Fairgrounds Warden 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 creature an opponent controls until this creature leaves the battlefield.
Complete guide
Fairgrounds Warden is a classic piece of white utility that provides temporary removal on a reliable creature body. By exiling an opponent's threat upon entry, it shifts the momentum of the game until your opponent can find a way to remove the Warden itself.
What Fairgrounds Warden Does
When Fairgrounds Warden enters the battlefield, its ability triggers, allowing you to choose one creature an opponent controls to be exiled. This exile effect is tied directly to the Warden's presence on the battlefield; the moment the Warden leaves, the exiled creature returns to the battlefield under its owner's control.
How It Resolves Step by Step
First, the Warden enters the battlefield and the ability is put onto the stack, targeting an opponent's creature. If the ability resolves, the target is exiled. If the Warden is destroyed in response to this trigger, the target creature never leaves the battlefield at all. Once exiled, the card stays in the exile zone until the Warden is no longer on the battlefield, at which point it returns immediately without using the stack.
Common Mistakes
Players often forget that tokens cease to exist once exiled, meaning they will not return when the Warden leaves. Additionally, any Auras attached to the target go to the graveyard, and any counters on it are lost forever. Remember that if the Warden is blinked or flickered, it is treated as a new object, and the previously exiled creature will return even if the Warden comes right back.
When to Play It
Fairgrounds Warden is best used to remove high-value utility creatures or blockers that are preventing you from attacking. Because it is a creature itself, it is particularly effective in decks that can capitalize on the 'Soldier' or 'Dwarf' creature types for additional synergies.
Interaction examples
Solemn SimulacrumYou play Fairgrounds Warden and target your opponent's Solemn Simulacrum. The Simulacrum is exiled. Later, your opponent plays a removal spell on the Warden. As soon as the Warden leaves the battlefield, Solemn Simulacrum returns to the battlefield immediately. Because the Simulacrum enters the battlefield again, its owner will get to search for a basic land once more.
Roaming ThroneIf you control Roaming Throne and chose 'Dwarf' or 'Soldier' as it entered, Fairgrounds Warden's ability will trigger twice when it enters the battlefield. You can target two different creatures controlled by your opponents. Both creatures will stay exiled as long as Fairgrounds Warden remains on the battlefield, and both will return simultaneously the moment the Warden leaves.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Fairgrounds Warden
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If Fairgrounds Warden leaves the battlefield before its triggered ability resolves, the target creature won't be exiled.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Auras attached to the exiled creature will be put into their owners' graveyards. Any Equipment will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled permanent will cease to exist.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
If a creature token is exiled this way, it will cease to exist and won't return to the battlefield.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
The exiled card returns to the battlefield immediately after Fairgrounds Warden leaves the battlefield. Nothing happens between the two events, including state-based actions.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
In a multiplayer game, if Fairgrounds Warden's owner leaves the game, the exiled card will return to the battlefield. Because the one-shot effect that returns the card isn't an ability that goes on the stack, it won't cease to exist along with the leaving player's spells and abilities on the stack.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Fairgrounds Warden
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.