Saprazzan BailiffHow it works & interactions with other cards

What it Does

Saprazzan Bailiff has two triggered abilities that care about artifact and enchantment cards in graveyards. The first ability is an 'enters-the-battlefield' trigger that exiles those specific card types from all graveyards. The second is a 'leaves-the-battlefield' trigger that acts as a retrieval mechanism, bringing artifact and enchantment cards currently in all graveyards back to their owners' hands.

How it Resolves Step by Step

When Saprazzan Bailiff enters the battlefield, its first ability triggers and goes on the stack. Upon resolution, every artifact and enchantment card currently in any player's graveyard is moved to the exile zone. Later, when the Bailiff leaves the battlefield for any reason—whether it is destroyed, exiled, or bounced to your hand—its second ability triggers. When that resolves, it checks all graveyards again; any artifact and enchantment cards found there at that moment are returned to their owners' hands. Note that it does not return the cards it previously exiled; it only returns cards that are in the graveyard at the moment the second ability resolves.

Common Mistakes

A frequent misunderstanding is that the leaves-the-battlefield ability 'remembers' the cards exiled by the first ability. It does not. The second ability only affects cards that are physically in the graveyard when the ability resolves. If you exile cards with the first ability and then more artifacts are put into the graveyard while the Bailiff is on the field, only those new cards will be returned to hands when the Bailiff leaves. The originally exiled cards remain in exile forever.

When to Play it

Play Saprazzan Bailiff when you need to clear away your opponent's graveyard resources like recursion targets or Delve fuel. It is also strategically useful to play it right before a board wipe; once the Bailiff and your other artifacts like Solemn Simulacrum are destroyed, the Bailiff's trigger will return those artifacts to your hand, giving you a significant card advantage over your opponents.

Interaction examples

Double the Law

Roaming Throne

If you control Roaming Throne with 'Merfolk' chosen as the creature type, Saprazzan Bailiff's abilities will trigger an additional time. When it enters, it will attempt to exile all artifacts and enchantments twice (though the second time usually finds nothing). More importantly, when it leaves, the ability triggers twice, allowing you to return artifacts and enchantments from the graveyard to hands, which is especially useful if new cards enter the graveyard between the two resolution steps.

Recovering the Golem

Solemn Simulacrum

Suppose your Solemn Simulacrum is destroyed and goes to the graveyard. If you then play Saprazzan Bailiff, the Golem is exiled from the graveyard. However, if the Solemn Simulacrum is in the graveyard *after* the Bailiff is already on the field, and then the Bailiff leaves the battlefield (for example, by being destroyed), the Bailiff's second trigger will see the Golem in the graveyard and return it to your hand.