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.
Hypnotic Specter was one of the original saboteurs, famously powered out by Dark Ritual. However, few other saboteur effects were implemented. The templating on Merchant Ship was the next design, which triggers on attacking and not being blocked.
Ophidian (Weatherlight) was one of the highest profile variants of this, but forces you to give up you combat damage for the effect. The extra decision point and the loss of damage tended to slow down games, which results in it being replaced with modern saboteur templating of getting the effect and the damage.[5]
Additionally, the wording of "attacks and isn't blocked" let it trigger in the blockers step, which might change combat when if the trigger affects the board. This trigger templating has returned on rare occasion, one of which was a strictly better version of Ophidian: Eternal of Harsh Truths.
Curiosity
Curiosity is a specific Saboteur ability that allows you to draw a card on the trigger.[6][7][8] It is named after Curiosity from Exodus, an Aura that grants this ability[9] and is primary in blue and secondary in green.[10][11]
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.[12]
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 — 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.[13]
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.
- ↑ 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.