Clever Concealment 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
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays foror one mana of that creature's color.) Any number of target nonland permanents you control phase out. (Treat them and anything attached to them as though they don't exist until your next turn.)
Complete guide
Clever Concealment is a versatile defensive tool that allows White players to save their most important nonland permanents from destruction. Using the Convoke keyword, you can cast it even when your mana is tapped out by relying on your creatures to pay the cost.
What It Does
Clever Concealment allows you to choose any number of nonland permanents you control and phase them out. While phased out, these permanents are treated as though they do not exist, meaning they cannot be targeted, destroyed, or affected by any spells or abilities. Because of Convoke, you can tap your creatures to pay for the {2}{W}{W} mana cost, where each creature pays for {1} or one mana of its color.
How It Resolves Step by Step
When you cast Clever Concealment, you first choose your targets. Upon resolution, the chosen permanents phase out simultaneously. Any Auras or Equipment attached to those permanents phase out with them. They remain in this state until your next untap step, at which point they phase back in immediately before you untap. Crucially, phasing does not cause permanents to leave or enter the battlefield, so no 'enters the battlefield' abilities will trigger when they return.
Common Mistakes
A common error is thinking Clever Concealment can save lands; however, the card explicitly targets nonland permanents. Another mistake involves combat: if you phase out an attacking or blocking creature, it is immediately removed from combat. Additionally, remember that while Convoke can pay for the cost, tapping a creature with 'summoning sickness' for Convoke is allowed, but tapping a creature that is already tapped for a mana ability is not.
When to Play It
The best time to use Clever Concealment is in response to a board wipe or targeted removal. Since you can choose 'any number' of targets, you can specifically protect your engine pieces while letting less important tokens perish if you lack the targets or mana. It is also excellent for keeping your board state intact while an opponent attempts to interact with your key combo pieces or Equipment.
Interaction examples
Generous GiftSuppose an opponent casts Generous Gift targeting your favorite artifact. In response, you cast Clever Concealment targeting that artifact. The artifact phases out and ceases to exist for the game's purposes. When Generous Gift tries to resolve, its target is gone, so the spell fails to resolve. Your artifact will safely return at the start of your next untap step.
Teferi's ProtectionUnlike Teferi's Protection, which phases out all your permanents (including lands) and protects your life total, Clever Concealment is surgical. If you have five creatures and only want to save three while keeping two back to block, Clever Concealment allows you to target only those three. You can even tap the two creatures you aren't saving to help pay for the Convoke cost of the spell.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Clever Concealment
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Because convoke isn't an alternative cost, it can be used in conjunction with alternative costs.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Tapping a multicolored creature using convoke will pay for
or one mana of your choice of any of that creature's colors.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
You can tap any untapped creature you control to convoke a spell, even one you haven't controlled continuously since the beginning of your most recent turn.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Tapping an untapped creature that's attacking or blocking to convoke a spell won't cause that creature to stop attacking or blocking.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
When calculating a spell's total cost, include any alternative costs, additional costs, or anything else that increases or reduces the cost to cast the spell. Convoke applies after the total cost is calculated. Convoke doesn't change a spell's mana cost or mana value.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
If a creature you control has a mana ability with
in the cost, activating that ability while casting a spell with convoke will result in the creature being tapped before you pay the spell's costs. You won't be able to tap it again for convoke. Similarly, if you sacrifice a creature to activate a mana ability while casting a spell with convoke, that creature won't be on the battlefield when you pay the spell's costs, so you won't be able to tap it for convoke.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
An attacking or blocking creature that phases out is removed from combat.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
Any continuous effects with a "for as long as" duration, such as that of Mind Flayer, ignore phased-out objects. If ignoring those objects causes the effect's conditions to no longer be met, the duration will expire.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
As a permanent is phased out, Auras and Equipment attached to it also phase out at the same time. Those Auras and Equipment will phase in at the same time that permanent does, and they'll phase in still attached to that permanent.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
Phased out permanents are treated as though they don't exist. They can't be the target of spells or abilities, their static abilities have no effect on the game, their triggered abilities can't trigger, they can't attack or block, and so on.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
Phasing out doesn't cause permanents to leave or re-enter the battlefield, so no "leaves the battlefield" or "enters the battlefield" abilities will trigger.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #12· Wizards of the Coast
Choices made for permanents as they entered the battlefield are remembered when they phase in.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #13· Wizards of the Coast
Permanents phase back in during their controller's untap step, immediately before that player untaps their permanents. Creatures that phase in this way are able to attack and pay a cost of
during that turn. If a permanent had counters on it when it phased out, it will have those counters when it phases back in.No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Kaervek's Spite + Clever Concealment + Barren Glory
- 1During the end step before your turn, cast Clever Concealment by paying at most
, phasing out Barren Glory until your next turn. - 2Cast Kaervek's Spite by paying
, discarding your hand, and sacrificing all permanents, causing target player to lose 5 life. - 3At the beginning of your next draw step, Barren Glory phases in.
- 4At the beginning of your next upkeep, Barren Glory triggers, causing you to win the game.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Clever Concealment
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