The 50 Best Combat Damage and Saboteur Abilities in Magic Ranked

Last updated on September 30, 2025

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,” nicknamed 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 these abilities give you.

A classic example is ‘90s Constructed staple Ophidian. It’s a 1/3, and when it would deal 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 UB colors and saboteur abilities. Finally, there are cards that give the saboteur ability to all your creatures, so we’re acknowledging 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.

#50. 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.

#49. 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.

#48. Seshiro the Anointed

Seshiro the Anointed sees some play as a typal snake 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.

#47. Shadowmage Infiltrator

Another relic of MTG’s past, Shadowmage Infiltrator has 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.

#46. Trygon Predator

Trygon Predator is also on the downswing these days. 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.

#45. 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 a black EDH 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.

#44. 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.

#43. Nashi, Moon Sage’s Scion

Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion is a rat 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.

#42. 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 wincon, you’ll still be able to use it as a rogue lord.

#41. Shroofus Sproutsire

The first time I read this card, I wasn’t impressed at all. But then, I realized that it makes a 1/1 Saproling for each point of damage. Just attacking with Shroofus Sproutsire and a Rancor nets you three Saproling tokens. Plus, it adds the benefit for all Saprolings you have, so pay attention to all the green cards that generate a bunch of Saproling tokens, including the Limited menace known as Sprout Swarm.

#40. 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 use something like Strionic Resonator to speed up the process. Another possibility is to use clone effects–Sakashima of a Thousand Faces or Helm of the Host come to mind.

#39. 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.

#38. 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.

#37. 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.

#36. 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.

#35. 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 .

#34. 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 three cards to draw. It’s powerful and can close games, especially if you can give it vigilance.

#33. 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 seven 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.

#32. 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 someone 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.

#31. 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.

#30. Koma, World-Eater

Seven mana gives you an 8/12 trample creature, plus very relevant protection in ward 4. Where Koma, World-Eater excels is that you get to make four 3/3 tokens whenever you deal combat damage. With 8 power worth of trample damage, your opponents will need to lose a lot of creatures to prevent that from happening.

#29. 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.

#28. The Infamous Cruelclaw

The Infamous Cruelclaw is an infamous way to cheat expensive cards into play. The ability to cast a card from your library for free by discarding another card is very strong, and although you can’t choose what to cast, you can certainly spread some heavy hitters around your deck and hope for the best.

#27. The Pride of Hull Clade

The Pride of Hull Clade is a very interesting Simic commander. By itself, you can pay 4 mana for it to attack as a 2/15 and draw 15 cards! With this commander, look for small fliers, like 1/2 or 1/3 creatures that can easily attack and draw some cards. You’ll probably want some High Alert effects around as well.  

#26. Tovolar, Dire Overlord

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

#25. 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.

#24. Quilled Greatwurm

Here’s a 7/7 trample creature that can become a 14/14 after just one hit. Not only that, but Quilled Greatwurm grants this bonus to all your other creatures. If you already have an established board, it’s quite the lord.

#23. Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact

While arguably not even in the top 3 or 4 Niv-Mizzets, Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact has one of the strongest saboteur abilities available. It’s not hard to build a deck around it or to add this card to a Niv-Mizzet Reborn deck because they legends care about roughly the same effect. Once X=3, you’re drawing three cards and can Lightning Helix your opponents like crazy.

#22. Suspicious Stowaway / Seafaring Werewolf

Suspicious Stowaway is 99% strictly better than 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.

#21. 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.

#20. Obeka, Splitter of Seconds

When you deal combat damage with Obeka, Splitter of Seconds, you get that many upkeeps. Each card that says “at the beginning of your upkeep” becomes a powerhouse with this card around. You can maximize this with cards like Court of Ambition, where you get to become the monarch and trigger the card at least a couple times. It’s also great with cards like Phyrexian Arena or Twilight Prophet.

#19. 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 and a solid uncounterable commander. This legendary squirrel’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.

#18. 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.

#17. 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.

