Street Urchin — ruling 1

If your commander is an artifact creature, you may sacrifice it to pay the cost of this ability.

Street Urchin — ruling 2

If your commander that had the ability Street Urchin gave it somehow isn't a creature at the time the ability resolves, it will still deal 1 damage.

Street Urchin — ruling 3

Choose a Background is a variant of the partner ability. You may have two commanders if one of them is a legendary creature with the choose a background ability and the other is a legendary Background enchantment. Backgrounds and cards with choose a Background do not interact with cards which have any other partner ability.

Street Urchin — ruling 4

If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can include only cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders’ combined color identities.

Street Urchin — ruling 5

Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards (or 58 cards in a Commander Draft game) of your deck are shuffled to become your library.

Street Urchin — ruling 6

If your commander loses the choose a Background ability or stops being a Background during the game, as appropriate, it is still your commander.

Street Urchin — ruling 7

Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won’t have to pay an additional {2} the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 combat damage from any one of them, not from both of them combined (although your Background won’t usually be a creature anyway).

Street Urchin — ruling 8

If something refers to your commander while you have two commanders, it refers to one of them of your choice. If you are instructed to perform an action on your commander (e.g. put it from the command zone into your hand due to Command Beacon), you choose one of your commanders at the time the effect happens.

Street Urchin : règles, fonctionnement et interactions (MTG)

Street Urchin 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

Commander creatures you own have ", Sacrifice another creature or an artifact: This creature deals 1 damage to any target."

Complete guide

Street Urchin is a versatile Background enchantment that transforms your commander into a repeatable source of damage. By turning your expendable artifacts and creatures into lethal projectiles, it provides excellent board control and reach. This card is a staple for decks that focus on sacrifice synergies or need a consistent way to clear small threats.

What Street Urchin Does

As long as Street Urchin is on the battlefield, every commander creature you own gains a specific activated ability. This ability costs one generic mana and requires you to sacrifice another creature or an artifact. In return, your commander deals 1 damage to any target, including players, planeswalkers, or creatures.

Resolving the Ability Step by Step

First, you must announce the activation of the ability granted to your commander and choose a target. Next, you pay the costs in any order: pay one mana and sacrifice 'another' creature or an artifact. Note that if your commander is an artifact creature, it can sacrifice itself to its own ability because the cost requires 'another creature' OR 'an artifact'. Once the cost is paid, the ability goes on the stack. When it resolves, the commander deals 1 damage to the chosen target, even if the commander has left the battlefield or stopped being a creature in the meantime.

Common Mistakes

A frequent error is trying to sacrifice the commander as 'another creature'; you must sacrifice a different creature, though you can sacrifice the commander if it is an artifact. Another mistake involves control: the ability is granted to commander creatures you 'own'. If an opponent steals your commander, they cannot use the ability unless they also control a Street Urchin, and the damage is always dealt by the commander itself, not the enchantment.

When to Play It

Street Urchin shines in decks with high creature counts or artifact token generators like Treasures and Clues. It is particularly effective when you need a sacrifice outlet that doubles as removal. Since it grants the ability to all commanders you own, it is twice as effective in games where you have two commanders via the Partner or Choose a Background mechanics.

Interaction examples

Stacking Damage with Impact Tremors

Impact Tremors

With Street Urchin and Impact Tremors on the board, you can create a damage loop. When a creature enters under your control, Impact Tremors deals 1 damage to each opponent. You can then use your commander's new ability to sacrifice that creature, paying one mana to deal another 1 damage to a target of your choice.

Recycling with Underworld Breach

Underworld Breach

If you have Underworld Breach active, you can sacrifice a nonland artifact to your commander's Street Urchin ability to deal 1 damage. Then, you can use the escape ability granted by Underworld Breach to recast that same artifact from your graveyard, allowing you to repeat the process as long as you have mana and cards to exile.

Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.

How it works : Street Urchin

Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall

#1June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
If your commander is an artifact creature, you may sacrifice it to pay the cost of this ability.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#2June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
If your commander that had the ability Street Urchin gave it somehow isn't a creature at the time the ability resolves, it will still deal 1 damage.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#3June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
Choose a Background is a variant of the partner ability. You may have two commanders if one of them is a legendary creature with the choose a background ability and the other is a legendary Background enchantment. Backgrounds and cards with choose a Background do not interact with cards which have any other partner ability.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#4June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can include only cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders’ combined color identities.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#5June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards (or 58 cards in a Commander Draft game) of your deck are shuffled to become your library.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#6June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
If your commander loses the choose a Background ability or stops being a Background during the game, as appropriate, it is still your commander.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#7June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won’t have to pay an additional the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 combat damage from any one of them, not from both of them combined (although your Background won’t usually be a creature anyway).
No other card is named in this ruling.
#8June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
If something refers to your commander while you have two commanders, it refers to one of them of your choice. If you are instructed to perform an action on your commander (e.g. put it from the command zone into your hand due to Command Beacon), you choose one of your commanders at the time the effect happens.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#9June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
An effect that checks whether you control your commander is satisfied if you control one or both of your two commanders.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#10June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
You can choose two commanders that are the same color or colors.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#11June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
If a card refers to a commander creature you own, a Background won't usually be counted or included for that effect. If another spell or ability causes your Background to become a creature, however, it will be included. Any effect that refers to your commander or a commander you own or control without specifying creature will apply to a Background that is your commander, as appropriate.
No other card is named in this ruling.
#12June 10, 2022· Wizards of the Coast
If you control a Background that grants an ability to commander creatures you own, and you own more than one commander creature, each of them will have that ability.
No other card is named in this ruling.