Cloak in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Bryan Hohns (Veveil) February 5, 2025 Collecting, MTG Cards, MTG Rules

Last updated on February 5, 2025

Etrata, Deadly Fugitive | Illustration by Livia Prima

Greetings planeswalkers! Today’s article is a brisk synopsis of the cloak mechanic. It’s a mechanic introduced in Murders at Karlov Manor that helps build up the secrecy and surprise of face down cards.

How does it work, how many cards do it, and are any of them worth playing?

Read on to find out!

Table of Contents show

How Does Cloak Work?

Vannifar, Evolved Enigma | Illustration by Iriah Voth

Cloak is a keyword action that greatly resembles manifest. When you “cloak” a card, you place it face down onto the battlefield (from wherever the effect specifies). That card is now a nameless, colorless 2/2 creature with no creature types. This is 1:1 with manifest so far, but cloaked creatures have one extra advantage: ward . It’s inconvenient for an opponent to remove your cloaked creatures.

The History of Cloak in MTG

Cloak debuted in 2024 with Murders at Karlov Manor. There were also cloak cards in the MKM Commander precons, a couple as part of Alchemy: Murders at Karlov Manor, and one flavorful inclusion in Assassin's Creed.

Cloak is not an evergreen mechanic, but disguise/cloak might replace morph/manifest going forward. ward gives disguise cards a real chance to justify it's cost in Constructed formats like Standard.

Is Cloak an Activated Ability?

It is not an activated ability, it’s a keyword action. Notably, turning a creature face up with disguise/cloak is not an activated ability either, it is a special action.

Is Cloak a Triggered Ability?

Technically, no it's not a triggered ability. Cloak is a keyword action, which is a substitute for rules text so that WotC didn’t have to write out what cloak was one every card. In practice, cloak occurs as a result of triggered abilities (i.e. Etrata, Deadly Fugitive).

Can You Look at Cloaked Cards?

You, the owner of the cloaked card can look at the face down card at any time. Your opponent cannot look at your cloaked card.

Do Cloaked Creatures Have Summoning Sickness?

Yes they do. However, turning a creature face up is not the same as that creature entering the battlefield. If you’ve controlled a cloaked creature since the beginning of your turn and you turn it face up, it won’t have summoning sickness.

Do You Have to Reveal a Cloaked Creature if it Dies?

Yes, you must reveal a cloaked creature any time it would leave the battlefield, and at the end of a game. If a cloaked creature dies, it will end up in your graveyard face up, effectively revealing it to your opponent.

Does Cloaking a Creature Skip the ETB?

Yes, a cloaked creature will not trigger it's own enters the battlefield effect. This is a shortcut past drawbacks on cards like Hunted Bonebrute, Clackbridge Troll, and Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle.

What Happens If You Flicker a Cloaked Card?

What happens depends on the card type. If you were to flicker a cloaked creature, it would get exiled then re-enter face up. The same goes for other permanents like lands, enchantments, and artifacts. If the enchantment was an aura, the game will require you to attach that enchantment to a viable target as soon as it re-enters (if there isn’t one, the aura will immediately go to the graveyard). And finally, if you flicker a cloaked creature that isn’t a permanent, it will be exiled but fail to re-enter the battlefield, causing it to remain in exile with no effect.

What Happens if You Cloak a Double-Sided Card?

If Hide in Plain Sight nets you the MDFC, Disciple of Freyalise you will not have a chance to play it as Garden of Freyalise. If the card is a transforming creature you could pay its cost to turn it face up, however on a non-creature like Twists and Turns it would be stuck as the nameless facedown.

Can You Stifle Cloak?

This depends on how the cloak is occurring. If cloak is happening via an ability (say, from Ransom Note), then yes. In this case, you’re Stifle effect is targeting the activated ability of Ransom Note, not the cloak ability itself. If cloak’s happening as part of the resolution of a spell (Hide in Plain Sight) then no, it cant be Stifled.

What is the Difference Between Cloak and Manifest?

Become Anonymous and cloaking cards differ from Scroll of Fate with the addition of ward to the face down 2/2. Otherwise, both can take a card and turn it into a colorless, nameless nontoken creature.

Cloak vs. Disguise

Cloak and disguise are similar mechanics. Both are spins off of manifest/morph with the addition of ward . The difference is that disguise is an ability that lets you play creatures face down from your hand as nameless 2/2s. Cloak, on the other hand, happens by different means, usually from the resolution of a spell or ability.

What Happens if I Gain Control of a Cloaked Card?

If you gain control of a cloaked card the status of the card does not change unless noted, if it was tapped, it stays tapped, if it entered play that turn it still has summoning sickness, and you may look at it as it stays face down even if you and your opponent know what it is.

Gallery and List of Cloak Cards

Best Cloak Cards

#3. Unexplained Absence

Unexplained Absence is awesome! This is a really good removal spell that basically casts Reality Shift on up to four things at once. Given that Reality Shift is a Commander staple, this is a good piece of interaction for many white decks.

#2. Etrata, Deadly Fugitive

Etrata, Deadly Fugitive is a neat commander. It mixes assassin typal with thief style gameplay, and is really scary if you farm an opponent in a “big spell” archetype. Cheap evasive assassins like Aven Heartstabber, Changeling Outcast, and Basim Ibn Ishaq are great inclusions.

#1. Vannifar, Evolved Enigma

Vannifar, Evolved Enigma is mostly outclassed by Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer. You lose access to and the extra card advantage Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer provides. But if you don't have that Sultai commander you can maximize Vannifar's cloak ability with a flicker master like Deadeye Navigator to cheat out some big creatures. An alternate build for Vannifar is to focus on Thopter tokens or colorless artifact creatures. This effect can pump all “colorless creatures” after all, not just face down ones.

Wrap Up

Expose the Culprit | Illustration by Ryan Valle

And with that, this brief article is over! Cloak may not be a huge hit, but I think it plays well. At the very least, I encourage everyone reading this to pick up many copies of Unexplained Absence. It'll slot right into a few budget builds you're working on.

What do you think about cloak? What do you think of it in terms of the rest of the set, and what cards are your favorite? Let me know in the comments or in the Official Discord Server!

Until next time, may your favorite old mechanics always get buffed!

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Bryan Hohns (Veveil)

Bryan "Veveil" Hohns has been playing Magic since 2013, and plays several formats while preferring Limited whenever possible. He can be found grinding away in yet another Draft League, which he probably happens to be streaming at this very moment! You can book Bryan for coaching directly on Metafy.