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Moxonomy

Ophidian

Creature — Snake2 generic manaBlue mana

The original "draw a card by hitting them" creature, and the template every unblockable card-advantage engine since has answered to. The design idea is a deliberate tension: a 1/3 body, sturdy enough to survive on defense but too small to threaten much on offense, so the card asks whether you would rather poke for one or trade that point of damage for a card. The decline-damage clause is what stops it from spiraling: without that toll, the trigger would become a Curiosity-style runaway, but as printed it forces a real choice every combat. What followed is a whole lineage of attack-trigger draw effects: Ophidian Eye chases the same fantasy as an enchantment, Thieving Magpie pushed the rate to evasion-plus-a-bigger-body, and Coastal Piracy generalized the trigger across a whole board. None of them retired the original idea, because the original idea is so clean: a creature that turns the combat step into a recurring card-draw decision, with the cost paid in the very damage that combat is supposed to deliver. It reads as a slow grinder rather than a finisher, and that is the point; this is a creature that wins the long game by refusing to spend its attacks on the short one.

Ophidian (plst)
PLST · #WTH-45common
Pricing
Normal: $0.11
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

Whenever this creature attacks and isn't blocked, you may draw a card. If you do, this creature assigns no combat damage this turn.
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
Legal
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

7 sets
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