Saboteur
| Saboteur | |
|---|---|
| Mechanic | |
| Introduced | Alpha |
| Last used | Doctor Who |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
A Saboteur is a creature with a triggered ability upon dealing combat damage to a player.[1][2][3] All colors can have saboteur effects as long as the effects themselves are in color.[4]
Description
The nickname is derived from the creatures having to sneak behind enemy lines to generate an effect unfavorable for the opponent. Prolific subsets of this mechanic include Specters who cause the opponent to discard cards from their hand, as well as Ninjas with various saboteur effects and the Ninjutsu ability to make it easier for them to deal damage to the opponent. The pool of abilities that make sense for a saboteur are those that are not combat related and usually involve gaining resources rather than pushing tempo. Some are subject to repetition of play concerns, as if the resource can easily go towards making the creature unblocked again, such as adding +1/+1 counters (Bloodlust) or drawing a card (Curiosity, below), it presents the same problem the next turn and can snowball one's advantages.
Hypnotic Specter was one of the original saboteurs, famously powered out by Dark Ritual. However, not many other saboteur effects were implemented each early set. The templating on Merchant Ship was the next design, which triggers on attacking and not being blocked.
Attacks and isn't blocked
A card ability that triggers when a creature “attacks and isn’t blocked” triggers when the creature becomes an unblocked attacking creature. It usually receives a bonus under this condition. The wording lets it trigger in the blockers step, which might change combat if the trigger affects the board. This trigger templating has returned on rare occasion, one of which was on a strictly better version of Ophidian: Eternal of Harsh Truths. This card and Wildfire Eternal have Afflict, giving them a symmetry of abilities in a Morton's Fork.
One reason to not use it is that the literal reading of it is counterintuitive: an attacking creature in the "declare attackers" step literally isn't blocked because the step hasn't happened yet, leading some players to believe it is active in this step rather than the "declare blockers" step.
This template for saboteur triggers later became a recurring mechanic in Fallen Empires, the Ice Age block and the Mirage block. After Judgment it was only used as a cameo mechanic. Ninjutsu, introduced in Betrayers of Kamigawa, is a major keyword ability that can be activated when a creature attacks and isn't blocked, one of the last major implementations of this template.[5] It required this as it was intended for the Ninja to have a saboteur ability to trigger when Ninjutsu was used, hence necessitating a "declares blocker" trigger. It was used for flavor reasons on Universes Beyond cards.
Ophidian (Weatherlight) was one of the highest profile applications of this trigger but it forces you to give up your combat damage for the effect, which was a regularly seen variant at the time. The extra decision point and the loss of damage tended to slow down games, which resulted in it being replaced with modern saboteur templating of getting the effect and the damage.[6] This effect returned on Master of Cruelties, which didn't have the slowed-game issue as the saboteur effect still revolved around life totals.
Curiosity
Curiosity is a specific Saboteur ability that allows you to draw a card on the trigger.[7][8][9] It is named after Curiosity from Exodus, an Aura that grants this ability[10] and is primary in blue and secondary in green.[11][12]
Formerly, this ability was called the "Ophidian ability", which is technically different in that you have to forego the damage of the creature to draw the card.[13]
The most common variant with this ability is whether or not "combat" is a required hurdle; this allows for ping-granting abilities to draw cards, which are already not common. A rarer variant is to allow the player to draw as many cards as damage dealt, which is very capable of snowballing. Cold-Eyed Selkie and Glint-Eye Nephilim have this ability innately, while Hunter's Prowess and Hunter's Insight grant it. Diviner Spirit and Xyris, the Writhing Storm have a multiplayer version to allow the damaged player to also draw that many cards.
The Brothers' War introduced "Curiosity for life" for black with Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor, which allows the controller to pay life to draw a card after combat damage.[14]
Rules
From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (November 14, 2025—Avatar: The Last Airbender)
- Attacks and Isn’t Blocked
- An ability that triggers when a creature “attacks and isn’t blocked” triggers when the creature becomes an unblocked attacking creature. See rule 509.1h.
See also
References
- ↑ Magic: The Gathering 1997 Calendar: 365 Days in Dominia (April 9th).
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 7, 2016). "A Few More Words from R&D". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 22, 2012). "Rather than keywording the Ophidian ability, what about ...?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 24, 2019). "Can white have saboteur-like effects?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Matt Tabak (January 27, 2022). "Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 8, 2023). "Any interest in bringing back those triggers on older cards like Pygmy Hippo?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 21, 2016). "I think you my have spoiled a mechanic called curiosity.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 23, 2016). "Curiosity seems like a great name for a keyword.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 05, 2019). "Why don't you make the UR ability be curiosity-type without the saboteur condition?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 7, 2016). "A Few More Words from R&D". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 21, 2016). "Speaking of curiosity, is any color other than blue allowed to have it?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2017). "Mechanical Color Pie 2017". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 24, 2005). "A Few Words From R&D". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (December 18, 2024). "Gix grants the curiosity ability to all your creatures so even if curiosity is tertiary in black it should not be granting it.". Blogatog. Tumblr.