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Moxonomy

Leap

InstantBlue mana

The cantrip-as-combat-trick template in its earliest, purest form. The design logic is that a one-mana instant doing only one of these things would be marginal: a temporary evasion grant rarely justifies a card, and a single blue mana to draw one card is a fair-but-dull rate. Stapling them together is the whole trick. The replacement draw means the spell never costs you a card, so an effect that would otherwise sit dead in hand against grounded boards becomes something you cycle away for value when flying does not matter. That two-faced flexibility (combat-relevant when you have a creature worth pushing through, a free card when you do not) is the entire point, and it is the structural ancestor of a whole family of blue cantrip tricks that followed: the design space of "do a small thing at instant speed, then replace yourself" runs straight through here. The flying grant itself is almost incidental; what the card actually trades in is information and tempo, letting you hold up a counterspell-shaped mana and decide at the last instant whether to convert it into reach over a blocker or just a fresh card. It is a humble piece of design, but a clean one: every word is load-bearing, and nothing on it is wasted.

Leap (sth)
STH · #35common
Pricing
Normal: $1.59
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

Target creature gains flying until end of turn. Draw a card.
Legalities

Format Status

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

Other printings

1 set
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