First printed in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (2023)
Creature — Merfolk Scout
Whenever a creature you control explores, this creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn and can't be blocked this turn.
"Learn all you can of this underground sea. I suspect more secrets of our ancestors lie waiting in its depths."
—Tishana
2/4
- Illustrated by
- Fesbra
Legality
- Legal in
- Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Future Standard, Historic, Timeless, Penny Dreadful, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Pauper, Alchemy, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH
Rulings (7)
- If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.
- If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.
- In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)
- If a creature leaves the battlefield before an effect instructs it to explore, it still explores. Abilities like Merfolk Cave-Diver's that trigger whenever a creature you control explores will still trigger.
- Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
- Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.
- If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.
Prices
MTGO price: 0.003 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).
In Limited on MTG Arena
Win rates in Arena drafts and sealed, retrieved from 17Lands (CC BY 4.0).
| Set | GIH WR | vs set | IWD | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI), Premier Draft | 53.2% | -2.1 | +1.2 | 11548 |
| The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI), Sealed | 52.8% | -2.8 | +0.2 | 572 |
- GIH WR
- win rate of the games in which the card was in the opening hand or drawn
- vs set
- points above or below the average win rate of all decks in the set
- IWD
- improvement when drawn: GIH WR minus the win rate when the card stayed in the library
- Games
- games in which the card was seen
