Looting

For other uses, see Loot.

Looting is a R&D slang term that refers to the mechanic that requires the player to draw one or more cards, then discard a number equal to what they drew. Because this effect is card-negative, it is usually added onto other effects, such as on a permanent or a removal spell. Looting almost always goes to the graveyard, with a small fraction of them putting a card on the bottom of their owner's library.

Description

The mechanic was named after Merfolk Looter and appears typically on blue cards. Permanents that do so repetitively typically one do it one at a time; some spells loot two, and rarely is three or higher looted, as at that point being the spell is expensive but also card-negative, making it less efficient than simply drawing cards.

Red has its own form of looting, what R&D calls "red looting" or rummaging, where it discards before it draws. There is an aspect of wheeling in rummaging, with wheels being big numbers and hands, while rummaging is one or two cards at a time. This slang term was named after M13's Rummaging Goblin, the time period red began getting this card selection ability. Some burn spells have a rider that lets the player put a card on the bottom of their library to draw a card. In both cases, red requires a player to commit what they are losing before they see the new card. Typically, it's phrased with "if you do" or "as an additional cost"; in some rare cases the phrasing is "discard X, then draw X", which let loot effects become simply card draw when the hand is empty.

The other colors get this rarely if at all. White has gotten this effect on Splitskin Doll and Errand-Rider of Gondor, both being conditional cantrip creatures, with a third requiring a red or blue permanent (Wandering Champion). Black and green sometimes discard a certain card type to draw. A new effect in black is having both players discard a card but the controller then draws, making it an attrition piece combined with looting.

See also

• Card filtering
• Connive
• Wheel