Niko wants a deck that removes its creatures and brings them right back to reuse them. It also suits a deck that copies the best creature on the table.
Mana cost
White, Blue ()
Power / toughness3 / 4
RarityMythic
When Niko enters, create two Shard tokens. (They're enchantments with ", Sacrifice this token: Scry 1, then draw a card.")
, : Exile target nonlegendary creature you control. Shards you control become copies of it until the next end step. Return it to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
Picked for what they do in Niko's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Niko's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Niko works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast20 Sep 2024
If Shards you control do become copies of the creature, they'll use the copiable values of the creature as it last existed on the battlefield. They don't copy whether that creature was tapped or untapped, whether it had any counters on it, whether it had any Auras and/or Equipment attached to it, or any non-copy effects that changed its power, toughness, types, color, and so on.
Wizards of the Coast20 Sep 2024
If the creature that was exiled was copying something else, the Shards that become copies of that creature will use the copiable values of that creature. In most cases, they will be copies of whatever that creature was copying. If it was copying a permanent or card with {X} in its mana cost, X is 0.
Wizards of the Coast20 Sep 2024
If the target creature is an illegal target as Niko's last ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. Shards you control won't become copies of the creature.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWUPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, U for blue. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.Blink/FlickerBlink decks briefly remove their own creatures from play and return them at once, so every 'when this enters' ability happens again. The move is called a flicker, and it can also rescue a creature from a spell aimed at it.Open the Blink/Flicker pageFlicker/SaveBriefly exiles a permanent you control and immediately returns it. That saves it from a kill spell like Swords to Plowshares, and it re-triggers any enter the battlefield ability: Mulldrifter flickered is two more cards. Ephemerate, Teferi's ProtectionOpen the Flicker/Save pageMana SinkGives you somewhere useful to spend spare mana, usually through an ability you can activate again and again. Rogue's Passage, Mind StoneOpen the Mana Sink pageETB ValueDoes something useful the moment it arrives: an enter the battlefield ability, which players shorten to ETB. You keep that effect even if the card is removed straight afterwards, which is why these pair so well with flicker cards that make them enter again. Solemn Simulacrum, The One RingOpen the ETB Value pageClonesClone decks copy the best creature on the battlefield, whoever owns it, so they always have one of the strongest things on the table. A copy also gets the original's 'when this enters' ability, so each clone can bring a fresh effect too.Open the Clones pageCloneCopies a creature or another permanent already on the battlefield. Copying the best thing on the table is often cheaper than casting something equally strong. Phyrexian Metamorph, Helm of the HostOpen the Clone pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker page
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: Exile target nonlegendary creature you control. Shards you control become copies of it until the next end step. Return it to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
Open the full glossary
