The 40 Best Combat Damage and Saboteur Abilities in Magic Ranked

Last updated on March 8, 2024

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Ever since the beginning, there was turn 1 Dark Ritual + Hypnotic Specter. The dread of having to discard a card without even choosing was real, and people felt as if they were being sabotaged each time the specter hit. 

What was rare became common practice and the game changed the focus from combo-oriented play to combat-oriented play. There are many creatures with the ability “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, do X”, and that’s what we call the saboteur ability. These abilities are very relevant, especially in Commander gameplay, where the game designers want to incentivize creatures attacking each turn and dealing combat damage.

What Are Saboteur Abilities in MTG?

Shadowmage Infiltrator | Illustration by Tomasz Jedruszek

Saboteur is a term that describes creatures that give you a benefit whenever they deal combat damage to a player. In MTG, dealing combat damage to a player is usually the way you win the game. Sometimes you’re less interested in the amount of damage you dealt in favor of the instant benefit this action gives you.

A classic example is ‘90’s Constructed staple Ophidian. It’s a 1/3, and when it deals damage to a player, you decide between dealing 1 damage and drawing a card. Of course, usually drawing a card is much better than 1 damage, so that’s what players decide most of the time. Saboteur designs evolved a lot over time, and it doesn’t make sense to decide between one or another, so that stayed in the past. Ten years later you have Dimir Cutpurse, a creature that makes your opponent discard and makes you draw when it deals combat damage to a player, so that’s evolution right there. Saboteur creatures usually are blue or black since those are the sneaky colors, but you can find them among all colors. Rogues are the creature type that’s mostly associated with colors and the saboteur abilities. Finally, there are cards that give the saboteur ability to all your creatures, so we’re regarding those as well.

While most saboteur cards are slow to see 1v1 60-card Constructed play, they shine in EDH. The format is slow and most of the time you can get an evasive creature through one of your opponents’ defenses. Just having a saboteur creature in play makes everybody care more about the combat step. Many legendary creatures are designed with this in mind, and this list is filled with famous commanders.

#40. Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni can be expensive and clunky, but it’s got a nice saboteur ability. Granted, your opponent must have something good to reanimate, and it costs 6 mana, or 5 to ninjutsu it.

#39. Jukai Liberator

Jukai Liberator is an Alchemy-only card. Its saboteur ability allows you to seek a land or nonland card and put it into your hand. Either way, you’ll get something you need. That’s on top of being a 3/3 with ninjutsu , which is strong.

#38. Seshiro the Anointed

Seshiro the Anointed sees some play as a typal snake deck commander. Giving +2/+2 to a certain creature type and the card draw ability is a good incentive to build a deck around, and there are some snake token makers.

#37. Phage the Untouchable

There’s no other saboteur ability better than killing an opponent straight away. What sets Phage the Untouchable back is that it’s going to be hard to achieve this most of the time. It’s a 4/4 with no evasion. Your opponent can even flicker it, making you lose the game. It’s okay to try it though, and make an EDH black deck around it. There’s some shenanigans you can do with effects that prevent you from losing or by giving your opponents a copy of Phage.

#36. Shadowmage Infiltrator

Another relic of MTG’s past, Shadowmage Infiltrator has a relevant evasion built in, and it draws a card whenever it connects. It also has relevant creature types as a human wizard and sees play in more casual and low-powered formats.

#35. Trygon Predator

Trygon Predator is a relic from MTG’s past. It was actually played in Vintage at some point, seeing as you could wreck opponents’ powerful mana rocks whenever the Predator hits. It’s not a useless card though. Trygon Predator is a 2/3 flier for 3 mana with a relevant upside, and there are beast synergies in some EDH decks as well.

#34. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons is a popular -1/-1 counters commander, and with some evasion it’s able to shrink creatures or even kill them outright. There’s a huge number of cards that spread -1/-1 counters and proliferate support, so you’ll be making lots of snakes in no time with Hapatra around.

#33. Nashi, Moon Sage’s Scion

Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion is a ninja that sees play in ninja EDH decks or theft decks. Its saboteur ability allows you to cast one card from the top of a given library, yours or theirs. Being able to pay life instead of mana to cast the spell is a nice tempo play, and if you’re low on life, you can opt for the cheapest card or a land.

