Freestrider Lookout 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
Reach Whenever you commit a crime, look at the top five cards of your library. You may put a land card from among them onto the battlefield tapped. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. This ability triggers only once each turn. (Targeting opponents, anything they control, and/or cards in their graveyards is a crime.)
Complete guide
Freestrider Lookout is an exceptional engine for green decks that rewards you for interacting with your opponents. By simply playing your game and targeting your opponent's assets, you can accelerate your mana base significantly. This Human Rogue ensures that every 'crime' you commit paves the way for a more powerful board state.
Understanding Crimes
A crime is committed whenever you cast a spell, activate an ability, or put a triggered ability on the stack that targets an opponent, anything they control (like permanents or spells), or cards in their graveyard. Freestrider Lookout watches for this specific action. Note that the spell or ability doesn't need to resolve for it to count as a crime; the act of targeting is what triggers the ability. However, you only commit one crime per spell, even if it targets multiple things.
Resolution Step-by-Step
First, you perform an action that targets an opponent or their resources. Second, Freestrider Lookout's ability triggers and is placed on the stack on top of that action. Third, as the ability resolves, you look at the top five cards of your library. You may choose one land card from among them and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Finally, the remaining cards are placed on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Common Pitfalls
The most common mistake is forgetting the 'once each turn' restriction. This applies to both your turns and your opponents' turns, so you can potentially ramp on every single player's turn if you have instant-speed interaction. Another mistake is thinking that 'choosing' a permanent is the same as 'targeting' it; if the card text does not use the word 'target' (or is a keyword that includes it, like Enchant), it is not a crime.
When to Play It
Freestrider Lookout is best played early when you have cheap interaction or repeatable targeting effects. Since it has Reach, it also serves as a respectable blocker against early flying threats while you focus on building your land count. It is particularly potent in decks that utilize the graveyard or have abilities that trigger upon lands entering the battlefield.
Interaction examples
With Freestrider Lookout on the battlefield, you cast a spell like 'Shock' targeting your opponent. This constitutes a crime. Before 'Shock' deals damage, the Lookout's ability triggers. You look at your top five cards, find a Forest, and put it into play tapped. You then randomize the other four cards at the bottom of your library.
Sakura-Tribe ElderIf you have Freestrider Lookout and Sakura-Tribe Elder, you can sacrifice the Elder to find a basic land. Note that the Elder's ability does not target anything, so it is NOT a crime. To trigger the Lookout, you would need to use a different effect that targets an opponent's creature or the opponent themselves. These two cards together help you thin the deck, but they don't have a direct 'crime' synergy.
Solemn SimulacrumYou play Solemn Simulacrum and use its enter-the-battlefield ability to put a land into play. Like the Elder, this doesn't target an opponent, so no crime is committed. However, if an opponent tries to use a removal spell on your Simulacrum and you respond with a spell that targets that opponent, Freestrider Lookout will trigger, allowing you to get even more lands onto the battlefield in a single round of turns.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Freestrider Lookout
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
A player commits a crime as they cast a spell, activate an ability, or put a triggered ability on the stack that targets at least one opponent, at least one permanent, spell, or ability an opponent controls, and/or at least one card in an opponent’s graveyard.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
The spell or ability that constituted a crime doesn’t have to have resolved yet or at all. As soon as you’re finished casting the spell, activating the ability, or putting the triggered ability on the stack, you’ve committed a crime.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
For example, an ability that triggers when you cast a spell that targets an opponent will trigger at the same time as an ability that triggers whenever you commit a crime. Those abilities can be put on the stack in either order (if you control them both), and they’ll both resolve before the spell that caused them to trigger.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
A player can commit only one crime per spell or ability they control. Targeting multiple opponents, permanents, spells, abilities, and/or cards with the same spell or ability doesn’t constitute committing multiple crimes.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Changing the target or targets of a spell or ability won’t affect whether or not the controller of that spell or ability has committed a crime. Only the initial targets chosen for that spell or ability are used to determine whether or not its controller committed a crime.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Freestrider Lookout
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.