, standout engines within commander-centric print runs. The art’s enduring presence in this Commander set’s storytelling helps players connect flavor with function, a synergy that keeps fans coming back for more, even when new cards shuffle into the foreground 🧩🔥.

As a cross-promotional note, the presence of such art and its reprint cadence makes it a natural candidate for collector and casual focus alike. If you’re chasing the full story behind an artwork’s journey, tracking reprints across sets can reveal not just a card’s power trajectory but also how a single image travels through MTG’s evolving narrative. And if you’re looking for a practical hosting accessory for long gaming sessions, consider the Non-slip Gaming Mouse Pad (9.5x8in) linked below—the tactile comfort can be a quiet enabler while you map out your next Marionette-style gambit on the kitchen-table battlefield 🧙‍♂️🎨.

Product note: while Ogre Slumlord’s lineage spans multiple printings, its enduring charm lies in how a single frame can anchor a deck’s identity. If you’re curious to explore more on how artwork travels through MTG’s print history, the five network articles linked below offer a spectrum of perspectives—from loot-shooter debates to ethics in speculation and print-run tracking. And yes, a good mouse pad helps during long data-scouting nights—trust me, I’ve compared enough tokens to know the value of a smooth surface when you’re tallying reprint counts 🧙‍♂️💻.

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