Boggart Trawler // Boggart Bog is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
When this creature enters, exile target player's graveyard. As this land enters, you may pay 3 life. If you don't, it enters tapped.: Add
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Complete guide
Boggart Trawler is a versatile modal double-faced card from Modern Horizons 3 that functions as both a graveyard hater and a black-producing land. Whether you need a creature to pressure the board or a way to ensure you hit your land drops, this card provides essential utility in one slot. Understanding how it interacts with the stack and your library is key to mastering its flexibility.
Dual Faces and Mana Value
Boggart Trawler has two distinct faces: a creature on the front and a land, Boggart Bog, on the back. While in your hand, library, or graveyard, the card only has the characteristics of the front face. This means its mana value is 3 and it is considered a creature card. You only consider the back face when you are actually playing it as a land. If an effect asks for a land card in your library, you cannot choose this card because it is technically a creature card everywhere except the battlefield or stack (if cast/played as the back face).
Resolving the Entrance
When you cast Boggart Trawler as a creature, it enters the battlefield and its triggered ability goes on the stack, targeting a player. Upon resolution, that player's entire graveyard is exiled. If you play it as Boggart Bog, you must choose to either pay 3 life to have it enter untapped or have it enter tapped. Note that Boggart Bog does not have the exile triggered ability; only the creature side, Boggart Trawler, possesses that effect when it enters.
Common Mistakes
A frequent error is trying to fetch Boggart Bog with effects that search for lands. Because the card is a creature card in the library, a search for a 'land card' will not find it. Additionally, remember that if an effect puts a card directly onto the battlefield from another zone without 'playing' it, you must use the front face. You cannot use a creature-recursion spell to bring back Boggart Bog; it will always return as the Boggart Trawler creature.
When to Play It
Cast the Boggart Trawler side when your opponent is relying on graveyard synergies, such as reanimation or delirium. The land side, Boggart Bog, is best used early in the game to fix your mana or in the late game when you have plenty of life to spare for an untapped black source. It is an excellent inclusion in decks that need to maintain a high land count without sacrificing interaction.
Interaction examples
Solemn SimulacrumIf you trigger Solemn Simulacrum, you cannot search for Boggart Trawler // Boggart Bog. Solemn Simulacrum specifies searching for a 'basic land card,' and since the front face of this card is a creature and not a basic land, it is an invalid target.
Roaming ThroneIf you have Roaming Throne on the battlefield with 'Goblin' chosen as the creature type, Boggart Trawler's enter-the-battlefield ability will trigger twice. This allows you to target two different players to exile their graveyards, or target the same player twice (though the second trigger would likely find an empty graveyard).
If Boggart Trawler is in your graveyard, it is a creature card with mana value 3. If an effect allows you to 'play lands from your graveyard,' you may play Boggart Bog. However, if an effect lets you 'return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand,' you can return Boggart Trawler, but you could not use an effect that only returns land cards.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Boggart Trawler // Boggart Bog
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect allows you to play a specific modal double-faced card, you may cast it as a spell or play it as a land, as determined by which face you choose to play. If an effect allows you to cast (rather than "play") a specific modal double-faced card, you can't play it as a land.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
To determine whether it is legal to play a modal double-faced card, consider only the characteristics of the face you're playing and ignore the other face's characteristics. For example, if an effect stops you from casting creature spells, you can't cast Disciple of Freyalise, but you can still play Garden of Freyalise.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect allows you to play a land or cast a spell from among a group of cards, you may play or cast a modal double-faced card with any face that fits the criteria of that effect. For example, if an effect allows you to play lands from your graveyard, you can play Garden of Freyalise, but you can't cast Disciple of Freyalise.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect allows you to put a card with particular characteristics onto the battlefield without instructing you to play or cast it, you consider only the characteristics of a modal double-faced card's front face to see if that card qualifies. If it does, it enters the battlefield with its front face up. For example, if an effect allows you to put a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield, you can put Disciple of Freyalise onto the battlefield. However, an effect that lets you return a land card from your graveyard to your hand won't let you return Garden of Freyalise to your hand, as that card has only its front face's characteristics while in the graveyard.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
The mana value of a modal double-faced card is based on the characteristics of the face that's being considered. On the stack or the battlefield, consider whichever face is up. In all other zones, consider only the front face. This is different than how the mana value of a transforming double-faced card is determined.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
A modal double-faced card can't be transformed or be put onto the battlefield transformed. Ignore any instruction to transform a modal double-faced card or to put one onto the battlefield transformed.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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