Skip to content
Moxonomy

Killian, Ink Duelist

Legendary Creature — Human WarlockWhite manaBlack mana

The design pitch is targeting-as-a-color-pair. Orzhov has always leaned on point removal and single-target buffs; this legend takes that instinct and prices it, knocking two mana off anything you cast at a creature. That covers both directions of the axis: your removal gets cheaper, but so do your Auras and combat tricks targeting a creature. A two-mana discount on a two-color deck's targeted spells is aggressive enough that the body has to stay small to pay for it, and a 2/2 does. The lifelink-and-menace combination is the other half of the balancing act: the discount rewards you for pointing spells at creatures, and a warlock who is hard to block and drains life every time it connects wants exactly the pump-and-remove interaction the cost reduction subsidizes. What keeps the reduction honest is the target restriction: it only touches spells aimed at a creature, so it does nothing for your sweepers, your discard, or your artifact removal. The effect is narrow by design, and that narrowness is what lets it be this generous. Cost reduction on a discrete category of spells is a design lever that rewards building the entire deck around one verb, and here the verb is "target a creature." Nothing about the rate is subtle; the whole card is an argument that a deck willing to commit to pointing spells at things should get paid for it.

Killian, Ink Duelist (stx)
STX · #197uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.35
Foil: $0.57
Oracle Text

Rules text

Lifelink Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.) Spells you cast that target a creature cost 2 generic mana less to cast.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
Legal
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
Legal
Historic
Legal
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
Legal
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
N/A
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
Legal
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
Legal
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

1 set
Quick navigation
move selectesc close