Mask of the Mimic 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
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature. Search your library for a card with the same name as target nontoken creature, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
Complete guide
Mask of the Mimic is a powerful blue utility spell that allows you to swap a resource on your board for a copy of a creature already in play. By sacrificing a creature and searching your library, you can suddenly double up on your most impactful threats for just one mana. This instant-speed tutor provides unexpected board presence and deck thinning in a single package.
Understanding the Costs and Targets
Mask of the Mimic requires two specific components to be cast: you must target a nontoken creature currently on the battlefield, and you must sacrifice a creature as an additional cost. Note that the creature you sacrifice does not have to be the target of the spell. Because the sacrifice is an additional cost, your opponents cannot respond by destroying the creature you intend to sacrifice; by the time they get priority, the creature is already in the graveyard and the spell is on the stack.
Resolving the Search
When the spell resolves, you search your library for a card that shares a name with the targeted creature. If the target was a permanent copying something else, you search for the name of the creature being copied. You then put that card directly onto the battlefield. Since you are searching a hidden zone, you are not required to find a card even if one exists in your library, though you must still shuffle your library afterwards.
Strategic Timing and Pitfalls
Common mistakes involve targeting token creatures or failing to account for the target being removed. Mask of the Mimic specifies a 'nontoken creature' as its target. If the targeted creature is removed from the battlefield in response to the spell, the spell will fail to resolve (fizzle) because its only target is no longer legal. However, if the spell is countered, you still lose the creature you sacrificed as the cost was already paid.
Interaction examples
You control a Grizzly Bears and another creature. You cast Mask of the Mimic, targeting your Grizzly Bears and sacrificing your other creature as the cost. As the spell resolves, you search your library for another card named Grizzly Bears and put it onto the battlefield.
CounterspellYou cast Mask of the Mimic, sacrificing a creature. Your opponent responds with Counterspell. Mask of the Mimic is removed from the stack and put into your graveyard. The creature you sacrificed remains in the graveyard because the cost was paid before the opponent could react.
An Offer You Can't RefuseYou cast Mask of the Mimic, sacrificing a creature. Your opponent targets it with An Offer You Can't Refuse. Although your spell is countered and you do not get to search your library, you still create two Treasure tokens as a result of the counterspell's effect.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Mask of the Mimic
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
You must sacrifice exactly one creature to cast this spell; you cannot cast it without sacrificing a creature, and you cannot sacrifice additional creatures.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Players can only respond once this spell has been cast and all its costs have been paid. No one can try to destroy the creature you sacrificed to prevent you from casting this spell.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
If a copy card is targeted by this effect, you get to look for another copy of the card it is copying. This is because a copy card actually takes on the name and initial characteristics of what it copies.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
You look for a card of the same name, the current type of the card does not matter.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
You do not have to find a card if you do not want to.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Mask of the Mimic
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.