#32. Soaring Thought-Thief

Soaring Thought-Thief is one of the rogue deck’s more important creatures, being able to mill opponents and give +1/+0 to rogues. Rogue decks usually want to mill opponents out, either to win or to turn the synergies on. Even in EDH, where milling is less relevant as a win con, you’ll still be able to use it as a rogue lord.

#31. Etrata, the Silencer

Etrata, the Silencer needs to hit an opponent three times for them to lose the game, or less if some doubling synergies are involved. The problem is that when it hits, you’ll shuffle it into your library. You can give it double strike or use something like Strionic Resonator to speed up the process. It’s a strong ability but needs some build-up. Another possibility is to use clone effects – Sakashima of a Thousand Faces or Helm of the Host come to mind.

#30. Hypnotic Specter

Look, making an opponent discard a card at random is strong. The closest WotC has printed this effect is in cards like Urgoros, the Empty One, which is a 6-drop, or Headless Specter, a card that requires hellbent to work. Hypnotic Specter is a classic card, but it doesn’t have a home. What’s more, drawing cards is relevant at any point in the game, while discarding tends to be less effective in the late game.

#29. Fallen Shinobi

Fallen Shinobi has a hell of a saboteur ability. Being able to get two cards is huge, but you’ll also get to cast them for free. Fallen Shinobi also has two relevant types, zombie and ninja. This card’s seen some Vintage play, where you can ninjutsu it with fast mana after attacking with a 1- or 2-drop.

#28. Ingenious Infiltrator

Ingenious Infiltrator is the evolution of Ninja of the Deep Hours, having similar stats but also granting the saboteur ability to all ninjas you control. Its best characteristic is the cheap ninjutsu of .

#27. Thief of Sanity

Thief of Sanity saw lots of play when it was Standard-legal, either as a main deck inclusion or out of sideboards. You can still play it in EDH decks that care about dealing damage or Dimir “theft” decks. Having to select one of three of your opponents’ cards is a lot better than drawing a single card – and the coolest part about these decks is that you get to exploit your opponent’s deck synergies.

#26. Dragonlord Ojutai

Once a Standard/Pioneer/Cube staple, Dragonlord Ojutai has fallen out of favor for more powerful dragons. You’ll get a 5/4 that has hexproof when untapped, and its saboteur ability lets you choose between 3 cards to draw. It’s powerful and can close games, especially if you can give it vigilance.

#25. Gishath, Sun's Avatar

When Gishath, Sun's Avatar deals combat damage to a player, you’ll get to put some dinos on the battlefield for free. It’s got trample and haste to ensure you’ll do some damage at least. On a good hit, you’ll get some 2-3 dinos out of your top 7 cards, but yes, you can whiff and get nothing. Even if you get nothing, you’ll still have a massive dinosaur that’s untapped. Gishath is frequently used as a dinosaur commander, and it’s a hell of a good reason to build a deck like this.

#24. Hellkite Tyrant

Don’t mind the win condition on the card, Hellkite Tyrant is awesome in EDH because you’ll get to steal a lot of artifacts. These days, each deck plays a lot of mana rocks and has plenty of ways to produce treasure and other artifact tokens, and you’ll get to steal all of these goodies just by hitting once.

#23. Angel of Destiny

Angel of Destiny changes the rules of the game a little bit. You’re letting some damage go in favor of gaining life, but if you have 15 more life than your starting life, you’ll make them lose. On top of that, it’s a 2/6 with double strike, so you’ll gain at least 4 life with each attack. Even if you’re not winning the game this way, you can explore other synergies like Exquisite Blood or Sanguine Bond.

#22. Ninja of the Deep Hours + Moon-Circuit Hacker

These two ninjas draw you a card when they connect, and they have the ninjutsu ability. Even if they don’t have evasion themselves, they can exploit other creatures’ evasion. These are also Pauper staples, and Ninja of the Deep Hours is usually in the ban talks. Moon-Circuit Hacker isn’t as good in the long run, but it’s cheaper to cast and usually gets you a card.

#21. Edric, Spymaster of Trest + Toski, Bearer of Secrets

Edric, Spymaster of Trest used to be a Vintage/Vintage cube staple. Originally printed in Commander 2011, it allows you to dump a bunch of elves/tokens on the board, attack, and draw a lot of cards. Fast-forward 10 years and we have Toski, Bearer of Secrets, a much better card. It’s got the same saboteur bonus as Edric and is indestructible. These are often used in go-wide green-based EDH decks or token decks.

