First printed in Core Set 2019 (2018)
Creature — Human Artificer
When this creature enters, target artifact you control becomes an artifact creature with base power and toughness 5/5 for as long as this creature remains on the battlefield.
1/3
- Illustrated by
- Jason A. Engle
Legality
- Legal in
- Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Penny Dreadful, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Standard, Pauper, Future Standard, Alchemy, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Standard Brawl
Rulings (6)
- Skilled Animator doesn't remove any abilities the target artifact has.
- The resulting artifact creature will be able to attack on your turn if it's been under your control continuously since the turn began. That is, it doesn't matter how long it's been a creature, just how long it's been on the battlefield.
- If an Equipment becomes an artifact creature, it usually can't be attached to another creature. If it was attached to a creature, it becomes unattached.
- If the artifact was already a creature, its base power and toughness will each become 5. This overwrites any previous effects that set the creature's base power and toughness to specific values. Any power- or toughness-setting effects that start to apply after Skilled Animator's ability resolves will overwrite this effect.
- Effects that modify a creature's power and/or toughness, such as the ones created by Titanic Growth or a +/1+1 counter, will apply to the creature no matter when they started to take effect. The same is true for any counters that change its power and/or toughness and effects that switch power and toughness.
- The artifact retains any types, subtypes, or supertypes it has.
Prices
Paper price: €0.04 / $0.07 , the cheapest non-foil print (Cardmarket and TCGplayer through MTGJSON, 2 Nov 2026).
MTGO price: 0.003 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 2 Nov 2026).
Combos
2 combos, the most popular first:
- Infinite damage, Infinite lifegain triggers: Aetherflux Reservoir + Skilled Animator
- Draw the game: Ashaya, Soul of the Wild + Caged Sun + Skilled Animator