Mirror-Sigil Sergeant 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
Trample At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a blue permanent, you may create a token that's a copy of this creature.
Complete guide
Mirror-Sigil Sergeant is a powerhouse in any deck utilizing blue and white, capable of overwhelming the board through exponential growth. By checking for a blue permanent during your upkeep, this Rhino Soldier begins a cloning process that can quickly get out of hand. Understanding its 'intervening if' clause and copy mechanics is essential for mastering this Shards of Alara classic.
How the Ability Triggers
The Sergeant features an 'intervening if' clause. This means the ability checks for a blue permanent at two specific times: exactly when your upkeep begins and again when the ability attempts to resolve. If you do not control a blue permanent the moment your upkeep starts, the ability never even goes on the stack. If you lose control of your only blue permanent in response to the trigger, the ability will do nothing when it tries to resolve.
Resolution and Copying
When the ability resolves, you create a token that is an exact copy of the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant. This token includes the trample keyword and the upkeep trigger itself. Because the tokens also have the ability, they will each attempt to trigger during your next upkeep. If you have one Sergeant and one blue permanent, you gain one token. Next turn, both the original and the token will trigger, potentially giving you two more, leading to exponential growth (1, 2, 4, 8, and so on).
Copiable Values
The token copies the 'printed' characteristics of the Sergeant, including its name, mana cost, and abilities. It does not copy temporary effects, such as +1/+1 counters or power-boosting spells like Giant Growth. However, if the Sergeant itself is currently a copy of something else (perhaps due to a transformation effect), the new token will be a copy of whatever the Sergeant is currently imitating.
Strategic Timing
Since the ability triggers at the beginning of the upkeep, you must ensure your blue permanent is already on the battlefield before your turn starts. You cannot cast a blue spell during your upkeep to make the Sergeant trigger; it must already be there to satisfy the 'if' condition the moment the phase begins.
Interaction examples
Psychosis CrawlerYou control Mirror-Sigil Sergeant and Psychosis Crawler (a blue artifact creature). At the start of your upkeep, the Sergeant's ability triggers because the Crawler is blue. If an opponent casts a spell to destroy your Psychosis Crawler in response, the Sergeant's ability will check again upon resolution. Seeing no blue permanents, the ability fails and no token is created.
If Mirror-Sigil Sergeant is your only creature and you control a blue enchantment, the ability triggers during your upkeep. You choose to create a token. You now have two Rhino Soldiers with Trample. On your next upkeep, both will trigger separately, and if you still control that blue enchantment, you can create two more tokens, totaling four Sergeants.
Sun TitanMirror-Sigil Sergeant costs 6 mana, so it cannot be targeted by Sun Titan's ability. However, if you use Sun Titan to return a small blue permanent (like a blue enchantment or creature with mana value 3 or less) during your combat phase, that permanent will be ready on the battlefield to satisfy the Sergeant's 'if' clause when your next upkeep begins.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Mirror-Sigil Sergeant
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
The “intervening ‘if’ clause” means that (1) the ability won’t trigger at all unless you control a permanent of the specified color, and (2) the ability will do nothing unless you control a permanent of the specified color at the time it resolves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Normally, when a token is created by this ability, it will simply be a Mirror-Sigil Sergeant, so it’ll also have the token-creating ability. (See the other ruling for weird exceptions.) At the beginning of your next upkeep, if you still control the original Sergeant, the token copy, and a blue permanent, you’ll get two more token copies; the turn after that you’ll get four; then eight; and so on.
Card named in this ruling
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Here’s the detailed version of what happens. As the token is created, it checks the printed values of the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant it’s copying — or, if the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant whose ability triggered was itself a token, the original characteristics of that token as stated by the effect that put it onto the battlefield — as well as any copy effects that have been applied to it. It won’t copy counters on the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant, nor will it copy other effects that have changed Mirror-Sigil Sergeant’s power, toughness, types, color, or so on.
Card named in this ruling
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If Mirror-Sigil Sergeant has left the battlefield by the time its triggered ability resolves, you’ll still put a token onto the battlefield. That token has the copiable values of the characteristics of Mirror-Sigil Sergeant as it last existed on the battlefield.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Here are the weird exceptions. If any copy effects have affected the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant whose ability triggered, they're taken into account when the token is created. For example: -- If Mirror-Sigil Sergeant's ability triggers, then Mirror-Sigil Sergeant temporarily becomes a copy of another creature before its ability resolves (due to Mirrorweave, perhaps), the token will be a copy of whatever creature the Mirror-Sigil Sergeant is currently a copy of. After the turn ends, the Mirrorweaved Mirror-Sigil Sergeant reverts back to what it was, but the token will stay as it is. -- If the copy ability of a creature (such as Cemetery Puca, perhaps) makes it become a copy of Mirror-Sigil Sergeant and gain another ability, the token created by this creature at the beginning of your upkeep will be a Mirror-Sigil Sergeant with that additional ability.
Card named in this ruling
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Meta decks with Mirror-Sigil Sergeant
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