#20. Marisi, Breaker of the Coil

Marisi, Breaker of the Coil is a goad Naya commander , and you can build decks around it to maximize the saboteur ability. With Marisi, you’ll want to go wide with creatures and start hitting so that your opponents’ creatures are goaded often. It’s usually best to have your opponents fight amongst themselves, and consistently goading their creatures can quickly snowball in your favor.

#19. Suspicious Stowaway / Seafaring Werewolf

Suspicious Stowaway is a strictly better Looter il-Kor, which almost made the list. This werewolf starts looting, and when it transforms into Seafaring Werewolf, that’s where you’ll start drawing cards. Looting has its value too, since you can discard key cards and obtain value this way.

#18. Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel

Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel is a card that already sees play due to its stats in flier/tempo decks in Standard. A 2/1 with flying and flash is a great creature, and you’ll be able to loot when it connects. The fourth time you loot, you’ll cast the discarded creature without paying the mana cost.

#17. Rankle, Master of Pranks

Rankle, Master of Pranks offers you a symmetric choice that affects both players. Discarding, drawing a card and losing life, or sacrificing a creature… and yes, you can choose more than one. The thing is, you’re beating them with Rankle, so they’re behind. And you don’t need to choose anything. You’ll always choose the more relevant ability for the moment. It gets even better in EDH decks like Tergrid, God of Fright, where you’ll profit if they discard cards or sacrifice creatures.

#16. Kaito, Dancing Shadow

Kaito, Dancing Shadow is a planeswalker that can give others a saboteur ability. Yes, it’s weird but let’s break it down. If you deal damage with a creature, Kaito lets you return it to your hand, cast it again, and activate its loyalty abilities twice. You’ll want to pair Kaito with good ETB creatures that ideally have some evasion, or cheap creatures.

#15. Battle Angels of Tyr

Battle Angels of Tyr has the myriad mechanic, which is especially strong on a saboteur creature. You can hit all your opponents at once, and when you do, you’ll get to draw cards, gain life, or create Treasure. This can make you come back from a lost game, and in the best case scenario, you’ll draw 3 cards, gain 3 life and make 3 Treasures.

#14. Tovolar, Dire Overlord

Tovolar, Dire Overlord is a strong payoff for a werewolf typal deck, and the creature gets even better after transformed. It sees play in wolf/werewolf heavy decks, be it in Standard, Pioneer, or Commander.

#13. Old Gnawbone

With Old Gnawbone, you’ll transform your creatures into Treasure makers. Treasures are really good, and in many situations you’ll drop the Gnawbone, attack, make mana, and cast another spell. It opens up the possibilities for casting ridiculous X mana spells. If this card is your commander, the Treasures also serve as insurance to pay for commander tax.

#12. Zareth San, the Trickster

Zareth San, the Trickster reanimates a permanent from your opponent’s graveyard when it deals damage to a player. That can be helped by its pseudo-ninjutsu ability. It’s like a much improved Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni.

#11. Glissa Sunslayer

First strike and deathtouch are a great combo because whenever Glissa Sunslayer becomes blocked, it kills its blocker first without receiving damage. Your opponent have to choose between losing a creature and one of Glissa’s three different saboteur abilities. This card sees play in current Standard as a nice midrange threat.

#10. Ancient Dragon Cycle

The Ancient Dragons like Ancient Brass Dragon are all massive fliers that with a saboteur ability that lets you roll a d20 and get something good multiplied by the result. Considering that you’ll roll 10 on average, consider that each time the blue dragon connects, you’ll draw 10 cards. The green dragon distributes 10 +1/+1 counters, and so on. These are excellent in decks that can cast them as finishers and in decks that give haste to dragons/creatures, and they’re among the top dragons you can have in EDH decks.

#9. Zurgo and Ojutai

A riff on Zurgo Bellstriker and Dragonlord Ojutai, Zurgo and Ojutai extends the saboteur ability to all your dragons. The fact that you not only get a card, but you can also select one among three makes this ability top-notch. This can lead to a finisher in a more midrange/control deck in Standard, to a full Jeskai dragon Commander deck. In Standard, you can use its ability to attack every turn with hexproof and return it to your hand. In EDH, you can have a really strong turn after attacking with a bunch of dragons.