#16. Storm, Force of Nature

Storm, Force of Nature is a crazy commander built around the idea of giving storm to spells that don’t have the ability. But to achieve that, you need to deal combat damage with it. It’s a novel way to play storm in EDH that doesn’t leave you restricted to cards like Chatterstorm or Grapeshot. Even if you’re not winning via a flashy combo, it’s great value to cast some spells, hit with this card, and cast a Lightning Bolt or a Preordain.

#15. 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 a loyalty ability another time. You’ll want to pair Kaito with good ETB creatures that ideally have some evasion, or just cheap creatures in general.

#14. 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 catch you up from a lost game, and in the best case scenario, you'll actually put yourself in the lead.

#13. 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.

#12. 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 has to choose between losing a creature or facing down one of Glissa’s three different saboteur abilities. This card sees play in current Standard as a nice midrange threat.

#11. Anowon, the Ruin Thief

Anowon, the Ruin Thief, one of Magic's strongest rogue commanders, 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.

#10. Ancient Dragon Cycle

The Ancient Dragons like Ancient Brass Dragon are all massive fliers 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 creatures, and they’re among the top dragons you can have in EDH decks.

#9. 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 up the top cards of your library, thus inflicting the most damage.  

#8. Lathril, Blade of the Elves

Lathril, Blade of the Elves is one of the most popular elf commanders out there, and one of the best Golgari commanders (). Not only does it make elves when it deals combat damage to a player, it's got a built-in wincon when you have enough of them. A nice aspect of Lathril is that its saboteur ability is tied 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.

#7. Enduring Curiosity

Enduring Curiosity’s been a very efficient card draw engine ever since its printing. It has flash, so your opponents aren’t going to expect the effect, and drawing a card with each creature that hits keeps the cards flowing. Suddenly your 1/1 fliers are a lot more menacing. Plus, if your opponents kill this glimmer, you get to keep the effect on the field.

#6. Unstoppable Slasher

“They lose half their life.” Unstoppable Slasher’s strong saboteur ability is a pain to deal with, especially when coupled with cards that make you lose life in double, instantly killing your opponent. This combo has been played to good success in formats like Standard and Pioneer. It’s hard to deal with this card efficiently too, outside of exile-based removal, and your opponent can always try to sacrifice it in response to the effect.

#5. Psychic Frog

Psychic Frog’s been making some moves in Eternal formats lately, to the point of being straight-up banned in Legacy. While this saboteur effect isn’t the flashiest, it’s very consistent. It’s easy to cash in extra cards to grow this frog or to exile three from your graveyard and take it to the skies. While you have cards in hand, it’s very hard to block this creature profitably, and it can be a hell of a win condition too.

#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 WU. 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 recast them.

#1. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

Magic's best pirate and strongest 1-mana commander, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is probably one of the best 1-drops out there. Getting a Treasure and impulse-drawing 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 Enablers

When playing saboteurs, you want to enable this strategy by giving your creatures evasion when they don’t already have it or clearing the way for them to connect. Here are a few examples.

Blue and black are prime colors for enabling this strategy. You’ll complement your game plan with black removal, allowing creatures to attack freely, and blue bounce spells and counterspells to protect your plans.

Silver-Fur Master helps your ninja, rogue, and ninjutsu abilities work more efficiently.

Krydle of Baldur's Gate is also a way to ensure that at least one creature will pass through. To make one or more of your creatures unblockable, try Thassa, God of the Sea.

Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator gives a saboteur creature you control unblockable, and the card itself profits from the damage dealt.

Taking your attackers to the skies with a card like Archetype of Imagination can be pretty effective.

Resorting to red and green can also help. These colors have plenty of ways to grant your creatures trample or menace. Look for cards like Overrun, Falter, or Pyrewood Gearhulk.

Finally, cards that are very strong to build around if you’re looking to play saboteurs are Felix Five-Boots and Mirror Room // Fractured Realm. These cards can double your triggered abilities via combat damage, and the more, the merrier.

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 the cards on this list? Let me know in the comments below or our Draftsim Twitter.

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