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A Saboteur is a creature with a triggered ability upon dealing combat damage to a player.[1][2] All colors can have saboteur effects as long as the effects themselves are in color.[3]

Description[ | ]

The nickname is derived from the creatures having to sneak behind enemy lines to generate an effect unfavorable to 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.

Another high-profile use of this mechanic is Ophidian-like creatures that draw additional cards when damaging the opponent, such as Shadowmage Infiltrator and Ohran Viper. Ophidian itself does only nominally qualify. While the same condition of the creature being unblocked has to be met, Ophidian does not need to deal damage to the opponent to draw a card - the ability triggers during the Declare blockers step. This variant of saboteur abilities (attacks and isn't blocked) has various design implications and applications.

Old-school saboteur effects forced you to give up your combat damage for the effect. Because that slowed down games, both in lessening the damage and forcing extra decisions, it has been replaced with modern saboteur (get the effect and the damage).[4]

Old school saboteur[ | ]

See also[ | ]

References[ | ]

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