#8. Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow is a very popular Dimir commander . One of the best ways to build this deck is to fill it with cheap evasive ninjas and hit your opponents, revealing expensive cards to put into your hand and deal massive damage to your opponents. If you reveal a card like Time Warp, they’ll lose 5 life and you get to cast it and take an extra turn, repeating the process. If you hit with three ninjas, it’s usually game over. Another good effect to have with Yuriko is a card like Brainstorm that can set the top cards of your library, and thus inflicting the most damage.  

#7. Anowon, the Ruin Thief

Anowon, the Ruin Thief turns your rogues into mill machines. What’s more, you’ll draw a card if you mill creatures this way. You won’t draw as many cards as other saboteurs, limited to one card draw per player that milled a creature this way. Besides triggering mill synergies, Anowon works very well with cards that require filled graveyards.

#6. Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor is one of those saboteurs that gives every creature you have the ability, letting you draw a card and lose 1 life. It’s particularly powerful in black aggro decks where you already have a board presence and can capitalize on the card draw. Getting online on turn 3 means your 1- and 2-drops benefit from the ability, and Gix is strong enough to see competitive Standard play, or Pioneer in some decks.

#5. Lathril, Blade of the Elves

Lathril, Blade of the Elves is one of the most popular elf commanders out there. Not only does it make elves when it deals combat damage to a player, it's got a built-in win con when you have enough of them. A nice aspect of Lathril is that its saboteur ability is tied-in to the amount of damage, so you can buff Lathril’s power with elf lords, equipment, or something very specific like Immaculate Magistrate or Timberwatch Elf.

#4. Brago, King Eternal

Brago, King Eternal is a famous blink commander due to its saboteur ability. When Brago connects, you’ll get to blink all nonland permanents you want, and filling a deck with good ETB cards is an easy task in . In addition, Brago has flying and isn’t that expensive, so you can start connecting early in the game.

#3. Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder

Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder is a 4-color commander that can give cascade to your spells as you hit someone with it. You need to deal only 1 point of damage, and for that the trample ability really helps. Once the Yidris train gets going, you’ll be able to generate a lot of value. This goes very well with other cascade/discover mechanics or cards that care about exiling other cards.

#2. Silas Renn, Seeker Adept

Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is widely played in cEDH thanks to the partner mechanic, mainly with Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh. What Silas’s ability allows you to do is to cast artifacts from your graveyard, so if you self-milled a card like Lion's Eye Diamond, Mana Crypt, or Lotus Petal, you can cast them for free from your graveyard. Silas Renn works well in more grindy midrange decks, allowing you to sacrifice artifacts for value and recasting them.

#1. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is probably one of the best 1-drops out there. Being able to get a Treasure and impulse-draw your opponent’s top card is very, very good. Its dash ability is a perfect fit due to the surprise effect. Ragavan is a card that’s seen play in every MTG format, and left unchecked, it dominates a game.

Best Combat Damage Payoffs

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what are the payoffs for this strategy, seeing as the saboteur creatures hitting are already a payoff. That said, you can help this strategy succeed in a few ways:

• Blue and black are prime candidates for this strategy. You’ll complement your game plan with removal, allowing creatures to attack freely, and bounce spells and counterspells to protect your plans.
• Silver-Fur Master helps your ninja, rogue, and ninjutsu abilities work better. 
• There are whole archetypes made based on using your opponents’ cards. That can range from Agent of Treachery to Tasha, the Witch Queen and Xanathar, Guild Kingpin.

Wrap Up

Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder | Illustration by Karl Kopinski

Saboteur cards are a huge part of the game, and while they usually don’t have an impact right away, your opponents fear their ability to connect and generate value. These are usually blue and black creatures, but they can appear in all colors. It’s very common nowadays to see legendary creatures having something to do with saboteur abilities, because it’s easy to build an EDH deck around a card-engine system.

But enough from me, let’s hear it from you. Which are your favorite saboteur cards? Do you play any of these cards in the least? Let me know in the comments below or our Draftsim Twitter.

Stay safe out there, and hope your future attacks connect.